Holme Tower - the winner (From Penarth Times)

Holme Tower - the winner

WITH THE Skittle season just about started, we already have a couple of casualties to announce.

After almost 50 years in the league, Woodpeckers have been forced to quit due to to lack of support, and in the ladies' second division, Ladybirds have failed to come up to scratch.

This means there will be an additional bye in the men's premier division, and a bye in the ladies second division.

One piece of information for those in the ladies' second division is that Nuns On The Run are now playing at the Cogan Hotel, and not the Ex's Club as in the fixtures.

With lots of friendlies having been played, leading to Legion Colts in danger of being over trained, at least according to Ken Trenchard, one fixture caught my eye.

It was between Miller Girls and Conservative B, the winners of the ladies and men's Champion of Champions respectively. The match was played at the Ex's Club on Tuesday, September 18, and a good night was had by all.

Miller Girls used the challenge match to play all of their 14 players from which their 12 for the first match of the season would be picked. With three new team members, all of whom had not played too much skittles before, it was odds on a victory for the men.

However, that did not dishearten Girl's captain, Mandy Price from leading from the front and putting in a fine display to finish joint top scorer in her team with Beverley Spriggs, with each scoring a creditable 31 pins.

I looked hard at the scores of the ladies when the match was over, and I could not easily pick out the three new girls, which augers well for the Miller Girls chances as they take up their place in the Ladies' Premier division for the first time.

And what of Graham Marsh's team. They also fielded 14 players, with Graham refusing to take a chance on losing if he had less team members than the girls. He need not have worried for his side responded to the challenge, hitting six nines and a spare between them as they romped home to victory.

Huw Long hit the only spare of the night and came perilously close to flooring all nine pins with his first ball. How the middle pin stayed up I will never know. Brian Thain hit two nines after a slow start, and Phil Curtin top scored on the night with 35 and not a nine or spare in his total.

There was an excellent raffle with both the Ex's Club and Conservative Club provided prizes, as did both teams and several individuals. The Girls came up with a novel idea once they saw the Cons B side collecting for the first nine.

The money collected had to go into the pot towards the collection for Holme Tower. No-one complained and everyone voted the night an enormous success.

On Thursday night at the first Delegate's Meeting of the new season, Mandy Price and Sheila Diggins presented Treasurer, Ron Maggs, with a total of £130 for the League's Holme Tower fund.

My thanks to all those who made the evening such a success, especially the Miller Girls who provided an excellent "spread" and to Philip Mears, Chairman of the Ex's Club, for his hospitality on the night.

Tickets for the Skittles Presentation Dance to be held at the Conservative Club on Friday, October 26 are available to all those who won trophies last season and in the summer competitions. They are priced £2 each and are bound to be in short supply.

If you want yours, now is the time to get them. And finally, the fixtures are out, most teams have registered their players, and it is time to let battle commence.