2023 in Bowling

Hello hello! Merry Christmas and all that! I know I've significantly slowed down on my blogging towards the end of the year, but I've not felt like I've had anything all that relevant to write about on here. Admittedly I like to try and aim for one post a week, but simultaneously I don’t like to post if I have nothing which I feel especially warrants one.

Now, onto the good stuff…

I said in my last post on bowling, that hopefully it won’t be that long before I write about the subject again and that was just over two months ago, so yep, I’m pleased I’ve been able to stay true to my word! Because I went to 22 different bowling alleys this year, I feel there’s enough to create a top 5. So, without further ado (and in no particular order) I present my 5 favourite bowling establishments visited this year:

Gorilla Bar and Bowling Newcastle

Having visited in April this year, it’s actually hard to cast my mind back to what made this one so good- the main thing I can actually remember from here is that I was unable to get a printed receipt (I like to get one at each place) as the printer was broken! Though, I do remember the lanes and equipment being especially good and a nice ambiance to the place. I was also having a lovely day, so I’m guessing that might have had something to do with it, but I gave it a solid 9/10 on my spreadsheet, so it must have been doing something right…

Riverside Bowling Sunderland

This one stood out as it was visited after a spate of several chain bowls, all with pins on strings. This was not only an independent venue, but also the first ‘free fall’ (traditional) bowling alley visited for some time. It felt anything but generic. From the exterior it honestly did not look like there would be bowling inside and to be honest it didn’t even look open. Though, these places are the ones I find most interesting and there was no shortage in character.

Pavilion Bowl Clacton-on-Sea

This was one of three bowling alleys on the Tendring Peninsula- an absolute gold mine for any fellow bowling enthusiasts out there. Each centre had not yet “upgraded” to pins on strings and each oozed character. This one was the best of the three by far: good prices, well maintained lanes, excellent ball selection and friendly staff- it’s hard to find fault. It was also my 150th bowling alley visited. Oh, and did I mention the free jukebox?

Airport Bowl

This one had been on my ‘to bowl’ list for several years and on a recent trip to London, staying in a hotel conveniently close to this place (oh, what a coincidence), meant I was finally able to visit it. I took advantage of their £1.50 per person per game weekend special offer and treated myself to several early morning games. It was everything I wanted it to be and more- lanes in great condition (it often hosts tournaments), a good variety of house balls, great looking building and a brilliant atmosphere, this place has got nearly everything right. The downside to this one was the pins on strings- if only I’d have visited a few years ago before they changed them. Airport Bowl is definitely among my all time favourites and it will be one I’d gladly visit again. And again. And again.

Ashby Bowl (Scunthorpe)

One of two bowling alleys in Scunthorpe, this independent establishment definitely came across as the friendlier one. But perhaps I was alone in that thinking as for pretty much the whole hour we were there, the place was deserted bar three staff members and an arcade game technician. Despite one early equipment/ lane fault, it was all smooth from there. The lane was in great shape, though the only drawback was the selection of house balls which left a little to be desired. Perhaps this is a sign that I should start using my own ball again- I think I’ll try it out next time I bowl… Also of note here, the front facing exterior wall boasted a large (and quite fantastic) ‘Support UK Steel’ mural, which was only painted early December.

So that concludes my top 5 for 2023! If you do end up visiting any of the above, then I’d love to know if you felt the same (or different) to me. Hopes for 2024 would be to visit at least 25 bowling alleys/ stay healthy enough to do so and to get back into the habit of using my own ball again. A new bowling alley has recently opened in Sheffield city centre, so that’s an easy one to start with…

Road to Wembley #4 + #5

OK so just quickly on my ‘Road to Wembley’ #4: this one, my photography plans fell through again unfortunately (please reply to your emails football clubs!!), but I still attended a game from the First Round Proper, so my run continues: Lincoln City Women 1-5 Derby County Women. The game was played at Moorlands Sports Ground in front of 100 or so spectators…

And now for #5: one of the ties which really stood out in the Second Round Proper was Swindon Town Women vs AFC Bournemouth Women, which was to be played at The County Ground (main home of Swindon Town FC). I’ve recently really taken a liking to photographing at medium sized stadiums, so this match especially appealed (and the ground did not disappoint)! FAWNL Division One South West table topping AFC Bournemouth have not lost a league game all season, while Swindon, situated third, have only lost two. It was always going to be a close game and Swindon lead most of the match, though Bournemouth showed their strength towards the latter half and ended up winning two goals to one.

