VIEWER REPLIES – The first JYBC National Championships 1967

The introduction of tenpin bowling into Great Britain was more than just the launching of a new pastime. It represented a new development in the use of leisure, for there was a sport which depended not on a small band of highley trained experts performing for the entertainment of a mass of spectators, but a socially desirable sport in which people of both sexes and all ages could take part.

1958 AMF Bowling International formed

George Lord forms AMF Bowling International with offices in Saville Row and Manufacturing site to make tenpin pinspotters in Leytonstone, East London.

During 1961 AMF exported £120,000 worth of bowling equipment from Britain and expected to hit £800,000 by 1962.

1960 Tenpin Bowling Arrives in the UK

The first British tenpin bowling centre opened at 7pm on the 20th of January in 1960 at Stamford Hill.

Guests included Sir John Hunt and the MC was Eamonn Andrews at the 14 lane AMF equipped centre.

1964 Junior Youth Bowling Clubs start

How did we get to this date? Not convinced by a print magazine from 1966 it was time to ask a man who would know. UK Tenpin Hall of Famer Gordon “Jock” Caie. The story is JYBC was actually known as Jock’s YBC and he started it all for AMF back in 1964 when working for the company.

Was this true?

Jock told us – To answer your question about the birth of the JYBC in the UK . (notice it was never called just the YBC ). It started it off as the Junior Youth Bowling Club, sometimes called Jock’s Youth Bowling Club by some of my friends).

Now back to 1964 and the year I became the Promotions Manager of AMF international Ltd and the sales and the rush of Bowling Centre openings started to slow down. This meant that the Sales spending budget also slowed down. In fact the Promotion budget became very small and instead of giving all promotional materials to Proprietors free of charge we had to cover our costs and make a small charge on it.

Just about that time I had to attend a Sales and Promotions International meeting in Old Burlington Street. One of the items discussed was on Bowling Promotions and how to get youngsters into Centres on a regular or league basis. My counterpart in Australia had just started a Junior Youth Bowling Club and showed us all the materials they used. Of course I asked for it and low and behold this was how it came to the UK.

I latched onto this and approached some of the Proprietors who had AMF equipment such as Ambassador Bowling. Excel, Rank, and several independents with an offer of the materials and know how for the great sum of £10. It is difficult to say who purchased the first set of materials and started the first club, but I should imaging it was either Hull or Corby as these were the only Centres managed by AMF International at the time.

However, I did organize the first JYBC National Championships at the Ambassador Lanes, in Wolverhampton in 1967 and had a wonderful victory in the centre at the end.

In 1967 when we formed the new company of AMF Humber Bowling, it was sometime afterwards that it was handed over to the BTBA and it was renamed NAYBC by them.

First Junior Nationals

Viewer Replies – You can contact us or simply comment on each and every Talk Tenpin article at bottom of page.

My name is John Simmons and I started bowling at Sheffield Firth Park Bowl in the mid sixties in a junior league on Sat morning. I don’t remember when it changed exactly but I did play in the 1967 JYBC tournament mentioned in the article. I was 10 at the time so was in the Bantam Boys division, which I believe was 10s and under.

I managed to come away with the high game trophy, 167 if I remember correctly. I remember seeing a lot of Jock Caie at that time.

I still have the trophy on my memorabilia shelf, a bit battered as it used to be displayed on top of the television but kept getting knocked off and its lost an arm on the way. I have attached a photo in case it is of interest. I went onto bowl for 40 years till giving it up when I moved to Australia but have a lot of fond memories of the people and the game.It was good to see the photo of the programme and wonder if somebody still has it, if they could scan and email it to me, it would look good on the shelf.

Happy Bowling.

John Simmons

I am Malcolm Glover and I started bowling at ABC Bowl Leytonstone East London in 1962. At the time I was fourteen years old and accompanied by my older brother John. We got the bug and joined the Friday Junior League that was led by the bowl management and then my brother John became the secretary. It started off with two games for four shillings to keep the cost down and moved on to three games quite quickly. So I suppose that was six shillings plus a small amount sixpence or a shilling towards the trophy fund for three games.

There were already BTBA sanctioned leagues at Leytonstone and the Junior League became sanctioned after a presentation by Maurice Glazer. I still have my 1962 BTBA membership card that I think cost me ten bob cash! I remember AMF’s Bill Campbell presenting our end of league trophies. I suppose I played in this league for a couple of years and then bowled in the evening adult leagues. In my Junior years I also played in another Junior League at Stamford Hill I think on a Tuesday

In about 1964 I travelled to Belgium and Holland with a group of UK Juniors playing challenge matches with the local teams under the Keystone Boys Club banner led by Ron Tucker. Other people like Dave Jones – Pete Babot – Danny Katz – Dave Wigdor were also on this trip. All this preceded the NYBC organisation.

I still see odd members of the Leytonstone and Stamford Hill Junior leagues whilst out and about locally and at other centres. At Rollerbowl Romford these include Phil Caplan in the Blue and White League and Alan xxxxxx from the daytime Senior Leagues.

The YBC in Harlow was set up on 1 April 1967, when a group of adult bowlers decided to form a YBC. Harlow’s Dave Pond was of course making a name for himself at this time and this no doubt was one of the main reasons that about 20 children turned up at the bowl on the first day when a ‘meeting’ was held in the bowl managers office. The adults included Tony and Celia Merryweather, who now live in Holland on Sea and Ian Dabbs who now lives in Suffolk.

I was one of those children, then aged 13.

Others included Paul Whalley, Andy Mercer, Steve Dabbs and Jim Coote. The club attracted many children over the next five years, until Harlow Bowl closed in August 1972. For a couple of years following this we travelled to Corkwood Bowl In Hoddesdon.

When the new bowl in Harlow opened in 1999, Paul and I set up the new Harlow YBC. On the 40th anniversary of the original club we organised a reunion of some of the original members, who met with members of the new club at that time.

I could go on but this is about as brief as I can make it.

Malcolm Glover

I was one of those children, then aged 13.

Nicholas Taylor

Harlow YBC

The first JYBC National Championships were held at the Ambassador Lanes, in Wolverhampton in 1967. Junior bowling was just taking off in the sixties thanks in part to AMF bowling who started the Junior Youth Bowling Club and other junior clubs that had formed around the country. Early YBC’s included Wallasey, Sunderland, Corby and Hull.

As you can see from a two page spread in Tenpin Pictorial ahead of the event, some of the young players who would compete.