ST. ISSELL'S LADIES 42
FIVE ARCHES 23
The recent winning streak of the Five Arches ladies came to an end when they were defeated by 19 shots by St. Issell's at Saundersfoot last Wednesday.
Rink scores were (Arches first, St. Issell's skips only):
A. Hubbard, B. Russell, A. Owens, V. Williams 15; B. L. Lewis 22.
P. Stubbs, A. Redman, V. James, C. Morgan 8; B. Lawrence 20.
OPEN WEEK
This Sunday will see the start of Tenby Bowling Club's 77th prestigious Open Gold Cup and Silver Bowl competitions generously sponsored, as in previous years, by Carlsberg-Tetley Ltd. The full complement of 106 players from many parts of Wales and beyond will be competing for the most sought after titles in West Wales. The list as always will include a number of current and former Welsh internationals.
Th competitions will conclude the following Saturday, with the semi-finals in the morning and the finals in the afternoon, starting at approximately 2 pm. Special guests at the finals will include the Mayor of Tenby, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, accompanied by her deputy, Clr. Miss Lis James, as well as a representative from Carlsberg-Tetley Ltd.
The total prize money will be £1,800, the same as last year.
David King-Thomas is secretary for the sixth year (it's now only four years before he becomes eligible for his long service award). He, as always, will be praying for fine weather to ensure the smooth running of the tournament.
David will again be urgently seeking the assistance of all Tenby club members to help with marking of the games, particularly the first and last games of each day. He will also need a couple more volunteers to assist in the office during the week.
David Kingdom, of Parc-y-Dre, who won the Gold Cup last year, as well as in 1997 and 1998, has been drawn in the preliminary round against Mike Gouldingay, of Saundersfoot. Martin Harries, of Carmarthen, winner of the Silver Bowl last year, finds himself drawn against John Griffiths, of Llandovery. A number of other previous winners of both competitions will also be back again.
Altogether, 43 different clubs will be participating, with Tenby (19), Ammanford Park (12), the most from this club for a number of years, Brynhyfryd (nine), Saundersfoot (eight) and Carmarthen (six) being the best represented clubs.
EXPERIENCE
DOES COUNT!
Not many years ago the Welsh Bowling Association introduced a senior inter-county bowling competition for the over 60s men.
The extension of top class bowling has brought a lot of pleasure to the 'wrinklies', as they are affectionately called.
On Tuesday, the Pembroke County Bowling Association Over 60s team won their last game at Brecon against Mid Wales.
A comprehensive victory by 60 shots made it a clean sweep this season for the team.
The team are now through to the final playing West Glamorgan at the Barry Athletic club on August 21 at 2 pm.
Great credit must go to Reg Kingston, manager/selector of the team.
Reg, who is tickled pink, never doubted the outcome which has put Pembroke County bowls firmly on the map.
SCHOOL COACHING
This year, the Welsh Bowls Coaching Association initiated a bowls coaching programme for children - clubs Pembroke Dock, Fishguard, Haverfordwest and Tenby taking part.
The Tenby club are grateful to St. Teilo's School headmaster Mr. Atherton and liaison teacher Anna Tynan for being the first school to participate in the project. The children attended for five one-and-a-half hour lessons over a six-week period and it was not long before they mastered the basics of the game with great enthusiasm, energy and enjoyment, so much so that we have eight children, with a possibility of more, joining our regular club coaching class.
Our thanks to Anna for getting the children to and fro from school and club, also to all the club coaches and helpers for their excellent work to make it successful, and the children for their overall input, making it easy and enjoyable for us all. Thanks, Mr. Mac.
GOSCAR 40
ST. ISSELL'S 131
At Saundersfoot last Wednesday, Goscar met a very good team of bowlers in St. Issell's.
It didn't matter if we did get a good head, they just turned it around with some very fine bowling.
St. Issell's may be in division two, but they could give division one teams a very hard time, including Tenby.
