Crossroads and Characters

65. A MOST UNUSUAL BOWLING TEAM.

Included in this book are a couple of photographs taken much later than the rest. This one dates from 1946 and it illustrates that Dunning's ability to turn out unusual characters wasn't impeded by World War II.

Outwardly this team looks like any other bowling foursome. That's how they must have appeared to fellow bowlers when they competed as a team in the immediate post-war years. But they are hardly what they seem. The laconic description given by their surviving member sums it up: 'Four bowlers, three legs'. Three of the men had seen active service during World War I or II, and each of the four had suffered amputation.

Top left is the late Geordie Taylor, who had lost both his legs on active service in the First World War. He lived in Glasgow, but still came back to Dunning for three months every year to bowl.

Top right is the late Willie Murray. He was wounded in France in 1940 just prior to Dunkirk, losing a leg.

Bottom left is the late John 'Jock' Golder, a forestry worker who had lost his leg in a woods accident.

Bottom right is Charlie Laing, who still lives in Dunning. He served in World War II with the Black Watch. In 1944, while transporting ammunition to the front line after the Allied break-out from Normandy, he lost a leg when he was blown up by a mine.

Laing had started bowling just before the war. After, it somehow seemed inevitable that the four should team up as a rink

The rink was a good one. The four men competed not just in club games but represented Dunning against other clubs, and won most of their matches.

Four bowlers, three legs.