28th July 2025

St Albans Bowling Club's mixed triples friendly fixture  away to Hatfield last Saturday was noteworthy for both teams having selected three players from the same family. Hatfield's team included three Browns, grandfather, son and grandson, whilst St Albans included Kevin Yiu and his wife Annie Cheuk and they were joined by their daughter. On the face of it the match score should have been closer as, of the five rinks played, both teams won two with the other being drawn. However, Hatfield's scoring across the rinks was more consistent, and the home team won by 91-60. St Albans' best performing rink was Paul Miles, Andy Kay and skip John Harvey.

Sunday was more successful, a rinks match at home to Hemel Hempstead. This was won by St Albans 72-61, with the top rink of Karen Marshall, Kevin Ingrams, Carole Ewer and skip Peter Kay winning 25-13.

21st July 2025

St Albans Bowling Club's fixture on Saturday was lost to the weather. The match was due to be played at Cheshunt but the Green could not recover quickly enough from that morning's deluge.

St Albans made up for that disappointment by winning convincingly at Clarence Park on the Sunday. Playing a mixed triples friendly at home to Kings Langley, St Albans dominated on four of the five rinks played, and notwithstanding two interruptions for rain the overall winning margin was 100-64. The top rink for St Albans included Paul Tillett who was playing in his first club fixture. He was partnered by Sally Griffiths and skip Andy Kay in achieving a rink score of 25-9.

14th July 2025

St Albans Bowling Club and their opponents braved the heat last Saturday to complete their mixed triples friendly at Clarence Park. North Mymms arrived short of two or three bowlers, so that there was a minor re-shuffling within both teams with St Albans lending one of their players to the visitors, and others sharing the bowling duties on some of the rinks.

Despite the late adjustments to the teams, the match was a thriller with St Albans edging home by a single shot to win 76-75. Top rink for St Albans was Deidre Moynihan, Irene Humphrey and skip Bob Pomeroy.

Possibly the most welcome feature for the bowlers was how, as the match progressed, the shade from the Clarence Park trees encroached across one end of most of the rinks to provide some intermittent relief from the hot sun.

30th June 2025

St Albans Bowling Club recorded a couple of wins last week. Tuesday evening was a rinks fixture at home to Potten End in round 2 of the Herts Open Team Championship. St Albans dominated the scoring throughout to win through to the next round and a third round tie against Harpenden. The overall winning score was 60 shots to 34, and top rink for St Albans was Kevin Yiu, Ray Hancock, Roy Andrews and skip Phil MacArthur.

The Saturday afternoon fixture was a mixed triples friendly played over three rinks. Played at Clarence Park against visitors Batchwood, St Albans dominated the scoring once more, notching 25 shots on each rink for an overall winning score of 75-27. On this occasion top rink for the home side was Richard Mok, Brenda Pitkin and skip Chris Palmer.

23rd June 2025

St Albans Bowling Club's midweek fixture last Wednesday ended in defeat, but was followed by a couple of wins at the weekend.

Playing Potten End away on Wednesday, due to a misunderstanding St Albans' men arrived a player short so that, in a triples match played across four rinks, Ray Hancock and Chris Debenham played as a pair, using four bowls each, against three opponents sending down three each. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Hancock and Debenham was the only winning rink for St Albans by 21 shots to 12. One other rink was drawn but the other two were lost for an overall defeat.

Saturday's mixed triples friendly was played at Tring, with the weather conditions being much more pleasant than the forecast had suggested. Even a short shower of rain was welcomed by all. The winning score was 60-55, with St Albans' top rink being Irene Humphrey, Deidre Moynihan and skip John Harvey.

Sunday's mixed rinks fixture away to Berkhamsted was even closer, the winning margin being a single shot, 66-65. Needless to say the result was in the balance until the final bowl on the last rink, St Albans taking the two shots needed to secure the win. The best performing rink for St Albans was Chris Debenham, Sally Griffiths, Sarah Hughes and skip Chris Palmer. This seemed unlikely when, faced with a large and growing deficit, they turned around their fortunes by winning the last nine ends to achieve a score of 16-10.

9th June 2025

St Albans Bowling Club played a 5 rink mixed triples friendly on Sunday away to Northaw & Cuffley. From the report given by stand in captain Bob Pomeroy it's difficult to tell whether the highlight of the day was the win or the meal that was provided afterwards - chicken stir fry followed by strawberries and cream! The win was impressive enough. The match was in the balance at the halfway stage, but St Albans pulled away from then to achieve a win by 99 shots to 69. Whilst top rink by 29-7 was Irene Humphrey, Ray Hancock and skip Pomeroy, special mention to the rink of Paul Miles, Paul Hughes and skip Mike Pitkin.  After 17 of the 18 ends, they were losing 10-17, but won by an incredible 8 shots on the last end to take the win.

