Royal Leamington Spa's women won Bowls England's Top Club title for a second year, beating Cleethorpes 4-0 in the rain at Victoria Park. Plus a singles crown.
Royal Leamington Spa Bowls Club’s women are national champions again. The team beat Cleethorpes 4-0 in the final of Bowls England’s women’s Top Club competition, a year after winning it for the first time.
The final was played on the club’s home greens at Victoria Park on Saturday 29 August, the last weekend of the National Bowls Finals. The result is recorded on Bowls England’s competition fixtures. The club has now published its own account of the season.
What Top Club is
Top Club is the national inter-club competition. Each match is played by a team of 10, across four games at once:
- a singles
- a pairs
- a triples
- a fours
Each game won is worth a point. If a match finishes 2-2, it is decided on total shots. So a 4-0 win, as in this year’s final, means Leamington won every game on the green.
The route to a second title
The club says the defence began in early summer with two county ties. After that it was national knockout rounds, with the last three played at Victoria Park.
| Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Warwickshire area | Lillington (home) | Won 4-0 |
| Warwickshire area final | Stratford | Won 3-1 |
| Last 32 | Kingscroft (Leicestershire) | Won 2.5-1.5 |
| Last 16 | Carterton (Oxfordshire) | Won 4-0 |
| Quarter-final, Fri 28 Aug | Knaphill (Surrey) | Won 3-1 |
| Semi-final, Sat 29 Aug | Clevedon (Somerset) | Won 3-1 |
| Final, Sat 29 Aug | Cleethorpes (Lincolnshire) | Won 4-0 |
The semi-final and final were both played on the same rain-soaked Saturday. The club’s report says the rain was “even heavier in the afternoon”. Leamington built big leads in all four games, and Cleethorpes conceded with a few ends left.
There was some history in it too. The club notes that Cleethorpes had knocked Leamington out in the last 16 two years ago.
Why it matters
Last year’s win was a first. In 2025 the team beat Kings of Devon 3-1 in the final, and the club says it was the first time any Warwickshire side had become England’s women’s Top Club champions.
Retaining it is harder. Each county’s area winner goes into a national last 32, and only one team can win it each year.
The rest of the club’s summer at the Nationals
Top Club was not the club’s only result at this year’s finals. According to the club:
- Emily Kernick won the national women’s two-wood singles title on Thursday 13 August, beating fellow England international Nicole Rogers of Devon 15-13 in the semi-final and winning the final 18-4. The club says it is Warwickshire’s first win in that event since 2000.
- A Leamington four took silver in the women’s fours. Michelle Meadowcroft, Jacqui Ashley, Emily Kernick and Kirsty Richards won a semi-final 12-11 on an extra end, then lost the final 13-15 to a rink from Poole Park in Dorset on Saturday 22 August.
- Kirsty Richards reached the semi-finals of the women’s four-bowl singles, losing 16-21 on Thursday 27 August.
What it means for you
- The greens are on your doorstep. The club plays at Victoria Park, by Archery Road. Its membership page explains how to join.
- Parking. The club asks members and visitors to use the old tennis courts car park, not Archery Road, where there is a four-hour limit. More on town parking in our Leamington parking page.
- The big one is next summer. The World Bowls Championship comes to the same greens from 20 July to 1 August 2027. Our National Bowls Finals preview has the detail.
Sources: Bowls England competition fixtures, Women’s Top Club 2026; Royal Leamington Spa Bowls Club news page and home page, both read on 1 October 2026.
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