LLANELLI BOWLERS STRIKE OIL!

Last weekend, Tenby Bowling Club staged the 12th annual 'Texaco Three-Wood Pairs Open Tournament'. Blessed once again with brilliant summery weather and generously sponsored by the Texaco Refinery, Pembroke, this popular bowling weekend, which started way back in 1992, has become a permanent feature of the Welsh bowling calendar.

This year's entry for the Texaco Trophy was heavily laced with internationals and quality bowlers from across South Wales.

The round-robin stage, played in four sections, gave 40 pairs continuous bowling from 9 am Saturday until lunch on Sunday, followed by the sudden death finals. There were many fine displays in these difficult six-end games, with the usual crop of underdogs torpedoing the favoured pairs. The first two from each group progressed to the KO.stage.

Section A: Phillip Jones and Rod Hugh, of Parc Howard BC, won this section comfortably. Second were the Tenby pair, John Baggott and Paul Diment, just pipping Gerald Hewitt and Peter Hooper on shots difference. Gerald and Peter gave a very fine exhibition of teamwork to come a very close third.

Section B: The Brynhyfryd BC pair, Wyndham Rees and Martyn Watts, sailed through unruffled, with the Carmarthen BC duo, Manfred Davies and Stan Harries, just edging out Brian Rees and Alan Evans, of Parc y Dre BC.

Section C: Last year's winners, Neil Rees, Parc y Dre, and Lee Williamson, unattached, were dominant, winning all of their games, closely followed by Ben Owens and Patrick Currie, of Tenby BC, who just beat Colin Davies and Martyn Harries, Carmarthen BC, in a very tough group.

Section D: The long-standing partnership of Terry Preston and Gwyn Beynon certainly paid dividends as they strolled through this stage, only dropping one point to runners-up, the father and son duo from Kidwelly, Aled and Keith Evans. Worthy of mention in this group were Robin Burden and Allan Evans, of Brynhyfryd BC, and Roy Kennion and David Robb, of Saundersfoot BC. Both pairs turned on the style and were unlucky not to progress further.

Quarter-finals: P. Jones and R. Hugh 9 M. Davies and S. Harries 3; W. Rees and M. Watts 8 B. Owens and P. Currie 1; N. Rees and L. Williamson 9 A. Evans and K. Evans 5; T. Preston and G. Beynon 4 J. Baggott and P. Diment 7.

The quarter-finals went very much to form for the section winners, except for Terry and Gwyn, who were edged out by their club mates John and Paul in a close game.

Semi-finals: Neil Rees and Lee Williamson 2 John Baggott and Paul Diment 10.

Holders Neil and Lee could not match the Tenby duo for consistency, John's inch-perfect leading setting the winning platform, with Paul denying any recovery in a very fine display.

Phil Jones and Rod Hugh 4 Wyndham Rees and Martyn Watts 10.

Phil and Rod found shots hard to come by in this hard fought game, with Martyn's final bowls denying the Parc Howard duo.

Final: W. Rees and M. Watts 14 J. Baggott and P. Diment 2.

The scoreline belies a fine exhibition of class bowling by both pairings. Wyndam's immaculate leading and Martyn's many crucial last woods were enough to secure the Texaco Trophy in 2003.

At the presentation ceremony our sponsors' representative, Mr. Phil Thompson, and club chairman, John King, took great delight in presenting the Texaco Trophy and prize monies.

John thanked greenkeeper Chris Jenkins for producing such a superb bowling surface second to none and thanked all of the Tenby members for a job well done.

Organiser Bert Barnikel emphasised the club's appreciation of the continued support by the Texaco Refinery, Pembroke, in sponsoring one of the finest bowling fixtures in the Welsh Bowling calendar.

COUNTY COMPETITIONS 2004

Members are reminded that entry forms are now on display for next year and they will close on October 6. Don't miss the boat.

GREEN CLOSING

Once again our wonderful bowling surface will be put to bed for the winter during the first week in October. Healthy members are requested to make the supreme effort by donating a couple of hours of time and energy to ensure it goes off smoothly.

WINTER PROGRAMME

Our social sub-committee is soon to plan our social events for this winter. High on the agenda will be the popular 'Charity Quizzes'. If you know of any worthy causes, especially local ones, worthy of support please inform the club.

