A NEW form of entertainment – and, in the view of our sister paper, the Evening Times, “practically a new way of life for many Glasgow people” – arrived in the summer of 1963.
The city was about to experience the joys of ten-pin bowling, with the opening of the £400,000, 32-lane Brunswick Hampden Bowl, at Mount Florida. “Scots people are too keen just to go and watch sport,” said the centre’s manager, Mitch Currie.
“Ten-pin bowling is the answer to this, because it is a sport that everyone can play.”
Brunswick’s advisory star bowler, Bob Guy, a former porter at London’s Smithfield market, was impressed by the large number of Glaswegians who had been receiving training over the last few days.
“There is no doubt about it, the Scots catch on quickly,” he said. “Already I have seen many people who have picked up the knack and will be very good.”
The Scots who had been trained would form the nucleus of teams that would make up leagues and compete for trophies.
The venue’s facilities included a snack lounge, a members’ lounge, and a private meeting room.
No effort had been spared to attract family groups: a children’s playroom, staffed by two fully qualified nurses, would, in the words of the Evening Times, “allow junior to bawl while mum bowls”.
In the photograph, instructor Claire Williams demonstrates the sport for the benefit of onlookers.
The centre was opened by John Henderson, the MP for Cathcart, while the Rangers player Davie Wilson and Celtic’s Frank Haffey were given the task of bowling the first two balls.
Neither quite managed a strike. Haffey’s first ball (a blue one, incidentally) went into the gutter, but Wilson’s first ball knocked down eight pins.
“I am confident,” Mr Currie said, “that ten-pin bowling will change many people’s habits. They won’t watch television so much – I think they’ll prefer to come here.”
Read more: Herald Diary
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