Saundersfoot Bowling Club almost swept the board at the West Wales Ladies Bowling Association's finals at the weekend, winning five of the six trophies up for grabs.
The day after retaining her place in the Welsh international team, Ceris Hewlings was crowned four-wood singles champion, and she followed in the footsteps of her club-mates who claimed nearly all the silverware at the main finals day held on Saturday at Haverfordwest BC.
Ceris had been unavailable that day due to her Welsh trial commitments and had to return to the county town for her own final on the Sunday.
Despite her hectic schedule, she was in fine form and completed a memorable weekend as she triumphed over Andrea Thomas, of Whitland, to take her first county singles title.
Eighteen-year-old ladies captain Gemma Amos won the two-wood singles, while Chris Haley lifted the Autumn Cup for the third year in a row.
They both beat fellow clubmates, Marion Evans in the two-wood and Audrey Williams in the Autumn Cup.
Duo Gwenda Rees and Ann Lewis did the pairs double, retaining the two-wood and adding the four-wood to their collection.
Meanwhile, the triples came to Saundersfoot thanks to Viv Edwards, Anne Davies and Marion Evans.
Welsh semi-finals
With her Welsh singles semi-final spot already secure, Ann Lewis has also skipped her triples and rinks to success, reaching the last four in the national competitions.
In the triples, Viv Edwards, Ceris Hewlings and Ann will play Welsh star Kathy Pearce, of Berriew, while in the rinks, the trio are joined by Kath Blayney, and will play prolific medal winner, Betty Morgan, and Co from Llandrindod Wells.
The semi-finals will be held on Friday, September 3, at Vivian Park, Port Talbot, the home of this year's Welsh president, Eirwen Cook.
SAUNDERSFOOT 66 (4 pts.) TENBY 82 (10)
Saundersfoot played host to neighbouring Tenby last week knowing that they would have to be at the top of their game to match their local rivals who are the current county and Welsh champions.
And match them they did for long periods, only losing in the gathering gloom of the evening by 16 shots when the visitors upped their game to finish the stronger.
Five shots down after five ends and only four at the half-way point, an upset looked possible and after 15 played, only nine shots separated the teams.
Tenby then showed their mettle by extending the lead to 18 shots over the next three ends and held on to win the overall game, although the rink results were shared two wins each.
Both sides respected each other by fielding near full strength teams, with Saundersfoot only missing Steve Poole and Tenby Luke Guymer due to work commitments and the problem of making a 6 pm mid-week start.
On rink two, Louis Price led for skip Simon Evans, with Alan Brain second and Welsh international Don Poole third, against the Tenby foursome skipped by Craig Guymer.
Although losing the first end, the home rink soon settled into their rhythm and allowed their opponents to win only four more to run out victors by 11 shots.
This was a particularly pleasing win for Simon as, leaving Tenby for Saundersfoot this season, he had been the subject of some unnecessary comments by the Sutton Street correspondent in the club's Tenby Observer column at the start of this campaign.
Rink two saw Berwyn Dennis, a former Welsh junior international, skip Graham Hughes, George Cavell and 16-year-old Joe Dennis against Paul Diment and in a close encounter, run out the winners by four shots.
Five shots adrift after 17 ends, the village rink then scored nine shots without reply to secure their two points.
Myrddin Dennis skipped on rink four, with Alan Brace, John Dugmore and John Jenkins as his front men, but they won only six ends in a 19-shot defeat.
Up against the veteran Pat Currie, the home boys did well to pull back a 10-shot deficit after 12 ends to just four on 16, but a poor last five ends saw them drop 15 shots without reply to finish second best on this occasion.
On rink five, captain Steve Dick skipped Roy Kennion, Nev Ruff and Paul Blayney against former Saundersfoot player Phil Carpenter and, although only trailing by one shot after 12 ends, only winning three more of the nine remaining led to a 12-shot defeat.
Saundersfoot should be pleased with their overall performance against a team who have lost only one game this season and, as stated in this column last week, if some of the village squad could show more commitment and the team could play together in a more settled fashion, then better results could come their way.
As far as Tenby are concerned, they play their Carruthers Shield semi-final tomorrow (Saturday) against Ferndale at Llandrindod Wells, with the winners in that morning encounter playing either Dinas Powis or Porthcawl in the afternoon final.
The odds are on a Tenby/Dinas Powis final and what a game that would be.
Good luck from all at Saundersfoot in their attempt to bring the Welsh club championship home to Pembrokeshire again.
Rink scores, skips only:
Simon Evans 22; Craig Guymer 11.
Berwyn Dennis 20; Paul Diment 16.
Myrddin Dennis 12; Pat Currie 31.
Steve Dick 12; Phil Carpenter 24.
SAUNDERSFOOT 62 (2 pts.) CASTLE 91 (12)
Following their good performance in mid-week against Tenby, Saundersfoot were forced to make five changes from their team for a variety of reasons, and the unavailability of players, including three skips, was too much of a hurdle to overcome as they went down to a surprise home defeat to Castle of Haverfordwest.
