Obituary: Former Warwickshire County Bowls Association president Geoffrey Sweet from Stratford

TRIBUTES have been paid to a former president of the Warwickshire County Bowls Association and Midland Counties Bowls Association who has died aged 89.

Geoffrey Sweet, of Wellesbourne – formerly a Stratford resident – died peacefully at home on 23rd August.

He was born in Banbury Road, Stratford, in January 1933, and attended King Edward VI School in the late 1940s where his love of sport blossomed.

After national service in the RAF, he joined his father and brother who were working for A.M. Bailey Ltd, wholesale fruit and potato merchants, auctioneers and valuers at their original premises in Rother Street before the move to Western Road. Later in his working life, Mr Sweet was employed as a dispatch manager for Pashley Cycles.

Throughout his life Mr Sweet played an active part in the town and county’s sport. He was a regular member of the first XI and colts cricket at school from 1945 to 1949, and on leaving school he played football in the Stratford League for Alveston and was a keen member for many years of Alveston Cricket Club.

He was a member of Stratford Bowls Club for more than 40 years where he served as club captain. He became president of Warwickshire County Bowls Association in 1998. He also served as president of Midland Counties Bowls Association in 2005-6.

He was a member of a Stratford team that won the Warwickshire County Triples Bowls title in 1983 and his team finished as runners-up in the County Fours competition in 2004.

Throughout his happily married life of over 60 years, Rita his wife, who died in 2014, was his constant companion and support. He leaves a son, Neil.

The bowls players in Stratford and the rest of the county will remember him very fondly, particularly for his integrity and sportsmanship.