Sydney Drysdale
Sidney Drysdale was an international lawn bowls competitor for England.
In 1962 he captained the winning English team in the fours competition at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in Perth, Western Australia.
On his return to his home town, he was awarded the Whitley Bay Town Cup and Freedom of the Borough
Biography
Drysdale was born in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne. His family had been Blacksmiths for generations at Bowsden in the north of Northumberland, but Drysdale's father, John, moved to Heaton in the eighteen nineties to start his own Blacksmith's business.Drysdale was educated at Newcastle Royal Grammar School 1915–1920 and, after working on the quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne for a shipping firm, started his own haulage contracting firm in 1933 when he moved to live in Whitley Bay.
Bowls career
After a promising football career, brought to a halt by injury, Drysdale had started to play lawn bowls at the Whitley & Monkseaton Bowling Club and won many local competitions leading him to be selected to play for Northumberland. In 1953 he was successful in winning through to the last 64 of the English national singles competition who then played at Paddington in London to determine the overall winner. Sid reached the semi-final before losing to international Algy Allen after a close and exciting match watched by a very large crowd.As a result, in 1954 he was selected to play for England as a skip. After skipping his rink of four to ten international matches he remained an English international until 1965. The highlight of his time as an English international player was winning England's first gold medal, as skip of their lawn bowls four/rinks with David Bryant, Tom Fleming and Les Watson, at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1962, held in Perth, Western Australia. For this achievement Drysdale was awarded the Whitley Bay Town Cup and given the Freedom of the Borough.