WHIST RESULTS

Thursday, September 11: top score - Joan Dorling; top lady - Mabel Whittaker; 2nd lady - Gwenith James; top gent - Vera Burrows; 2nd gent - Bill Whittaker; first half winner - Gladys Cleaton; 2nd half - Robert Irvine; longest sitter - Pauline Barnikel; raffle winners - Robert Irvine and Mabel Whittaker.

Saturday, September 13: top score - Robert Irvine; 1st lady - Gladys Irvine; 2nd lady - Mabel Whittaker; 1st gent - Bill Whitaker; 2nd gent - Vera Burrows; 1st half winner - Joan Dorling; 2nd half winner - Lelgarde McCartney; longest sitter - Gwenith James; raffle winners - Vera Burrows and Peggy Fender.

FIVE ARCHES REVIEW

For the Five Arches team the past season was a season of what might have been. Yes, we were further up the premier league than other seasons; yes, we did pass 100 points; yes, we did finish above near rivals St. Issell's - but we could have achieved more.

For the first three games we were without Doug Silcox, Dai King Thomas and Ray Holly; Craig Guymer was still involved with short mat bowls, Ron Hurlow was unavailable and Keith Hubbard and Phil Watkins did not rejoin the club. Throw in the fact that Arthur Grimbaldeston had joined Pembroke Dock and half the squad was missing.

This was reflected in the results in the first games of the season, when we lost against, on paper at least, lesser teams than ourselves. Once we regained the players to the squad, results started to show.

Highlights must surely be the double over Saundersfoot, a full 14 points against champions Tenby and victory over Haverfordwest. Our bogey side, however, still remains Pembroke Dock and, like Tenby, the Dockers seem to have the evil eye over both teams.

As the season progressed, the strong spirit in the squad became more and more noticeable; their was a great togetherness amongst the players. All teams are made up of individuals and obviously some are more passionate than others, but the support Mike and Doug received was superb.

No one likes being dropped - or as it is put, doesn't make the cut - but when this happened, and then a selected player had to pull out, never once did the reserve make himself unavailable. The spirit was great.

It would be wrong to pick out players, but some made such huge contributions they deserve to be mentioned.

Gwyn Beynon, for the second season in a row, did not miss a game; Dai King Thomas and Bert Barnikel were forceful and honest in selection; Doug Silcox was massive in his support to the whole squad; Roy and Tony Powling never questioned a decision and gave their all for the cause; Gerald Hewitt never stopped trying to improve his game and was a welcome addition to the team; Craig Guymer blossomed as the season progressed.

Peter 'I will play anywhere you want me to' Hooper was another hundred percenter; Graham Hill turned into a fine lead as the season progressed; Bill Russell and Ron Hurlow, out for most of the season through injury, came back to give us two more good leads; while Ray Holly can still put in a great performance on the day, with his immortal words being: 'Form is only temporary, class is permanent'.

Neil Dickinson, Jock Best and Jim Taylor, the quiet ones of the team, also performed to their utmost; while dear old Maxie Donoghue is another man of few words, but when he speaks, it is worth listening to, and when he sings, he demands utter silence.

Sion Smith only played three games due to work commitments, but has great ability and if he could play more regularly would be a huge asset.

To our sponsor, Stena Line of Fishguard, who have sponsored us for the last six years, a huge thank you; not forgetting Yvonne Smith, who weekly carried our reports up to headman, Roy Harries. Thanks also to all our match sponsors who sponsor our home games and are genuinely interested in us.

The Arches' end of season dinner is to be held, appropriately, at the Five Arches Tavern next Friday, September 26, at 8.30. All are requested to meet in the club at 7.30 pm.

Finally, congratulations to Tenby on winning the league and to Ted Brutnell, captain of Goscar, who was so supportive when helping out the two premier league sides.

In fact, Ted himself answered the call for the Arches on one occasion, while other Goscar players who kindly turned out for them during the season were Jonathan Hubbard, Rob Wilkins, Trevor Harvey and Colin Henderson; along with juniors Jo Richards and Liam McDaid. Thank you.