This week we caught up with the very honourable, Peter Baker.

“I started bowls in 1985, I’ve been on the committee since 1986, and have been with the same club ever since. I was bowls secretary for virtually 10 years and I have been President for a total of 13 years to date, (It was Bloomfield when I started and Ex-Services took over in 1986).

”I just got wrapped in it, I love the people who are involved with the club, it’s a relaxing atmosphere and I enjoy travelling around. We’ve gone from about 40 members to 100 in the last four years, we have a good committee and the members are great.

”This year, I won the trophy for ‘Club Person of The Year- I’m only the second person who’s won it for the Men’s Bowls Country Club (since 1988). I was very proud when I received it. When you put a lot of work and effort into something and you get something like that out if it, you feel it’s worth it. There were another 12 sports that went up against me. I’m very proud of my achievement at the club in the last three or four years and this trophy is something I am very proud of.

”Outside of bowls, you’ll find me in the garden, over the last seven years I’ve had a vegetable nursery. I grow all sorts of vegetable plants, tomatoes and cucumbers. I trial and experiment with different things all the time, at the moment I’m growing strawberries in a big pipe with pots on the top, I’ve got them growing unreal- I’ll be picking an ice-cream container a day soon.

”My life is great, I just battle on, I enjoy life and I’m involved in a fair bit of voluntary work, I love to help people, that’s just who I am, that’s my nature and no one will change me.”

Editor: Peter has also been faithfully delivering OC Life to shops and businesses across Orange in the very early hours of each Thursday morning for us for several years. He’s one of our treasures.