The last few days down at the green has been more like the Marie Celeste than a bowls green. It is obvious that with the Finals Day looming on the Saturday, everyone has accepted that the winter is about to appear. The ladies of Saundersfoot, though, were not allowed to sit back and relax. With so many games cancelled earlier in the season because of the weather, they found themselves having to play a game a day for three days, and even with a large membership, it took its toll.
SAUNDERSFOOT
LADIES 49
LADYBIRDS 28
The first of the three games was against Ladybirds, normally no easy touch. While Mary Cummings and her girls managed to win at a canter, Marion Evans and her crew had a much harder task, just holding on at the end to take the spoils.
Rink scores (Saundersfoot first, Ladybirds skips only):
B. Tombs, K. Kennion, A. Davies, M. Cummings 29; M. Daye 10.
A. Evans, A.Hughes, C. Griffiths, M. Evans 20; P. Anderson 18.
SAUNDERSFOOT
LADIES 36
FIVE ARCHES 40
Another day, a slight subtle change in personnel, and it was the turn of local rivals, the Arches, to set to in battle.
Mary Cummings at the helm of her rink had a classic set to against Chris Morgan, a strong burst at the end getting the vital points. Marion Evans and her girls were up against Vera Williams and just could not get the vital shots, losing out by six.
Rink scores (Saundersfoot first, Five Arches skips only):
B. Tombs, K. Kennion, A. Davies, M. Cummings 18; C. Morgan 16.
A. Evans, E. Shaw, C. Griffiths, M. Evans 18; V. Williams 24.
SAUNDERSFOOT
LADIES 51
MILFORD 38
The last game in the trilogy was against the strong Milford girls. Whether it was the three games in straight days that helped, I don't know, but the Saundersfoot girls got stuck in and came away with an excellent win. Once again there were a couple of changes here and there from the previous game.
Rink scores (Saundersfoot first, Milford skips only):
A. Hughes, K. Kennion, A. Davies, V. Edwards 25; M. Carter 19.
E. Pendlebury, C. Griffiths, M. Cummings, M. Evans 26; J. Navas 19.
SAUNDERSFOOT
LADIES 35
MILFORD 39.5
Another game against the Milford girls, this time a resumed game from a previous brush with rain. This time the shoe was on the other foot, with the Milford girls gaining revenge for the previous defeat.
Rink scores (Saundersfoot first, Milford skips only):
E. Shaw, A. Davies, L. Bissell, V. Edwards 15; H. Lewis-John 18.5.
A. Evans, C. Griffiths, M. Cummings, M. Evans 20; M. Porter 20.
IN AT THE DEEP END
Just to whet the appetite whilst I browse through the tapes of the ladies county tour, I thought I would slip in this little gem. I heard a tale about a certain lady bowler who decided to have a swim in the hotel pool, along with her daughter (there's a clue) and her friend Kathleen (another clue).
Off they went, and on with the bikinis (the mind boggles). As the certain bowler is not too hot in the swimming stakes, she was quite happy relaxing in the shallow end, while the other two swam away to their hearts content.
Suddenly the daughter noticed that 'Mummy' had drifted into the deep water where she was bobbing up and down merrily and getting into deeper water all the time.
"Hang on, where's the bottom?" she suddenly cried. I won't say she panicked, suffice to say that the screams nigh on burst a woman's eardrums.
Now, at this point, you would expect the daughter to swim up and rescue 'Mummy'. Did she heck as like, she was too busy having hysterical laughter at her mother's expense. Needless to say a knife was required for some time to cut the atmosphere. Any rubber ducks anywhere going spare?
CLUB FINALS DAY
Finals day loomed with the forecasters telling us that it would be heavy showers and chilly - wrong! A bright morning with a nice sun developed later into a lovely sunny day and quite warm.
Things went like clockwork all day, even though quite a few of the participants were in three or more finals.
Winners were as follows:
Ladies two wood singles: Viv Edwards; runner-up - Gwenda Rees.
