In the 1960s heyday of ten pins, people were quite literally bowled over when they went bowling.
“Your article about the Magnet Bowl in Darlington brought back fond memories for me, as I met my husband, there in 1967, quite by chance,” says Margaret Williams.
The Magnet Bowl is in East Street – well, what’s left of it is. As Memories 576 told, it is currently being demolished.
“I was a primary school teacher at Cockton Hill, Bishop Auckland, and my friend, Jean, was a teaching assistant. We used to go shopping on the bus to Darlington most Saturdays.
“One Saturday after shopping and before heading home, we decided to visit the Magnet Bowl. We enjoyed our game and started going every week.
“During one visit, Jean noticed two young men and began talking with them. They were Richard and Les, two RAF servicemen who were stationed at Leeming.
“Jean quite liked Richard but Les had other ideas!
Margaret Williams, who found love in the tenpin bowling alley. Picture: Sarah Caldecott
“When it was time to catch the bus home, Les and Jean arranged to meet up the following Saturday and Richard and I tagged along just to make a foursome.
“For several weeks we met to eat and bowl as romance blossomed for Jean and Les.
Richard Williams in his RAF uniform
“Then one Saturday, as we were parting to go our separate ways, Richard kissed me for the first time (we were both quite shy) and that was it! We had become a couple too!
“Richard and I were married in 1968, with Jean as bridesmaid. We went on to have three wonderful daughters.
“We were married for 47 years. Sadly, Richard contracted Motor Neuron Disease and died in 2015.
“Jean (now Murshed who lives in Witton-le-Wear) and I are still friends and always have lots to talk about when we get in touch. Unfortunately her association with Les fizzled out! Happy days.”
Margaret and Richard Williams
The Magnet Bowl in 1967
“THEY were great days in the bowling alley and many of us met our partners there, including my wife, Carol, and I, and we’ve just celebrated our golden wedding anniversary,” says Ian Lax.
Ten pin bowling was part of the American rock-n-roll zeitgeist of the 1960s when 160 bowling alleys sprung up all over the country, many of them built by chains, like the Magnet Bowl, which opened on May 11, 1966.
For a while, it was extremely popular. Ian has a cutting which tells of one of his greatest bowling moments, when the Darlington team – known as the Tsukuri Agents – won a tournament which involved 64 teams from across the north at an alley in Sunderland competing for a total prize fund of £165.
“It was Darlington's Tsukuri Agents who took just under £100 with some superb bowling,” says the report using language only a ten pin aficionado would understand. “They won £82 for winning with a handicap total of 1,899. Young Pete Shaw hit a tremendous tournament high game of 256, which followed games of 207 and 200 to total a high scratch series of 663. It won him £16 10 shillings and five points in the North East points table. He was well backed up by Keith Martin, 537, and Ian Lax, 525.”
According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator, £100 in 1966 is worth more than £1,300 today, so this was serious money for those 1960s teenagers.
The Tsukuri Agents: Ian Lax, Keith Martin, Ena Prattley (who bowled for England), Keith Baron and Ken Wood. Tsukuri is a knock-out move in karate
DENNIS DAY, who now lives in Scotland, was an inaugural member of the Magnet Bowl in 1966.
“I worked for the Chemical and Insulating Company in Faverdale, and our team was called The Cico Men,” he says. They played in the Wednesday 7s midweek league.
“My team members included Dennis Robinson, Ray Metcalf and Jimmy Howe, who all worked at the chemical works.
“We won the pinfall total in the 1967-68 season, and I still have the trophy on display in the house!
“The Tsukuri Agents played in the same league and were the team to beat – I think we only managed it once!
“They were great days, very competitive but very sporting too – we would all adjourn upstairs after the matches for a drink in the Magnet's bar.
“I was saddened when it closed down, even more so to see it falling into the state it became.”
The Magnet Bowl closed on February 20, 1970, at a time when many of the region’s bowls were tumbling like ninepins. It has since been a nightclub and a sports shop, but is now being demolished.
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