Or maybe he did, for Bill knew what we on the sports team at Chad also realised, that although bowls was immensely popular in the Mansfield area, there was a gap waiting to be filled on the sports pages for such a regular feature.

The rest, as they say, is history and since then, until his health began to fail in May, Bill rarely missed submitting his weekly piece.

Bill, who was always keen to see young people take up bowls, in fact did not do so at a young age himself. He did not venture onto a bowling green to send a wood down in competition until 1991, when he was 57 - but he was soon hooked.

Although having lived in the Mansfield area previously, at that time he was resident in Tewkesbury, where he played regularly both indoor and outdoor.

By the time he returned to Nottinghamshire in 1998 he had improved his game sufficiently to be among the honours.

Bill partnered Jean Meek to the Weston-Super-Mare Tournament title and the pair also twice figured in the semi-finals at the resort, as well as reaching the area finals of the National Mixed Pairs, and winning the locally prestigious Eastnor Tournament along with Jean and her husband Jeff.

And his Herefordshire swansong saw Bill and Jean joining forces with Edric Vorsterman and Fred Orme to make a clean sweep of the county’s fours, triples and pairs. Bill also found his way to doing some local radio work on bowls in that area.

On his return to Nottinghamshire Bill moved to Rainworth and joined the Rainworth MW club, but spent a year travelling betwen home and the Malvern Hills to play in both areas before finally giving up his flat in Tewkesbury.

Having ‘signed’ for the Chad he subsequently switched clubs to Brierley Forest where he spent a couple of seasons, before rejoining Rainworth for this summer. But he was destined never to play for them this year as his heath - he suffered with emphysema - took a turn for the worse.

And while attending a tournament in the south of England he was admitted to hospital - but still continued to send his column whenever he could.

Bill’s greatest delight in bowls was to play alongside Jean Baker at South Forest - his partner Sheila told Chad that he used to describe himself as Jean’s ‘greatest fan’.

Sheila added: “Bill always looked forward to playing at Skegness and his great ambition was to win a ‘Jolly Fisherman’ - but that was not to be.”

Bowls was not Bill’s only sporting passion.