Tributes are paid to ‘legend’ Peter Roden after four decades bowling
Shropshire’s bowls fraternity is slowly coming to terms with the shock loss of one of its legendary figures of recent decades.
The funeral of Peter Roden will take place at Telford Crematorium on Monday after he lost a two-month battle with cancer – which had been kept very private – on March 9 in hospital, aged 63.
His bowls feats were stellar and as recently as 2018 Peter skippered Mid Shropshire to success in the Shropshire veterans inter-league championship in Whitchurch in his own inimitable way.
But Peter, widely known as Harkin due to his passion for Shrewsbury Town Football Club, boasts a bowls CV that stretches back 40 years, being part of the brilliant Donnington Wood team that did the treble of the Mid Shropshire League, Harris Cup and County Cup in 1987.
A key founding father of the of the Shropshire Premier League in 1994, Peter served as its competition secretary for three years from 2005, a post he later went on to fill at Mid Shropshire and county association levels, before serving Shropshire as a junior and senior selector.
Having bowled for two seasons at Wrockwardine Wood, Peter eventually signed for Bowring with his son Rob, with the ultimate goal of getting the Wellington club into the Premier League.
He ruffled a few feathers but delivered the dream in 2008 when Bowring won the Mid Shropshire League’s first division and then beat his old club Donnington Wood in the Premier play-off final.
Another hugely proud moment was seeing his son crowned County Merit champion in 2015 at Allscott, followed a year later by Bowring winning the County Cup at Prees.
“In 2018 he moved to bowl closer to home at Trench with wife Pauline, but he remained always happy to give his opinion from his vast knowledge of the sport he held so close to his heart,” said Mid Shropshire secretary Malcolm Fletcher.
A Just Giving page set up by his family in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support has already raised £1,700 and, with the funeral limited to just 30 people, a live stream of the service will be available.
