ROSSITER GOLDEN CHARTER TOURNAMENT

The annual bowls tournament for members of the Saundersfoot and Tenby clubs took place on Bank Holiday Monday.

Generously sponsored for the sixth consecutive year by Messrs. W. and M. J. Rossiter and Sons, funeral directors of Tenby and Narberth, in conjunction with Golden Charter Funeral Plans, the event was again a great success with 21 pairs taking to the green for an all-day three-wood pairs competition.

Hosted this year by the Saundersfoot club, the teams were split into four sections in a round robin format of six ends per game, with the top two progressing to the knock- out quarter-final stage.

There was a mixture of pairings between all male, all female and mixed combinations and, as usual, non bowlers Richard and Simon Rossiter teamed up with more experienced partners for their annual roll-up.

An early start on what was to be thankfully a fine day, saw the bacon rolls flying out of the kitchen which was manned by the ladies of the club and after six hours of competition, those progressing were Ben Cloake and his partner Luke Rees, Observer editor Neil Dickinson and Gerald Hewitt, Ginny Beeken and Cameron White, Joe Hewitt and Ysie White, Ray Taylor and Steve Davies, Roy Kennion and Neil Hensman, the holders - Ceris Hewlings and John Roberts, and Edward Smith and Bob Storey.

The winners then played the semi-finals, which resulted in wins for Ben and Luke over Ginny and Cameron by 10 shots to four and Ceris and John, who triumphed over Ray and Steve by six shots to three.

The final turned out to be a very close affair, with the result in doubt until the very last wood bowled and the young pairing of Ben and Luke matching Welsh internationals Ceris and John bowl for bowl.

One shot down with one wood left to play on the last end, Luke moved the white, which unfortunately for him went to an opponents bowl to leave Ceris and John winners of the game by seven shots to five and winners of the overall tournament for the third time.

The third place play-off was won by Ray and Steve, who defeated Ginny and Cameron by seven shots to two.

Following the bowling, the presentation ceremony took place in the clubhouse, with tournament director Paul Blayney firstly thanking the Rossiter family for their continued support, not only for the prize monies, but also for all the raffle prizes and the excellent post-match buffet which was prepared, as were meals, snacks and refreshments throughout the day, by the Saundersfoot ladies' section.

Paul went on to thank the ladies, led by vice chairlady Kath Blayney, who was ably assisted by her number two Diane Rigden and Gwenda Rees, Mary Cavell, Winifred Hewlings, Sue Roden and Joyce Howe, for yet again doing the club proud.

A thank you was also given to Fred Rogers for his all-day stint as umpire, with Richard Rossiter presenting him with a bowls towel, Nev Ruff for his help with the setting out of the equipment and changing rinks for the various stages of the competition and Brian, John, Tony and Viv for manning the bar.

Richard Rossiter, on behalf of the family, then presented the prizes, with winners Ceris and John receiving £75 each, plus t-shirts and, of course, the splendid Rossiter Trophy.

Ben and Luke received £40 each, plus bowls towels, Ray and Steve £20 each plus towels and Ginny and Cameron were given a bowls towel each as a token of their fourth place finish.

Paul was given thanks for his organisation of the day and received a t-shirt and towel and Kath and Diane were presented with bouquets of flowers for organising the food.

The raffle rounded off the official proceedings, with the sum of £146 being donated to the Saundersfoot Cancer Research fundraising committee.

SAUNDERSFOOT 115 (14 pts.)

MILFORD HAVEN 63 (0)

Saundersfoot completed their home programme in the Pembrokeshire Division One League last Sunday with an emphatic 52-shot win over Milford Haven.

After five ends, however, the villagers were three shots down, but had taken a slender four-shot lead at the tea interval.

The break certainly helped as on 15 ends, the lead had been extended to 36 and Saundersfoot romped home, taking a full tally of 14 points.

On rink two, George Cavell, Neil Hensman, Alan Brace and Don Poole had a poor start and soon found themselves nine shots down before recovering to take the lead on the 12th end.

The Milford rink, skipped by Tony Ellyatt, then only won three of the last nine to leave the home four easy winners by 31 shots to 18.

Rink three saw Edward Smith, Brian McKehon, captain for the day Paul Blayney and skip Myrddin Dennis in an early battle for supremacy, with Brian Davies, Larry Cooper, Peter Sampson and Keith Wood and on 10 ends, were two shots down.

A five on the next end after a brilliant take out shot by Popeye, took them into the lead, which they never relinquished, running out victors by 23 shots to 14.

Graham Hughes, Dave Roberts, Brian Desmond and Alan Brain lost the first end against Peter Collins's four, but thereafter there was only going to be one winner, with counts of a six and three fours helping to a 33 shots to 12 win.

On rink five, Roy Kennion, Grant Hughes, Nev Ruff and Steve Dick were drawing 17-all after 16 ends against their opponents skipped by the evergreen Don Griffiths, but winning four of the last five gave them a comfortable 28 shots to 19 win.

Saundersfoot were due to complete their league programme last Wednesday with a rearranged fixture away to league champions elect Tenby.

RACHEL HENSMAN

Junior member Rachel Hensman has had some excellent GCSE exam results to celebrate.

A pupil at Greenhill School, she is congratulated by all the members of Saundersfoot Bowling Club and wished continued success in her further education.

Finals weekend

Tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday sees the all-important club finals take place.

The presentation evening takes place on Friday, September 16, and a list for those wishing to attend is on the noticeboard in the club.

Good luck

Saundersfoot will be well represented in the Welsh ladies' semi-finals taking place at Parc Howard, Llanelli, on Sunday.

Good luck to Kath Blayney, Ceris Hewlings and Ann Lewis in the triples, Gemma Amos, Viv Edwards, Ceris and Ann in the rinks, and Gwenda Rees in the two-wood singles on Monday.

Sue's

Captain's Day

Saundersfoot Bowling Club's ladies' captain, Sue Roden, celebrated her Captain's Day in fine style last week.

She entertained her clubmates to a memorable afternoon and evening at the club.

A spider started off the afternoon and was won by new member Jess, while the afternoon triples competition was won by Kath Blayney, Lorna Bissell and Anne Evans.

The tables upstairs were adorned with red, white and blue, in keeping with the Help the Heroes theme.

A best decorated hat contest was won by Beryl Lawrence, while hotshot certificates and badges were awarded to Lynn Statters, Audrey Williams, Gwenda Rees and Beryl L. Lewis for gaining a maximum eight shots during a league game against Fishguard.

Following a delicious three-course meal, prepared by Sue and her family, highlight of the afternoon was the presentation of the coveted Captain's Shield which is given annually to a member who the captain feels deserves special recognition.

Sue said there had been many contenders, but after much consideration, she presented it to vice-chairlady Kath Blayney in recognition of her dedication to the St. Issell's Ladies team, her support of the club and work as vice-chairlady.

Kath said she was honoured to receive the shield and congratulated Sue on a successful season as captain of St. Issell's Ladies and thanked her for a wonderful afternoon.

Sue also made various other presentations, to her family for all their help, to Audrey and Gloria for helping make some of the desserts, to Paul Blayney for organising the afternoon's bowls competition and for manning the bar, to Kath and Diane, her fellow St. Issell's selectors, and finally, but by no means least, she gave a gift to her husband, Colin, as a thank you for all his support.

Sue also announced that the afternoon had raised nearly £100 for Help the Heroes - a great achievement.

All in all, it was a great Captain's Day - thanks Sue!