Florence Nancie Colling (née Whalley) also Nancie Evans (19 April 1919 – 1 July 2020) was an international
lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
competitor for England.
Bowls career
Born in Colwyn Bay her family relocated to Somerset. She started bowling in Frome during 1948 and was Secretary of the Frome Selwood Club and the Somerset Ladies Bowling Association. In 1956 she won the first of her four
National titles when winning the
singles championship.
Just two years later she won her second title in 1958, again bowling for Somerset, this was the same year in which she married Harold Evans and then played as Nancie Evans. The third title was the 1965
two wood singles. Widowed in 1959 she remarried to Coryndon Colling in 1967, playing as Nancie Colling afterwards. Remarkably she won the fourth of her National singles titles in 1970, four years after a spine injury had temporarily paralysed her.
In 1973 she was selected for the England team at the
1973 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, New Zealand and won a
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
's in the fours with
Phyllis Derrick,
Eileen Smith and
Joan Sparkes, in addition to winning a
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
in the team event (Taylor Trophy).
Bowls administration
In 1976 she became President of the English Women's Bowling Association and four years later served as Secretary of her National Association, a role that was performed for 22 years. She was also the President of the International Women's Bowling Board.
[
During the ]1996 Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...
she was awarded an MBE for services to bowls. Colling was recognised on her 100th birthday in 2019 by Bowls England[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colling, Nancie
English female bowls players
People from Colwyn Bay
Sportspeople from Conwy County Borough
1919 births
2020 deaths
English centenarians
Women centenarians