On Monday evening St Albans' played at Metropolitan Bushey in round 1 of the Herts Open Team Championship, a rinks (4 bowlers per team on each rink) fixture.. St Albans won well on two of the three rinks, winning through to the next round with an overall match score of 54-48. Top rink, winning 21-12, was Chris Debenham, Richard Buchta, Mike Pitkin and skip Bob Pomeroy.

2nd June 2025

St Albans Bowling Club won one and lost one of last weekend's mixed triples friendly fixtures. On Saturday St Albans played at Hertford Castle and won convincingly by 87 shots to 71. Top rink honours with a score of 25-7 went to Tony Dolphin, Sarah Hughes and skip Chris Palmer.

Sunday's match was at Luton & Ashcroft. It was played on a dry unwatered surface and unfortunately the St Albans bowlers found the conditions difficult to cope with. All four rinks were lost and the overall losing score was 47-81.

26th May 2025

St Albans Bowling Club is already running follow-up coaching sessions for new bowlers who have attended the club's Open Days. This process will accelerate as a result of the last two Open Days that were held on Saturday and Sunday as part of Bowls England's Big Weekend.

On the playing front St Albans' men played a four rink triples friendly at North Mymms on Wednesday. Behind on most rinks at the half way stage, St Albans turned the match around to win by 60 shots to 52, with a top rink of Chris Debenham, Paul Colwill and skip Roy Andrews.

19th May 2025

St Albans Bowling Club began the week's bowls with a defeat but continued with two wins and a draw. The men lost a 4 triples friendly at Hatfield last Wednesday by 53-79, the top rink being Ted Salvidge, Roy Andrews and Ambrose Tam. The ladies won a 2 rink triples at home to Shire Park on Thursday by the convincing margin of 43 - 15. 

There were two mixed friendly matches at the weekend, Saturday's at home to Harperbury being won 72 - 57 with a top rink of Irene Humphrey, Sally Griffiths and skip Andy Kay. Sunday's away match against Hemel Hempstead was much closer, drawn 48 - 48, Irene Humphrey and skip Andy Kay excelling again, with Paul Miles, as the top  rink.

12th May 2025

St Albans Bowling Club lost heavily last Sunday in an away fixture at Welwyn & District. Losing on all three rinks, the overall deficit was 27 - 70. The best performing rink for St Albans was Paul Miles, Eileen Englebright, Irene Humphrey and skip Andy Kay.

More successful for the club was last Saturday's Open Day. 23 people attended to try bowls for the first time, with the majority signing up for follow up coaching sessions. Others have committed to attending the next Open Days, to be held on 24 and 25 May.

5th May 2025

St Albans Bowling Club's encouraging start to the new season continued with a win on a chilly afternoon last Saturday at Potten End by 89 shots to 61. Top rink was Paul Hughes, Deidre Moynihan and skip Peter Kay.  However St Albans fell just short of extending a winning weekend sequence through narrowly losing at Luton West End by 61 shots to 56, this time the top rink being Peter Browne, Tony Dolphin and skip John Harvey.

28th April 2025

St Albans Bowling Club had a good start to the new season with two away wins in mixed friendly matches.  On Saturday, St Albans beat North Mymms in a close fought encounter by 68 shots to 64. The crucial top rink included Richard Hall and skip Chris Palmer.  Sunday's fixture was at Shire Park, the win being by 65 shots to 57. Top rink this time was Richard Mok, Sally Griffiths and skip Chris Palmer. 6th 

6th April 2025

The St Albans Bowling Club's 2025 outdoor season will formally start on the first bowl being sent down this Saturday afternoon, 12 April, by the Mayor of St Albans. This will be on the Club's Clarence Park Green.

Clarence Park will also be the venue for three Open Days the club will be running as part of Bowls England's annual Big Weekend. The three dates in question are Saturday 10 May, Saturday 24 May and Sunday 25 May, all of them being run between 10am - 4pm. Club volunteers will be available to provide taster sessions for anyone who has not tried the game before. Every effort will be made to accommodate anyone who turns up on the day, although it would be helpful if groups of 4 or more could call or email Richard Hall to book a suitable slot for you, on 07429 407365 or [email protected]

All equipment is provided free of charge, but please wear flat soled shoes such as trainers. Light refreshments will be available.