The Ten Pin Bowling Adventure

Fantastically Hexham has a brand new purpose built ten pin bowling alley. With 8 lanes is wonderful , just what the town needed thats for sure. Just before Christmas I got a call, 'would you like to come and try it out?' I was asked? That meant free bowling. Of course I would love to go bowling, silly question really, Id go to the opening of a paper bag most of the time.Thinking about it I hadn't been bowling for ages certainly before we lived here, but Ive always had a eye for this sort of thing and considered myself to be proficient at least.

Let me say the facilities are great and Id suggest it to anyone in the area. Me? I turned out to be not so great at bowling these days. First of all I found the balls to be unbelievably heavy, even the kids one. My brain has played tricks on me as they never seemed to be so heavy before but I forget I was a bit more able back then. I tried bowling but found the best I could manage was a slow lob down the lane which then dribbled into the side gutter before vanishing, hitting precise nothing. Then I tried the special ball with a handle rather than finger holes for people with limited hand strength cos thats me. I was marginally better as I did manage to hit a couple of pins. It was still fairly pathetic to be honest, and after 45 minutes I overcame pride, gave in and tried the ramp thingy they have for pushing the ball down. While it made it easier to hit something its not really the same. To me it makes it a lot less than it should be, that buzz of bowling at top speed down the alley isn't there any more. Sadly Ive had to come to the conclusion that I don't have the hand strength or dexterity to do much in the way of ten pin bowing, I shall have to look for another pastime but the kids loved it!