George celebrates his 90th knockout (From Penarth Times)

George celebrates his 90th knockout

THE 13TH annual presentation of prizes for Penarth Conservative Club's £1,000 knockout skittles competition took place in the Prince William Suite last Saturday.

Sports Secretary Lex Gamble called upon the President of the Penarth and District League, Mr George Brown to prevent the prizes to all the winners.

Before the presentation, the Chairman of the Club Graham Marsh presented a bottle of The Famous Grouse to George, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, and thanked him for all the years of support he had given the Skittles League.

The eventual winners were Cwrt-y-Vil B, captained by Dave Carey, who also won the highest team score with 150.

The one player who stood out in this side was Jeremy Barker with scores of 26, 30 and 31. As all skittlers will know this was a great achievement on this alley.

The runners-up were the Cons C captained by Barrie Bagwell who fought hard in the final but were eventually pipped by the better side on the night. The Cons C have played consistently well throughout the past years, and are sure to be going for the jackpot next year.

The semi-finalists were The Cavaliers and The Bulldogs captained by Tony Richards and Jack Smillie respectively. The top four sides were all local and it goes to show the strength of the Penarth skittlers.

In the ladies section, the winners were The Happy Bandits from Cathays, captained by Dot Burnell, who were the defending champions and are determined to win it for the third time next year.

The runners-up were The Blues, captained by Julia Bullough who were narrowly beaten by only four pins.

Both sides were strongly supported on the night and the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The highest individual female score was won by Sharon Lewis from the Libs Ladies with a brilliant 30, while the highest male scorer was Gary Rogers from The Wooden Tops with a cracking 33.

Trophies were also presented to the two sticker-uppers present Garry Curtin, who has now retired, and new boy Ryan Parfitt.

On presenting the trophies George recalled that when he was a sticker-upper 73 years ago he earned the princely sum of 12 old pennies. As a memento he presented both boys with a bag of old pennies and told them to look after them and perhaps in another 73 years they may be worth a lot of money.

The entertainment for the evening was by a trio called The Invitation who played superbly throughout and had everyone up dancing during their two spots, while the Kapital Disco, run by Mike Prideaux, filled in with hits from the Sixties up to the Nineties, ensuring continuity.

The MC for the evening was Ernie Turnbull who did a good job in ensuring that everyone enjoyed themselves to the full.

Lex Gamble thanked everyone for turning up and making it a most enjoyable evening with special thanks to raffle sellers Chris Marsh and June Jeans.

It is hoped that this popular competition will run for many years to come with George Brown still presenting the prizes.