Ladies from all over the county gathered last week for the 12th annual Kath and Paul Blayney sponsored Saundersfoot ladies two-wood open triples tournament.

Thankfully, the early morning drizzle gave way to a fine day, with teams playing in a round robin format, with the winners progressing to the knockout stages.

The eventual winners were Julie Thorpe, Pam Langdon and Lyn Jenkins, of Haverfordwest, who defeated Margaret Saunders, Pat Young and Jeanette Phelps in the final by just seven shots to six.

The losing semi-finalists were Sandra Ingerson, Lynne Reyed and Kath Williams, of Saundersfoot, and Diana Davies, Betty James and Ann Marie Wicks, of Pembroke Dock.

At the presentation ceremony, Paul Blayney thanked the competitors for their support, Collette Bethwaite who had acted as umpire and vice-chairlady Diane Rigden and the ladies of the club who had catered all day.

Paul then asked Kath Blayney and club president Ann Lewis to present the prizes, with Kath giving the Kath and Paul Blayney trophy to the winning team.

President Ann then concluded proceedings by giving her own thanks to everyone and Kath and Paul for sponsoring the event.

Saundersfoot 126 (14 points)

St. Kaths 43 (0 pts.)

Playing at home to newly promoted St Kaths of Milford Haven, the Saundersfoot first division team gained an eight three shot win.

The visitors had already been finding the step up difficult to cope with and were without a win so far plus coming up against a village team who were undefeated must have seemed a daunting task.

The home boys were twenty nine shots ahead after just five ends and the lead had become forty one at the half way mark.

Afterwards it was just a case of how many Saundersfoot were going to win by and making sure that all rinks won their encounters.

Rink scores with Saundersfoot first and St Kaths skips only were:

Donny Poole, Mackie Brace, Paul Blayney, Steve Dick 23 Owen Evans 17.

Brian Dooley, Nil Hensman, Brian Desmond, Myrddin Dennis 24 Mattie Lloyd 14.

Dai Davies, Richard Whittaker, Liam Price, Berwyn Dennis 38 P Simpson 4.

Alan Brain, Selwyn Price, Louis Price, Joe Dennis 41 C Dicks 8.

Whitland 70 (4 pts.)

Saundersfoot 80 (10 pts.)

Three days later Saundersfoot faced the far more difficult task of overcoming Whitland away from home.

On another sunny day perfect for bowling, the villagers were slow off the mark and soon found themselves twenty one shots adrift.

Finally adjusting to the weight and lines required and settling into the game, whilst remembering the old adage that bowls in a marathon and not a sprint, the deficit had been reduced to nine after ten ends.

With two ends remaining, Whitland led by just two but in a tense finish, Saundersfoot held their nerve to win the match by ten.

With the Joe Dennis and captain Berwyn rinks remaining on the green, Joe and third Louis Price drew two perfect woods each on the nineteenth to pick up a count of four followed by a one on the last whilst Berwyn under a lot of pressure at the last end and finding his rink five down with his last wood to play, produced the shot of the afternoon by driving the kitty to the ditch to win the end.

On rink one, Donny Poole, Mackie Brace, Paul Blayney and Steve Dick found life difficult against Scott Lewis, Denny Richards, Charlie Morse and Huw Nicholas and were fourteen shots down with two ends to play.

On both occasions the home team were lying three but on the nineteenth Paul drew the shot and on the last, so did Steve to give an eight shot turnover to the villagers and although losing by Twenty three shots to eleven, played their part at the end to the victory.

Rink two saw Alan Brain lead for Joe Dennis, with Selwyn Price second and son Louis third but although trailing throughout, as stated above, helped win the match but lost the rink against Nigel Davies, Colin Wynn, Phil Wynn and Steve Reese by nineteen shots to fourteen.

Myrddin (Popeye) Dennis aided by Graham Hughes as lead, Brian Dooley at second and Brian (the Gwent genius) Desmond third, dropped a count of six on the first end on rink three but then restricted their opponents Andrew Morse, Steve Morse, Ashley Reese and Mike John to winning only two more ends in a thirty four shots to thirteen win.

A similar storey enfolded on rink four where Dai Davies, Richard Whittaker, Liam Price and skip Berwyn Dennis were up against, John Rees, Jonathan Woodford, Glyndwr Thomas and Andrew Evans.

Eight nil down after four ends, they fought back to win by twenty one shots to fifteen.

An excellent comeback then against a team on their own green where Saundersfoot historically find it difficult to get a result means three wins out of three but the hard games continue to come with a home match against Tenby scheduled for last night, followed by a trip to Pembroke Dock next Sunday.

Congratulations to Whitland’s Andrew Evans from the Saundersfoot club on being selected for his first Welsh cap in the forthcoming international series at Leamington Spa.

Saundersfoot Ladies

Following two away defeats at the hands of Pembroke Dock and Taskers of Haverfordwest the Saundersfoot ladies returned to winning ways with a home win against Pembroke Dock Park last week.

Val James, Marion Evans, Steph Amos and daughter Gemma defeated Barbara Rapley by eighteen shots to ten whilst Di Disney, Pam Bowen, Jean Dezille and Viv Edwards gained a win by twenty four shots to seventeen over Penny Brickle.

Their next match is tomorrow afternoon when they play Neyland ladies away and then in another away game travel to play Milford next Wednesday both starting at 2 pm.

Other Fixtures

There is a mixed friendly at home to Pentyrch tomorrow afternoon whilst the St Issells men play at home to St Thomas of Haverfordwest on Sunday.

St Issells ladies will continue their busy period of bowling by playing Pendine on Monday and Whitland next Friday.

Meyrick Owen

The St Brides team in the one rink Meyrick Owen league have played three matches, losing to Pembroke Dock and Haverfordwest but gaining a fine win last week over Strumblebees of Fishguard by thirty six shots to nine.

The team against Strumblebees was - Kath Williams, Pam Bowen, Mike Carr and Rod Bramhall.

Pro Am Evening

Following bad weather on the original date in May, the rescheduled competition will now take place on Friday, July 7.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Joe Dennis for his selection to play for Pembrokeshire in the County under 25s double rink competition at Llandrindod Wells next Sunday.

Also the best wishes of the members go to Joe for having been selected for a national under 25s trial on June 24.

Finally this week, more congratulations, this time to former member John Roberts, who now plays for Tenby, a long standing member of the Welsh international team both indoor and outdoor, on receiving the well deserved honour of captaining his country at the Leamington Spa home international at the end of this month.