Rink scores (Goscar first, St. Issell's skips only):
S. Hinton, D. Watkins, J. Lester, L. Hilling 10; J. Moffatt 37.
R. Hine, A. Fursse, R. Thake, B. Bailey 8; A. Brace 33.
A. Vincent, J. King, J. Hubbard, G. Hill 12; D. Roberts 32.
T. Kelly, S. Diment, G. Stubbs, K. Delabertouche 10; D. Robb 29.
STENA FIVE ARCHES 82 (2pts) WHITLAND 95 (12)
The Stena Line sponsored Five Arches had high hopes of completing the double over Whitland last Saturday, but it wasn't to be.
As soon as play started the rain came down, and persisted on and off for the first eight ends.
Roy Powling and his quartet drew Steve Reese again, but they found the county singles champion in buoyant mood. Playing a masterly game, he repeatedly drew shots out of nowhere. Well though Roy and Gwyn Beynon battled, it was always a case of 'catch up' bowls. A strong finish cut the deficit to 10 shots.
After 15 ends Mike and his crew were 24 shots to six up, but a great strike by Colin Wynn on the next end was the signal for the visitors to pile up 12 shots without reply in the next four. The home side won the last two ends to come home by nine shots. Captain Ray Holly, playing in the unaccustomed position of third, had a good all round game, but the rink did not reach the standard they had in the previous game.
Ron Hurlow at lead had a great first half in Keith Hubbard's rink and the home side were in the game right until the last three ends, when the visitors pulled away to record a six-shot win.
A disastrous start by Sam McNeilly and his rink saw the Peter Wills rink storm into an 18-shot lead without reply, but Sam's boys ought back to close the gap to seven by the end.
It's a funny old game, the Arches pick up 11 points away to Whitland, yet keel over at home to lose by 12 points.
With a full strength squad to choose from for this weekend's home game against Pendine, it will be interesting to see how the Arches perform.
The game was sponsored by Begelly Arms.
Rink scores (Stena Five Arches first, Whitland skips only):
N. Dickinson, T. Powling, G. Beynon, R. Powling 17; S. Reese 27.
D. Silcox, J. Tyler, R. Holly, M. Crockford 27; C. Wynne 18.
R. Hurlow, G. Crawford, J. Best, K. Hubbard 19; G. Thomas 25.
P. Watkins, A. Grimbaldeston, S. Smith, S. McNeilly 18; P. Wills 25.
TENBY 80 (4)
PEMBROKE DOCK 84 (10)
The Tenby team travelled to Pembroke Dock last Sunday knowing a win would put them back in the championship race.
The day before, the Dock had won down at Saundersfoot, and had already won up at Tenby, so a difficult game was in prospect.
Dave Morgan was drawn on rink one and soon built up a good lead. Steady bowling by Dai Spencer, Ben Owens and Andrew Muskett saw them 13-8 up after 12 ends, but a good fight-back by the home side saw them take the lead and win 23-18.
On rink two, John Webb, Terry Preston, Sparky and Pat Currie were finding it tough going, with opposing lead Gerald Harries all over the jack. Pat was forced to save or cut down for most of the match, and trailing 13-6 it didn't look good, but a stirring fight-back saw the boys snatch two on the last end to win 24-22.
On rink three, the usual slow starters, Peter Day, Ian Badham, Dave King-Thomas and skip Simon Evans were trailing again, 8-0 down, then 19-12 down with four ends to go, but 10 shots without reply saw them sneak a win, 22-19 - thanks mainly to a brilliant five made by Simon on the last end, who it must be said was outstanding all day.
Next door, Paul Mearns, Peter Hooper, John Baggott and Paul Diment led for 17 ends, but were eventually overhauled 20-16. Opposing skip Harry Hanger continually kept his side in the match, despite some brilliant leading by Paul Mearns.
This was a great opportunity lost to gain ground on favourites Saundersfoot, but this was a better performance from the team, although not playing to their potential in recent weeks.
Tomorrow (Saturday) they travel to Haverfordwest for another tricky away game.