If you thought bowls was a sedate game for gentlefolk of a certain age, meet 23-year-old Annie Bellamy who has been selected to play for England at international level.

Miss Bellamy is currently a student cardiac physiologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn.

But in November she will join the three other members of the England senior team to travel to Portugal to battle it out in the European Bowls Championship.

The 23-year-old has been a keen bowls player at competition level since the age of 11, having followed her dad's interest in the sport.

She said: 'It seems to be a common view that it's a game for older people – but that just isn't so. It's exciting and not at all as you would imagine, if you don't know the sport.

'When you play for England and in team events there's lots of shouting, high fives, running up and down the green and air horns.

'The oldest player in the Commonwealth Games was aged about 40, so it's certainly no longer a game for older people.'

Miss Bellamy, who lives in Gedney, has just finished the third of a four-year degree course involving block release at Anglia Ruskin University and her ambition on qualifying is to progress to carrying out heart scans.

But she has said she is equally focused to take on Europe's finest later this year. She is also a member of the national junior team and has played in championships against Wales, Scotland and the Channel Isles. She continued: 'It has now become a hugely popular sport amongst young people. My advice is give it a go. It can be really exciting. It's given me such amazing opportunities. I have been all over the world and made so many friends.'