Put on your dancing shoes and join in the fun at Maht Mahs Dec. 6. The Smokehouse Brothers, a Classic Rock and Country Band, will do an hour-long set during a Loonie Toonie to raise funds to send singer Randy Fred to New Zealand for the world championships for visually impaired lawn bowlers.
Fred is a national champion at least a half-dozen times over, but he’s never been to the international lawn bowling competition. His past directors, used to help the blind lawn bowler judge distance and direction, had never wanted to travel to the worlds.
This year, however, his newest director, Don Sherry, an athlete of considerable note in his own right, an inductee to the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, is game and ready to go. For the two of them to attend the 10-day competition, Fred and Sherry will need to raise $10,000.
Fred’s been lawn bowling for about 14 years, inspired by fellow visually impaired bowler Shirley Cole who was always on the road in competition. Their home pitch is at Bowan Park in Nanaimo, where Fred said the grounds are superior to any other pitch in Canada.
As a teen, Fred’s sport was soccer and he was quite the player with a place on three teams in Port Alberni. But at 15 he was declared legally blind. He thought he was just a clumsy guy, he told Ha-Shilth-Sa, but he was suffering the slow moving effects of retinitis pigmentosa.
The degenerative disease took a long time to diagnose, Fred said. It starts with the loss of peripheral vision, what many would describe as tunnel vision. At the time they thought only old women with diabetes could get the disease, said Fred, so little did they know about it.
Fred lost the vision in his left eye first, about 25 years ago. A doctor told him there was a 50/50 chance of losing his sight completely and, sure enough, his right eye went about 14 years ago, about the same time as he started lawn bowling. He said the candor of the doctor prepared him in his mind for what was to come.
The 64-year-old Fred said he’s excited at the prospect of heading to New Zealand, describing the championships as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. He’s sure it will be highly competitive, but says he’s up for the challenge.
“I have to go for broke,” he laughed when asked what his chances are of reaching the finals.
It will be a unique event in that it will be 10 days long. His usual competitions are about six-days long, so Fred’s working hard to keep in shape, especially his thighs because he crouches to throw the ball. He uses a tai chi warm-up routine so his legs don’t cramp up.
Fred’s daughter Allison Howard said she was excited and overwhelmed on hearing about her dad’s planned trip. She’s been worried about the isolation that comes with visual impairment and the competition will be a tonic for him. Fred said there is an important social component of the championships.
Howard wanted to do something to help her dad out to make sure he has a comfortable trip and her kids said, ‘Let’s do a Loonie Toonie.’ And everyone is pitching in where they can. Son Thomas Zarelli is cooking up the fry bread for the Indian Tacos that will be served from the concession. There are eight vendor tables that have been booked, with more available if anyone is interested. The auction items will consist of cultural items like drums and a cedar hat, some name brand clothes and art on canvas. More items will be added over the weekend so watch the Facebook page leading up to the event. https://www.facebook.com/events/587048964757287/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
There has been a beer and burger fundraiser held in Nanaimo that raised about $2,200 and there is a fundraising site that is taking donations for the journey. See the link here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/3tVHb?psid=2926281d86874035a2fa5b1f0906ee61&fb_ref=share__64FzA7
Fred is feeling confident that he’ll be able to have the dollars in place before he leaves for the competition on Feb. 13, 2015. And he’s looking forward to getting together with the Smokehouse Brothers for the event at Maht Maht.
It’s a five-member band with Fred, Johnny Touchie, Aaron Watts, Lewis Beck from Nanaimo, and grandson Thomas, who wanted to sing a song for his granddad. He’s chosen to sing Joy of My Life by John Fogerty.
The Smokehouse Brothers will take the stage at 3 p.m. Loonie Toonie draws will be started at 4 p.m. with pre-bids starting at 11 a.m.
