dsport is celebrating some of our members who often fly under the radar.  We start our Member Profile Series - Introducing .... Peter Horne "Hooks".

Peter was born with a condition called  " Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS)". He was born without all four limbs. This condition still occurs today. ABS occurs randomly. It’s not genetic, nor is it caused by anything a pregnant mother did or didn’t do during pregnancy

From a young age Peter was fitted with two artificial legs, a hook left arm and what they call an opposition plate on his right arm. That's why he is affectionately known as "Hooks".

One of four siblings he attended normal schools through to high school.

Through his life, Peter has worked mainly in engineering, but has also tried his luck forklift driving, being a garage manager, Mitre 10 staffer, mystery shopper, a signal man for Kiwi Rail, and these days a part time courier driver.

Peter has had a fantastic sporting life having played all sports at school, then pool, darts, table tennis, and indoor bowls. In the late 1970's he took up outdoor lawn bowls and soon found he was pretty good at it.  He joined the Taita Bowling Club and soon found was able to play with and against some of the best bowlers in NZ.  Peter soon found myself winning club titles then a centre title with his father Ron, with whom he had lots of success.

In 1988 Peter was selected to represent New Zealand at the Paralympic's in Seoul, South Korea.  Unlike today, Peter and his team mates had to self-fund to get there, but this was a great incentive to perform for my team of backers and club friends. And perform he did, winning Gold in the Singles and Bronze in the Pairs.

Peter is understand when he says "I have won many club and two more centre titles against the able bodied, plus 10 World Disabled Bowls tournaments". 

One real disappointment for Peter was having his team withdrawn from the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

He is a founding member of NZ Disabled Lawn Bowls and their current President. In his 42nd season of lawn bowls Peter still loves the game.

High lights of his life include obtaining my drivers license, winning a centre title with my father, winning major tournaments with my friend Don Wadsworth and Rowan Brassey, and being a Hutt Valley Sports Legend.

Peter is not only a great bowls player, he's also a bit of a handyman around home, although not quite as successful as this funny story tells.

Peter was changing the filter on my DVS heat pump.  This meant going up in the ceiling. So Peter, being Peter, decided to do another job while up there - letting off some borer bombs.

Unfortunately for Peter, while he was in the ceiling the latter fell and he was trapped.  No way down, no one hearing his call for help and with no one else at home he was stuck. Thinking about his situation, Peter noticed some extension cord he had left in the ceiling and decided if he took is arm off, the one with the hook on it, he could tie it to the cord and try and lasoo the ladder.  Believe it or not, it worked and Peter as able to extracate himself from the ceiling, but he did get a bit of ribbing from his friends.  Next time Hooks, ask for help before you go up in the ceiling!

Wellington Para swimmer Erin Knox celebrates Youth Week by interviewing fellow Wellington swimmer Lewis Clareburt.

Lewis was planning on being in Tokyo in July for the Summer Olympics. With Covid-19 causing the Games to be deferred until next year, Erin took the opportunity to find out more about Lewis and how he has been coping without a pool in lockdown.

Join Erin and Lewis chatting about swimming, lockdown, and study.

https://youtu.be/_ZRd_cqk2kA