As usual, I’ll stick a few photos below and head HERE for the full set.

The next round of the cup where the Championship sides are added takes place on Sunday 10th December. You can view the fixtures here.

Embroidery Animation

Hey hey! Long time no post. But, there is good reason: I have been working away at a hand embroidered animation. And yes, I am a little mad. As I’ve been really into embroidery of late, I thought well why not combine that with animation to create something using two of my favourite art forms? So I did just that.

I decided to use a straightforward concept: just a 12 frame walk cycle, which could be looped. I wanted to keep it fairly simple in order to be able to complete it and not make it too hard for myself, especially as this would be my first one. I mean the task is ambitious enough itself, without needing to complicate things further with an intricate design.

I had a load of footage of people walking left over from my ‘Bear’ project, so chose someone who didn’t have too much detail on their clothes and also so you couldn’t really see their face. I then made a walk cycle from the footage and rotoscoped the frames once I was happy with it. After that, I just treated them all as if they were separate embroidery pieces. I used a 6 inch hoop, as I didn’t want to be working too small or I’d have been at risk losing some detail. But I also didn’t want to make it too big, or each frame would have taken too long and any bigger wouldn’t have added anything anyway. I think the size I decided on was right for this project.

I wanted each clothing section to contrast with one another, so I used a mixture of stitches to add more texture. Plus if they were all the same, I think it might have looked quite odd. Which I obviously didn’t want! So I went with back stitch for the outline, satin for the trousers and long and short stitch for the hoody. I also used satin for the shoes, socks and skin, but in different directions than the trousers, to add further contrast.

As I was sewing the project, I was pretty nervous as to whether it was actually going to work or not, but not knowing this kind of gave me the drive to keep on going and to finish it. I was curious about the result myself, which really spurred me on- I was very excited to see how it would turn out! I think because it was 12 frames it made it more manageable, whereas if there were any more, I might have been less enthused throughout because it would have felt like I was sewing frames upon frames and thinking in the back of my mind it might be a little pointless if it doesn’t work. But now I know that this technique works, I would happily do another, possibly with more frames. I do have a few ideas, but I also have a few ideas for other projects, so we’ll see!

As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, on the whole, I am happy with the outcome. And I am super proud of it. It’s by no means perfect, but I also kind of like that about it- I have created it by hand, so why not play to that? I always think if something is hand crafted it’s a little pointless if it’s too smooth, because then it might as well have been CG or something…

I think doing this project has definitely upped my embroidery skills, especially in certain stitches and I think my next embroidery project is going to feel very weird when I don’t need to sew another similar one straight after! Oh and just a side note before I forget as if you’re reading this and feel you want to make something similar, then just a little bit on how I digitalised each frame. I decided to scan them in, because to photograph them you would really need the use of a studio, or else the lighting would differ frame to frame. Scanning was also a good way of keeping each image flat and getting a similar result each time.

Regarding the hoop marks and any creases in the fabric, I used the ‘spot healing brush’ tool in Photoshop to paint them out. I tried it without any smoothing and the result didn’t look as good until I used this brush. Here’s a side by side of the ‘raw’ version (on the left), versus the smooth:

And finally, I’m guessing you want to see it?! Here you go:

Scunthorpe United FC

My photo taking continues..! Saturday (28th October) was Scunthorpe United FC 6-1 Bishop's Stortford, in the National League North. Ten below and as usual, full set on my Flickr- click here!

Road to Wembley #3

One of the ties which caught my eye for this Third Round Qualifying in the Women's FA Cup was FAWNL Division One North side York City Ladies vs Hull United AFC Women. Being born in York, I have a bit of a soft spot for any York side and having watched Hull United win 4-1 earlier this season playing in the North East Women's Regional League (one tier below York), I thought this could be an interesting match and maybe even a potential 'giant killing'. That's why the FA Cup is the best competition in football!

