BILLY BOWDEN

[_andy_]

adding to Dwhite post on famous people with RA ,, i cant go without giving this fella a special mention ..

billy bowden played cricket at a high level in new zealand ,, untill RA hit him at 21 , and finished his cricket dream of playing for his country .. it finished him from playing cricket at a high level ,, but he went on to be a top cricket umpire , and now he s the man in charge of any top international test match ..

in cricket ,, when a appeal is made for a wicket ,, the players will shout out HOWZ ZAT ???? youve all heard it .. if the umpire believes the batsman is out .. he will raise his arm and hold out one finger ,, this is the signal to say the batsman is out ,, billy bowden ,, does this in a different way to any other umpire ,, and he raises his crooked finger ,, he also has his own way to signal a six , where again he holds up his arms and gives a little dance , and agian holds out his crooked finger ,,, his different hand signals in umpiring cricket have become famous around the world ,, and the reason for him doing all this , is not to make people feel soory for him ,, but to spread the word and spread awareness ..

in the cricket world ,, all players supports just love billy bowden ,, with his funny ways of hand signals and his cheeky smile ... he s certainly got people talking about RA in the cricket world ..

[Hidden]

Brilliant Post Andy.... Positive and inspiring! Go Billy Bowden

[sylvi]

Brilliant.xx

[watson3]

Fantastic. I say go go Bill Bowen

[watson3]

Missed the d now bill wouldn't have missed that one.

[_andy_ in reply to watson3]

next time you see cricket on the tele ladies ,, before switching it over ( like you do ) just check n see , if its billy whos the umpire and wait for something to happen ,, youll see him do his silly dance ... its all for RA ...

[Hidden]

Andy... How did you know??? ;). Will most certainly look out for him now!

[_andy_ in reply to Hidden]

for years and years , i thought the same as phoebe , just thought he was just being eccentric ,, wasnt till i read an article in a newspaper about him and his battle with RA .. i was shocked but also thought good on you billy ..

i feel strongly about this ,, i feel half or maybe even more of the world believe arthritis is something you get when your old .. and its just abit of stiffness in the old joints nothing to worry about ..

[Hidden in reply to _andy_]

That's why someone who is well known and current would be great to front a campaign for us...somebody that would grab people's attention to raise awareness about RA and that's it's also not just an "old" persons condition!

[Hidden]

I know who you mean, and have seen his signals. I thought he was just being eccentric.

[allanah]

Excellent, will you email him and tell him we r all talking bout him, he is a handsome chap!

[_andy_ in reply to allanah]

if its like the last person i named on here ,, he`ll be along shortly

[allanah]

Good! Look forward to it!! He could be our site hero!!

[miss]

Lovely blog Andy keep em coming .........................Ta

[Hidden]

That's a great real life story Andy - I will watch out for him from now on! Tilda x

[Shell1967]

A lovely read Andy,thankyou.i will now look out for him too xxx

[shirlthegirl]

Thanks Andy a great read, I will also look out for him now, I'm not a cricket lover myself but my hubbies mum loves it, i will have to ask her if she has herd of him XX

[_andy_ in reply to shirlthegirl]

hi shirl .. yea you ask her ,, i bet she has .. ? a quid ? ok ... xx

[allanah in reply to _andy_]

Going to see my mate,he loves cricket, he will know him, but I won't bet, what a full quid!! Xxxx