The writing was on the wall after just five ends when the visitors went 13 shots in front and this had been extended to 19 at the tea-break.
A mixture of poor bowling and bad luck contributed to the villagers' woes and there was no way back when they trailed by 25 shots after 15 ends.
To be fair to the Castle players, they played with real commitment as league points were required to ease any threat of relegation and they ran out comfortable winners by 29 shots.
Two games remain for Saundersfoot to consolidate their mid-table position when they entertain Neyland next Sunday and Pembroke Dock on August 29.
Well done to 16-year-old Joe Dennis, who skipped in the league for the first time, and, although suffering a defeat, will no doubt use the experience to gain more positive results in the future.
Rink scores (Saundersfoot first, Castle skips only):
M. Carr, N. Hensman, J. Dugmore, D. Poole 11; R. Lewis 24.
R. Kennion, N. Ruff, P. Blayney, S. Dick 21; B. Hall 22.
G. Hughes, G. Cavell, B. Lee, J. Dennis 11; B. Absalom 25.
A. Brace, J. Evans, B. Desmond, M. Dennis 19; D. Summers 14.
Tenby Goscar 27
St. Brides 12
The visitors from Saundersfoot started well, taking four shots on the first two ends in this Meyrick Owen clash. Though Goscar came back strongly, St. Brides managed to maintain the advantage and were leading 10 shots to nine at the halfway stage.
As often happens, this was the point when fortunes changed. The home team took the lead with two shots on the 10th and they never looked back, winning nine of the remaining ends.
However, despite a disappointing result for the St. Brides team, an enjoyable afternoon's sport was had by all.
St. Brides team: P. Lewis, C. Roden, G. Vigus, B.McKehon (skip).
SAUNDERSFOOT 80 WARWICKSHIRE
VICE-PRESIDENTS 156
Warwickshire Vice-Presidents Association were the visitors last week for a six-rink men's friendly and won the game by an impressive 76 shots.
Saundersfoot managed one winning rink, with Brian Deeley skipping Derek Rowan, Ian Nicholls and Alan Brace to a five-shot victory.
To make matters worse, the visitors went home with all three tea-time raffle prizes as well!
The game, which was played in a competitive, but friendly manner, was a pleasure to play in, with the Warwickshire captain passing favourable comments about the green, the Saundersfoot facilities and the excellent company.
It was nice to see Ian Nicholls on the green, playing his first game of the season and ending up on the top rink and winning the kitty! The St. Issell's squad have obviously missed you Ian!
I was offered favours not to put certain scores in this column, but a correspondent has his duties to the public, so sorry boys, but the afternoon results were as follows, with Saundersfoot rinks first and WVP's skips only:
J. Evans, D. Reed, T. Lamkin, B. Lee 8; M. Wilks 35.
P. Patel, M. Oliver, R. Kennion, P. Blayney 16; M. Clayton 21.
D. Rowan, I. Nicholls, A. Brace, B. Deeley 21; G. Willcott 16.
B. McKehon, C. Roden, D. Pope, K. Rowland 9; G. Smith 31.
B. Glynn, P. Lewis, G. Cavell, D. Stokes 14; M. Gilks 27.
J. Bingham, J. Austin, M. Carr, R. Pring 12; D. Longdon 26.
ST. ISSELL'S LADIES
The St. Issell's ladies team played two matches last week, with favourable results.
On Tuesday, they defeated high-flying Cleddau from Haverfordwest, picking up four of the six points at stake and on Thursday, they drew with Fishguard and Goodwick, the teams sharing three points each.
In the Fishguard match, captain Sue Roden led for Beryl Lewis, with Diane Rigden second and Kath Blayney third, and the rink secured a 20 shots to 16 win.
Gloria Dugmore skipped Lyn Statters, Audrey Williams and Beryl Lawrence to a 21 shots to 17 defeat.
Tomorrow (Saturday), the ladies play their club colleagues and rivals (friendly of course!) Saundersfoot at 2 pm.
JOHN MOFFATt
Popular member John Moffatt has recently been hospitalised and is sent the best wishes of everyone at the Saundersfoot club for a speedy recovery.
FIXTURES
In addition to the all-Saundersfoot ladies encounter, the gentlemen of St. Issell's play host to St. Kath's, of Milford Haven, tomorrow afternoon, while on Sunday, Saundersfoot men play at home to Neyland.
On Tuesday, Writtle Bowling Club are the visitors for a six-rink mixed friendly, and on Wednesday, Saundersfoot ladies are again in action when they travel to play Tenby.
All matches start at 2 pm.
Coffee morning
Although the festive season may seem a long way off, the ladies of the club have arranged a Christmas coffee morning for Saturday, November 27 - please make a note in your diaries.