Welcome to Abington Bowling Club

IT'S NEVER OVER until all the woods have been played. Abington's Triples League 'A' and 'B' sides proved that with late comebacks in this week's fixtures.​

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​​​​​​​ With only a handful of ends remaining on each rink, both were on the verge of a highly damaging defeat to an immediate rival for their league position. The A-team were set to lose ground on Earls Barton A in the battle for 1st Division survival, while the B-team, away at Carlsberg's green in Far Cotton, faced tumbling from top spot in Division 3, out of the promotion positions altogether.

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Yet, both triumphed. Tony O'Leary's rink found an additional nine shots over the final five ends to transform the As' crumb of comfort into a liferaft, finishing 25-9. At the same time, Iain Walker's trio finally hit a similar scoring vein, recovering respectability on their rink score and helping deliver a seven-shot aggregate win for Abington, despite two losing rinks to one success. On a night where Kettering Lodge suddenly came to life for their best result so far, it may prove vital.

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Similarly, the difference between the situation at 14 ends and the result at 16 for the Bs was night and day, both in terms of the match, and potentially for the season as a whole. Top result of the night was skipped by Rob Archer, but this had looked extremely unlikely when they managed only one shot in the first seven ends, to 10 against. Their remarkable fightback to finish 17-13 up transformed the match as a whole, but a word of praise also for Terry Brown's rink. who scored a six on the very last end. If it had gone the other way, Abington would have lost to a side who came into the game breathing down their necks in the league table. In this league's format, you can make a difference even amidst personal defeat.

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Everyone will need to play their part if the C-team are to complete a dramatic turnaround of their own. In their case, that would mean the campaign as a whole. For the second week running, the Cs failed to register a single point. While it wasn't a thrashing like last week's trip to Northampton West End, this one will have hurt more in being precisely what their clubmates battled hard to avoid, a defeat to a league rival. Byfield taking all five leaves Abington 'C' adrift by almost twice that in the relegation mire of Division 2.

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*THE WOMEN'S league team resumed winning ways at the delayed start of the second half of their campaign. Postponements and a couple of defeats had sent Abington down from 3rd to 7th (of 8) ahead of last Friday's fixture against Harpole, but a rise back up the table is more than achievable. And they made a good start to the venture with what can only be described as a mauling. 45 shots to 11 unsurprisingly earned all four points and a scaling of the first rung of the ladder, as they moved up to 6th.

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18/07/2026: "THAT'S BOWLS, MATE." Those three words greeted many bowlers at Abington over the last several decades. Teammates and opponents. In victory, and in consolation after defeat. It was a simple, disarming catchphrase that, for what it lacked in poetry, somehow captured the purest essence of this sport. Our club now mourns the man who coined it, Alan Coleman, who has died after a long illness.​

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​​​​​​​One of Abington's most convivial and popular members for over 40 years, on his day Alan could bowl with the best of them. Five times a winner of the men's handicap title (the first in 1987, the last in 2015) and four times the veterans cup winner, his name is on the big board as men's club champion in 2006.

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However, his finest achievement came 10 years before that, when he was the middle-man in a triple that qualified for the national championships. Both his teammates, Dave Fage (lead) and Jonathan Brown (skip), credit Alan - always an energetic presence on the green - as the driving force behind their combination. They were still racking up Toms-Knight Trophy successes at Abington until as recently as 2023.

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The club extends its condolences to Alan's family and friends, many of whom he leaves behind at Abington. We have all lost a very dear mate today.

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*Funeral details will be posted as soon as we are aware of them.

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18/07/2026: ANOTHER DOUBLE SEMI-FINAL defeat cast Abington out of the Northants men's senior fours. As with the women's version, with 50% of the last four, hopes were high for a guaranteed Leamington qualifier before the final was even played. But again, this was where the story ended.​

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​​​​​​​ The host venue, Northampton West End, had to deal with a burst drain and flash floods on Mendip Road, where they are located. Sadly, it proved an apt metaphor for how our men felt by the close of play on the Friday, despite impressive performances from both in the quarters on the Wednesday. John Freeman's rink lost their semi 7-19 to Tim Chapman of Kingsthorpe. Dave Poole's fared slightly better but were beaten 16-22 by Mick Catlin of Thrapston.

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On the day in between, Simon David took Abington's involvement in the men's county singles to the latter stages, but could not find a way past Rob White of West End in the quarter-finals.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​