Alnwick Bowling Club is celebrating almost 150 years of operation with an image in the new 2026 “Old Alnwick in Photographs” calendar. The page for May 2026 shows club members and their wives gathered on their “new green” in 1894, although the club was actually founded in 1877, 148 years ago, now making it the oldest bowling club in Northumberland.
Some of the current membership are pictured with their copies of the new calendar.
L to R: Dorothy Topping, Mike Alexander, Sylvia Dale, Bob Davies, Allan Lofthouse, Carol Hume.
Mike Alexander, the club’s Competition Secretary said ” We were thrilled to learn that Bailiffgate Museum and Gallery had chosen our image from their archives to make one of their 2026 calendar pages. It’s a marvellously clear picture given its age, and shows that we had a strong membership in 1894. I’m pleased to say we still have, thanks to initiatives like our ‘Try Bowls for Free’ scheme”
Jean Humphrys, Chair of Bailiffgate said “This is the second year of our Old Alnwick Calendar, using images from our museum archives illustrating the rich history of our area. We have literally hundreds of lovely old photographs to choose from, but this one of Victorian bowls players really caught our eye.
The 2026 A4-sized “Old Alnwick in Photographs” calendar, printed in Alnwick, is now available from a number of town-centre retailers, the Bailiffgate shop and here on this website