Team England's Gill Platt believes that Birmingham 2022 was the turning point in getting more disabled people playing bowls.

Platt, 77, saw her sporting dreams come true as she took to the greens at Leamington Spa for her maiden Commonwealth Games and reached the women's B6-8 pairs bronze medal match.

Platt and her teammate Michelle White may have sadly missed out on a medal to South Africa but the Surrey bowler admitted that it is her impact off the green that she is proudest of.

"I'm glad to have put disability bowls on the map," she said. "Since the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, I think it's only got better and made people look and think they could do that.

"The sport has opened up to everyone. When you look around now, whatever bowls club you go to, there is someone with a disability playing.

"Some of the clubs make you so welcome and really go out of their way to make access really available, with ramps and other facilities.

"I'm very proud of what we did and what we achieved. In front of all the world, we proved that people with a disability can actually bowl just as well as everybody else, and in fact, sometimes better."

Para bowls is one of six para sports set to return to the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow 2026, continuing the event's proud heritage of inclusion and accessibility.

Platt is a polio survivor, having caught the virus as a young girl, but admitted that her earliest memories of bowls stem back to before that time, from her grandmother's influence and dad's encouragement.

"My nanna used to play bowls and so I remember going to watch her," she said. "Then my dad was a carpenter and joiner, and he made us a little set of woods that we used to play with in the garden. So I was playing bowls when I was four or five in the garden, just messing about.

"Then in 1984, a local club near me advertised for lady players and my husband encouraged me to go along.

"They said you all have to be coached, but after I'd done two ends they told me I didn't need coaching because I was too good!"

From there, Platt's bowling career flourished, creating waves at both county and national level before making her first Disability Bowls England International squad in 2019.

She made her Commonwealth Games debut on home greens at Birmingham 2022, partnering with White for a memorable run at Leamington Spa.

"It was an amazing experience," she said. "To go and actually play for your country, in your own country, was incredible.

"Walking out onto the green at Leamington in an England shirt with my name on the back was something that I will always treasure."

Platt and White saw a tentative start to Birmingham, falling to South Africa in their opening match before roaring back with wins over Australia, Scotland and New Zealand, setting up a chance for silverware.

With a 16-7 loss to South Africa in the bronze medal match, the pair fell short of the podium but left with plenty of pride.

"We came out after the first loss and wiped the floor with Scotland and Australia," she said.

"We got through to play for the bronze medal and unfortunately we lost to South Africa, but I remember being interviewed by the BBC afterwards and Michelle and I were just smiling all the way through.

"That's just how we felt. We'd done our best, we'd got to that stage, and we went out there and did the best we could. 

"I think I've achieved so much that I don't have to prove [anything] to anybody anymore. I'm there to enjoy it for myself and to encourage a lot of other people to come through."

Bowls will return to the Games at Glasgow 2026 in a new indoor format.

It brings with it set of different challenges compared to the outdoor game, with faster play and less bias on the bowls.

A total of seven medals will be up for grabs, with three of those for para bowls and Platt has not kept her ambitions of a second Games quiet, striving to represent her country at the top level once more and introduce a whole new audience to the sport.

"I think it's amazing that we that bowls and para bowls have been included in Glasgow 2026 and it would be lovely for me personally to be there again," she said.

"It's going to be completely different, because it's going to be played indoors this time, not outdoors.

"It's quite a daunting thing because indoors and outdoors are completely different. Indoors is much faster and the greens are completely different, so it is a fun learning curve for everyone. 

"We have to see what happens. It would be such an honour to represent my country again."