Wilford (54) earned this right when she beat Bart Robertson (Auckland) 7-4, 7-5 at the PBA finals in Dunedin over the weekend, to qualify for the World Indoor Bowls championships at Potters Leisure Resort.
She is only the second woman to win a national singles final since the New Zealand PBA series started in 2000.
Natasha Grimshaw (Hawkes Bay) beat Ken Walker (Dunedin) in last year's finals but did not travel to the United Kingdom.
``It will be an exciting event to play because I met a number of the guys from the United Kingdom when I played for Norfolk Island,'' Wilford said.
She played international bowls when she lived on Norfolk Island for 14 years and competed at World Bowls and Commonwealth Games, and played against men.
``They are more aggressive than the women and it made the game more interesting for me.''
She used this experience to beat Robertson with an accurate display of draw bowls at the national PBA finals at the Westpac Bowls Stadium in Dunedin at the weekend.
Wilford represented Norfolk Island at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and at World Bowls in Christchurch in 2008 and won a silver and bronze medal at the Asia and Pacific championships .
Wilford intended to retire from bowls when she returned to New Zealand but gained a new lease of life when winning the Taranaki women's open singles last year.
She spent 14 years in Norfolk Island with her husband and returned to New Zealand in 2013. She lives close to her married daughter in New Plymouth.
