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Olympic athlete to open pavilion
An Olympic athlete from Wigan will be officially opening a bowling pavilion which her father championed, but never lived to see completed.
In the summer of 2004, the bowling green at the Bucks Head Hotel in Abram, home to Abram Bowling Club, was in disrepair and a large amount of money needed to be raised to restore it to its former glory.
Club secretary Mark Calter and club stalwart Keith Meadows – father of 800m Olympic athlete Jenny Meadows – approached their ward councillors for help and succeeded in raising 3,000 of Brighter Borough money to put the green back in shape.
They also managed to raise just over 9,000 after former Mayor and Abram councillor Eunice Smethurst put them in touch with the Fair Share for all Grant Foundation.
Mark said: "Before it all came to fruition my partner in all this passed away. Keith never saw the finished project, so in respect for Keith I asked Lancashire Bowling Association to send the county team to play Abram bowling club on the opening day.
"Also in memory of Keith I have asked his family to take part in the opening, so his daughter is doing the opening, along with Mrs Smethurst.
"And before the project was finished, we lost another stalwart to Abram Bowling Club in Len Jones. Len was the former village bobby and was 'Mr Abram'.
"He helped to reform Abram pensioners bowling team and helped me in forming a second pensioner's team.
"Len will be greatly missed by all of us in the bowling fraternity and one of the rooms in the pavilion will be dedicated in Len's memory."
Abram Bowling Club will take on Lancashire on Sunday, May 24 when Jenny, who now lives in Morocco, returns to complete the official opening.
Mark added: "Before we could build the pavilion, we needed to negotiate a lease with the brewery for the land.
"Councillors Eunice Smethurst, Carl Sweeny and Eddie Russon came to our rescue in helping us to pay the legal cost.
"I would like, on behalf of us on the bowling committee, to thank the Abram ward councillors, in helping to keep the community of the bowlers together. The grant foundation, without whose grant this would not be taking place.
"The brewery for allowing us to lease the land. The contractors who supplied our materials and pavilion, and last but not least, all the bowlers, who did all the unpaid navvie work in preparing all the ground work and making the pavilion what it is now."
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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