A HELENSBURGH woman has been inducted into the Scottish Indoor Bowling Association’s Hall of Fame.

Burgh bowler Annette Christie has an impressive record as one of the top female bowlers in the country, having amassed 60 international caps for Scotland during her time playing the sport, and she earned the latest recognition at the SIBA awards night last Saturday.

Her bowling career began nearly 60 years ago when she and her late husband, Len Evans, took up the game and their marriage brought them to Glasgow and the proximity of Kelvingrove Park’s public bowling greens.

Len was keen to join the local bowling club but decided to try the game first, with Annette encouraged to be his ‘opposition’.

It was clear from those early beginnings that Annette had a natural talent for bowls, though at that time few would have thought just how far it would take her in her chosen sport.

A member of Willow Bank Bowling Club in Glasgow’s west end, she won the club championship regularly in the ensuing years.

Her success did not go unnoticed: a winner of the Scottish and British Isles singles championship and four time winner of the West of Scotland singles championship, she became a Scottish internationalist, going on to win 30 outdoor caps.

She competed in the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986 and Auckland in 1990, as well as two World Championships, in Melbourne in 1985 and Auckland three years later, winning gold in the fours in Australia.

Annette has been a member of the West of Scotland Indoor Bowling Club for 43 years and was a founding member of Whiteinch Indoor Bowling Club.

For five years she was a member of Dumbarton IBC, continuing as a record-breaker by winning club championships and the Scottish indoor pairs title.

She also managed the Scotland women's junior international team for nine years and after joining Helensburgh Bowling Club became a qualified coach.

Across her career Annette, whose late father William was also a noted bowler at county championship level, has 97 singles competition wins to her name as well as multiple pairs, triples and fours titles.

Charles McDowall and Jim Muir were also inducted into the Hall of Fame at the SIBA gathering.