David O’Brien looks at the career of Glynn Cookson, one of the region’s finest bowlers…

WHEN a young boy of 14 years of age walked on to Wharton Rec bowling green to play his first competitive match, no-one could have envisaged the stellar career that lay ahead of him.

Three years later, Glynn Cookson had claimed his first open competition win at Winsford Libs, which started a record of over 270 tournament wins on the open circuit that has lasted an amazing 45 years.

Introduced to the game by family members, Glynn has represented three Winsford teams in Wharton Rec, Over Park and his current team Wharton Cons.

Glynn also played for Budenburg BC, Altrincham in the Manchester Super League.

Locally, Glynn’s record is unrivalled – he counts 10 Guardian Cups, eight Roberts Bakery Cups and six Cowley Cups wins amongst his trophy haul.

Nationally, Glynn has claimed major honours in winning the All England in 1997, the Waterloo in 2001 and only defeats in two Champion of Champions finals has stopped him claiming the ‘holy trinity’ of bowls.

A win in the Talbot Trophy means he has won the two big Blackpool competitions. His biggest pay day in bowls was when he won the televised Bass Masters in 1994, where he received the first prize of £7,500.

Without doubt, Glynn couldn’t have achieved this without the support of his wife Linda and they have been happily married for 41 years.

Glynn also commented that Linda has been particularly helpful in spending his winnings!

A true family man, Glynn has one son and one daughter and now has five grandchildren, which keeps his hands full.

This fact has seen him re-assess his bowling commitments in recent years as he enjoys spending more time with his family. The second love of his life – after Linda – is Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

Glynn is also a proud Cheshire man with over 130 appearances for the county team, for whom he is still playing that number will continue to grow.

That coupled with five Cheshire Merit wins, the last in 2016, saw him inducted into the Cheshire County Bowls Association Hall of Fame in 2020.

What makes Glynn’s record more remarkable is that a large proportion of his tournament wins came in the 1980s and 1990s, when tournament bowls and the number of top players on the circuit was at its height.

Asked about how he saw the game in 2021, Glynn commented: “40 years ago, bowls was more than a hobby for a lot of players and sadly, this is not the case now.”

At the age of 62, Glynn is his enjoying his retirement and his bowling career is now winding down – he doesn’t play in as many competitions these days.

He is concentrating on enjoying playing the game in local leagues and meeting up with friends again after the last 12 months events of the global pandemic.

Whilst some may read this as a sign that Glynn’s days of winning lifting trophies has passed, only a fool would bet against him adding to his number of tournament wins over the coming years.