Ladies handicap: A Lewis; runner-up - Marion Evans.
Ladies Rabbits: Elaine Shaw; runner-up - A. Hughes.
Ladies pairs: G. Rees and A. Lewis; runners-up - Kath Blayney and Amanda Lewis.
Mixed pairs: A. Lewis and B. Deeley; runners-up - Diane Rigden and Macky Brace.
Jubilee Pairs: Kay Kennion and Les Davies; runners-up - M. Cavell and P. Bissell.
Mixed triples: J. Dugmore, G. Dugmore, C. Haley; runners-up - D. Robb, J. Roberts, G. Rees.
Gents triples: P. Gray, D. Stokes, T. Cummings; runners-up - J. Shields, L. Davies, J. Roberts.
Over 60 pairs: J. Dugmore, J. Moffat; runners-up - G. James. T. Shaw.
Two wood pairs: B. Dennis, Mv. Brace; runners-up - P. Gray, D. Howells.
Four wood pairs: G. Cavell, D. Roberts; runners-up - L. Davies, D. Greaves.
Over 60s singles: D. Howells; runner-up - D. Greaves.
Two wood singles: D. Howells; runner-up - J. Dugmore.
Men's Rabbits: Gareth Hughes; runner-up - P. Gray.
Handicap: T. Cummings; runner-up - Graham Hughes.
Men's championship: Merv Brace; runner-up - John Moffat.
Ladies championship: A. Lewis; runner-up - M. Cummings.
Captain's Shield (presented by club captain Gwynfor Davies): Don Howells.
Tuesday Triples: Elsie Pendlebury.
Ladies Captain's Shield (presented by ladies captain L. Bissell): Margaret Robb.
JUNIOR FINALS DAY
Once again, the forecasters got it all wrong thankfully. A lovely sunny day that got warmer as it went on.
Twenty-two youngsters, 12 boys and 10 girls, smartly turned out, set to in their quest to pick up the winners' trophies.
With adults on hand to act as markers, it meant that the youngsters could display their talents to the large crowd of parents, friends and supporters from the club membership who had put themselves out to come and watch. Those that did enjoyed some marvellous enthusiastic bowling.
All credit to these kids, they started bowling at 10 am and some were still playing come 6 pm at night. Many an adult would have been wilting at that stage.
Top marks go to junior captain Nicky Cope who played some excellent bowls to win the singles against little brother Richard in a smashing game. He also managed to win the pairs with partner Mathew Dick, and finished up winning the triples with partner Jasmine Langdom - definitely a star of the future for Saundersfoot.
Another excellent find is young Dana Rogers who played superbly throughout the day to win the girls singles against fellow star Gemma Amos. Both played together in the pairs, but were losers in this one.
Winners were as follows:
Girls singles: Dana Rogers; runner-up - Gemma Amos.
Boys singles: Nick Cope; runner-up - Richard Cope.
Girls pairs: Kirsty Davies, Katrina Smith; runners-up - D. Rogers, G. Amos.
Boys pairs: N. Cope, M. Dick; runners-up - Tom Baker, Sam James.
Mixed triples: Nick Cope, Jasmine Langdon; runners-up - Tom Baker, Richard Cope, Kirsty Davies.
A presentation was also made to Gareth Philipps for his assistance during the day.
Coach Dave Robb thanked Joyce Waters, Ken Taylor and Elsie Pendlebury for their donations of trophies; chairman Graham Poole for his monetary gift; all those who acted as markers; the ladies who cooked the meals for the youngsters; and all his fellow coaches for their assistance throughout the season.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Just as a follow up to the story about a certain lady bowler trying to swim The Channel, here's another piece of gossip from the ladies tour.
How about the two ladies who got locked out of their rooms and were seen wandering around the hotel dressed only in the briefest of towels? It seems another certain lady took their key cards and they did not have the ability to get their clothes.
I hear tell that the CCTV video is now number one in the hotel security top 10 'Blue Movies' - a couple of stars in the making.
NARROW BIAS