Gerry Bugden and Nikki Hamilton (Harvey) are to be inducted into the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame, which is kindly sponsored by Storm Products, Inc., through their UK distributors, Bowltech UK.
TBPA’s John Ashbridge, will be inducted in the Distinguished Services division, sponsored by the TBPA.
Nominations were made by each of the ten members of the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame committee and a list was drawn up. The Committee then had access to researched details on each player and a ballot was held to find the final Male, Female and industry names to be inducted in 2018.
The players selected were chosen for their achievements in World, European and Domestic tournaments and for additional honors like World Bowler of the Year and induction into the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame.
As well as the players being celebrated and honored an industry award for distinguished service was again selected. Since the sport arrived on our shores special individuals all over the United Kingdom have dedicated their time to improving the game and working tirelessly to make the sport better for everyone. From BTBA, YBC officials to tournament organizers these people are the backbone of our sport and make it possible for bowlers to reach for the stars.
So here is a brief run down of the 2018 inductees
Gerry Bugden is the first English male bowler to win an individual Masters Gold medal at the World Championships. He represented England as Adult level and no doubt would have won more medals if his career hadn’t been so tragically cut short. Read more here
Nikki Hamilton (Harvey) has had a tremendous bowling career representing England at both youth and Adult level. She has won medals with the England teams in the European championships including a Gold in 2004. He best individual performance was in winning the World Tenpin Masters, televised by Sky Sports, in 2003, against a World class field of mainly male bowlers, no ladies bonus in this one. Nicki is still involved in helping run the BTBA Senior Nationals.
John Ashbridge John started in bowling as manager or assistant manager at Nottingham prior to taking over from Norman Littlehales at Bitterne. Another of John’s early jobs was as manager of Bitterne Bowl in Southampton 1981.He was soon made area manager for the South of England under Brian North at AMF Bowling. He was a well respected area manager and was in line to step up to be head of the AMF Bowling centres in the UK when AMF planned to promote Brian North to head European Operations.
John joined Hollywood Bowl at Margate around 1993 and in a few short years was appointed regional manager and was responsible under Richard Cave in the expansion of the very successful Hollywood chain. He was also the Hollywood representative to the TBPA and served as Chairman for some years and was responsible for bringing the Annual Awards & Dinner to the industry. John continued in the TBPA to become the General secretary, a role that he retired from in March 2015. John is now an Honorary Vice-President of the TBPA.
John left Hollywood around 2000 to setup Dunstable and Fareham with Ulle Sahlgren and an investment banker. Then moved on to work for Peter Williams at Number Ten, a chain of centres that were eventually sold mainly to Namco.
John has had a long and distinguished career in many facets of the bowling industry and still has a great interest in Tenpin Bowling and regularly attends the TPBA’s meetings.
Presentations date will be announced soon.
Here is a more comprehensive list of the titles, medals and honours each of the inductees have won
Gerry Bugden
1968 Paris Fives – Winners
1973 European Championships, Dublin, Ireland – 8’s Team Silver
1975 World Championships, Tolworth, England – Team Bronze
1977 European Championships, Helsinki. – 8s Team Bronze
1978 Europa Cup, Belin, Germany – Team Winners
1979 World Championships, Philippines – Masters Gold, Team Silver
1980 World Of Tenpin Bowler of the year
1981 Deceased
Nikki Hamilton Harvey
1994 European Youth Championships, Finland – Trios Bronze, Team Gold, All Events Silver
1995 Strykers Bushbury Singles 1st
1995 PTBC Milton Keynes 1st
1995 Junior Bowler of the Year
1996 PTBC Newbury 1st
1997 AMF World Cup Qualifier 1st
1997 PTBC Airport 1st
1997 Triple Crown Scotland – Team Gold, Singles Gold
1997 Team England in European Championships in England – Team Bronze
1998 Wellingborough Doubles 1st
1998 Ladies UK Champion
1998 Sport personality of the Year and Sporting Colours for Excellence at Canterbury Christ Church College
1999 AMF World Cup Qualifier 1st
1999 Ladies UK Champion for the second year running
2001 Sheffield Singles 1st
2001 Tamworth Doubles 1st
2001 Ladies UK Champion for the third year running
2001 Paris Fives Tournament Team runners up
2002 AMF World Cup Qualifier 1st
2002 PTBC Airport
2002 Adult Team England in European Team Cup in Germany – Team Bronze
2002 AMF World Cup Runner up
2002 Part of the team to win the Paris Fives Tournament
2003 World Tenpin Masters, Dagenham 1st
2003 Adult Team England in the World Team Cup in Denmark – Team Silver
2003 PTBC Croydon 1st
2004 Coca Cola Fives 1st
2004 Adult Team England in World Team Cup in Holland – Team Gold
2006 Storm English Open 1st
2006 Storm English Open 1st
2006 PTBC Eliminator, Croydon 1st
2006 Scott Banks Trios – Singles 1st
2006 PTBC Dunstable
2006 PTBC Eliminator, Croydon 1st
2006 Scott Banks Trios – Singles 1st
2006 PTBC Airport
About the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame
A UK Tenpin Hall of Fame has been long overdue for many years. We have had many amazing bowlers who have won just about everything from World Cups and World Championships to PBA and European titles. But there was never a place to honour these exceptional bowlers until now. At long last some of the most influential people in UK bowling have been brought together to form the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame.
They include; International bowling writer and former World of Tenpin owner Keith Hale chaired the committee, Secretary of the Tenpin bowling Proprietors Association John Ashbridge, BTBA’s Jo Cundy, Bowltech UK’s Nick Keppe, Bowling Vision’s Graham Waller, TV Commentator Cass Edwards, PTBC’s Andy James, Former NST creator David Grainger, Former British Open organizer and AMF Humber’s Jock Caie and Talktenpin’s Dominic Gall.
