Nearly £,1,400 was raised for Children in Need as the result of an unique charity bowls match last Friday evening.

As previously reported, the match featured members of Swansea Bowls - a popular online bowls community - against a team from Carmarthen Indoor Bowling Club. Swansea Bowls, which has members from all over the country, came up with the idea of staging the match for charity. And the idea proved so popular, that nearly 30 of its members - many of them from Tenby and other local bowling clubs - turned out to show their support for the worthwhile venture.

For those interested, the final score in the match - held at Carmarthen's impressive Bro Myrddin Stadium - was 121-81 to the Swansea Bowls side. But that was somewhat irrelevant as the the main purpose of the match was to raise money - and, along with some other fun and fund-raising events, that's exactly what it did.

Original target set was £1,000, but that was well and truly passed as competitions, raffles and auctions saw the money literally rolling in, to the eventual tune of £1,385!

"What a night it was," remarked organiser Ed James (alias Swansea Jack) afterwards. "When I first came up with an idea to raise money for Children in Need, in one of my all too seldom sane moments, I could never have imagined the event would be on such a massive scale and such an overwhelming success.

"The target of £1,000 was just that, a target. I never thought we would reach it and consequently pass it with such ease."

Helping to swell the coffers was an amazing raffle, with many members donating a wide variety of prizes, including Commonwealth Games shirts, Welsh international shirts, World Championship winning shirts, badges, a set of bowls, bottles... and a cane high back chair (worth a lot of money!). Incidentally, the chair was won by SJ himself, who immediately donated it back for auction to help boost funds. Winning bidder was Tafscot, but it's quite likely the chair will soon be shown on Crimewatch, as it was last seen heading back to Tenby in Currie's van!

The exciting after-match antics continued as the night's man of the moment took centre stage, having bravely (or foolishly) succumbed to a 'wind- up' by agreeing to have his chest waxed for the cause.

Thanks to Deli selling Veet wax strips and raising £50, Yam Yam was left reeling and with no option but to bite the bullet and endure the pain! Fuelled by a great deal of courage, most of it Dutch from the volume of alcohol consumed, he bravely laid himself open to one almighty attack from the fully paid up members of the 'Veet Squad'.

Your correspondent can't say anymore on this as his eyes are still watering as he recalls the look on the victim's face! Suffice to say, well done Yam Yam!

Match tee-shirts, as a memento of the night, were also available for members taking part, with all profits from their sale going towards the appeal, while members of the Carmarthen Indoor Club entered into the spirit of the occasion by turning out in great numbers and joining in the fun of it all. They are thanked for that, as well as their great hospitality, on a night when bowls was secondary and camaraderie and charity were the real winners. "I am really proud of all of our members, those that came along and those who showed their support in other ways," concluded Ed James. "Let's hope this is the first of many events, and hopefully next year we can hold it in Swansea."

For the record, rink scores for the Swansea Bowls team were:

Chris Court lost 18-21; Steve Rees won 22-8; Andrew Hopkins won 17-13; Dai Robb drew 15-15; Alan Dempster won 23-9; Steve J won 26-15. Members of the public can still show their support by making donations via a specially established page on the Swansea Bowls website, the address for which is: http://swanseabowls.proboards54.com/">http://swanseabowls.proboards54.com/ index.cgi

And don't forget, every single penny given will be used to support disadvantaged children and young people in the UK. No administrative or promotional costs are paid out of the money raised by donations.