The game was played at the University of York Athletics Stadium, a style of ground which I always find fairly photogenic (though I know of people who moan about such set ups). I was kindly authorised pitchside access for this one, so my FA Cup photo project journeys on...

Unfortunately for Hull United, this was not the giant killing they were hoping for and was in fact pretty much a one sided affair. Though thanks to Hull's defence coupled with their keeper pulling off some fantastic saves, they kept the scoreline down to a respectable 3-0. York will face FC United of Manchester in the First Round Proper, with ties for that round taking place on Sunday 12th November- get that date in your diaries!

Below are a few photos from the game, and as usual, you can view the full set on my Flickr HERE. You can see the previous Women's FA Cup posts on the #RoadToWembley tag in the sidebar.

My 150th!

I know I’ve not written on here about tenpin bowling for a while (throwback to this this very nerdy post from December 2019 when I last blogged about it), but, I am very much still bowling. Just a little recap for any new readers to this blog who might be thinking ‘what is she on about now?!’ OK, so I basically go round ‘ticking’ off bowling alleys: you know like train spotting, where if you see a certain train you write down it’s number etc etc, I pretty much do that with bowling alleys. But I do have to have played at least one game in it, to make it ‘count’ (three games is my preferred amount). Then I write it all down on my spreadsheet. I’ve been doing this since 2016. So, if I haven’t weirded you out too much, then grab your anoraks and read on…

When writing that aforementioned post, I used to be hitting around about 40 ‘new’ bowling alleys each year, but Covid slowed that number extremely significantly. As did several health problems I experienced over the last few years.

I went to only one (yes one) bowling alley in 2021 and a slight improvement in 2022 of eight. Towards the end of 2022, I felt bowling was something I could try and incorporate more regularly again and try to reach the heights of pre-pandemic where we were bowling almost once every week. 2023 has proven that to an extent, though before moving to Sheffield half way through the year, our options of ‘new’ bowling alleys were few and far between due to having ticked off all in the North West and beyond. Moving more easterly, meant there was a fresh influx of lanes to go at, with 3 in Sheffield itself (all of which we bowled at in the first month or so). At time of writing, I’m currently at 18 this year- getting to 20 would be nice and 25 would be even nicer-er! Let’s see…

But also of note and what I really wanted to say in this post, was that I reached my landmark 150th! The bowling alley was Pavilion Bowl, Clacton-on-Sea. It was a 12 lane independent establishment, with ‘real’ pins (as opposed to the rapidly growing pins on strings phenomenon). The lanes were in excellent condition and get this- there was even a free jukebox! Shame we only realised towards the end though, but still had time for three songs: ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’- Billy Joel, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’- Bob Dylan and ‘Eyes Closed’- Ed Sheeran. Well at least we enjoyed ourselves! It was actually a really good choice for this landmark number and would highly recommend heading to this bowling alley- and that’s not just because of the jukebox!

Hopefully I won’t leave it so long before writing about bowling on here again...

Matlock Town FC

I've had a couple of weeks off photographing football- just by circumstance and lack of planning/ plans falling through. But last weekend I was determined to get back out there and continue my aim of regular football photography this season. The weather was meant to play nice and there were a fair few options as that's the way the fixtures fell. One which really caught my eye though was Matlock Town FC vs Bedford in the FA Trophy. The Proctor Cars Stadium is one I've been wanting to visit/ photograph for some time, so why not now?! Thankfully the club granted me permission for pitchside access and a day to Matlock ensued...

I can't say the game was the most exciting, evidenced with the highlight being the burst pipe leaking water onto the pitch causing the game to halt whilst players and various club-persons pitched in to sweep it up. But the ground did not disappoint and the club was also super friendly and welcoming. The game ended 1-0 to the hosts, who scored a late goal to confirm their place in the next round of the trophy.

You can view the full set HERE and as usual, I'll put a few below.