FOLLOWING the Munro Cup success at Sully on the 9th, Penarth Bowling Club faced up to the daunting task of the visit of Barry Romilly (last year's winners) to Rectory Road.

Capt Mike should have feared not as his intrepid colleagues repelled the Romilly boys to record a remarkable second half recovery and register a wholly satisfying victory by 80 shots to 67. All four PBC rinks were up and a 14 point haul therefore secured.

At around the halfway stage Romilly had mustered a 21 shot advantage across the board, with all the home rinks losing.

Colin Grant's rink of Buckingham, Hicks and Crocker secured a full house on the 8th which had a rallying affect on the rest of their team mates. His rink then won the next 6 ends to lead by 6 shots, eventually winning by 24 to 20.

Dave Plank, Thomas, Willmott and Beanland also fought back well to secure an excellent 18 -17 win, picking up a stunning 4 on the last end.

Dave Clements, Church, Capt Mike and Davies fought off tough opposition to finish victorious by 15 shots to 13.

Nick Chandler, Horne, Daniel and Conway also came back from a 7 shot deficit after 7 ends to battle away heroically to record a 23 - 17 victory.

Saturday saw the visit of Cefn Cribbwr in the second of the Carruthers competition. Unfortunately Cefn were only able to assemble 12 bowlers for the trip so the game was reduced to four rinks of triples for them, with a resultant 25% reduction in their score.

On a glorious afternoon absolutely perfect for bowls, Penarth commenced to grind down the opposition to ensure a win and a faint hope of qualifying for the next round. The game went pretty well as hoped with 3 Penarth rinks taking control throughout. Clive Fry raced away to a 15 - 2 lead after 10 ends but his rink of Phil Davies, Mike England and Dave Clements stuttered somewhat in the second half but still came out deserved winners by 20 -12.

Dave Plank (24-13.5) and Colin Grant (22 - 9.75) both winning convincingly. However the Nick Chandler, Robert Horne, Derrick Musk and Mike Conway rink were engrossed in a real battle against a determined Cefn triple.

Losing throughout, it was only from the 17th end did they manage to get the upper hand turning a 12-8 deficit to a 15-12 win in the last 4 ends.

The final result was an 81-47.25 win but probably not enough to go further in the competition.

Finally, this report could not be written without including recognition of the 35 years that the much respected and revered wordsmith that is Ron Birkby.

He has served the PBC as their dedicated reporter for the majority of this period. Ron has damaged his quill recently and has therefore decided to call it day and rest his weary brain. His dictionary is for sale to the highest bidder as the need for it has now passed.

We all at the PBC, and many of the local bowling fraternity, wish Ron a happy retirement and thank him hugely for his many enjoyable epistles and bowling bulletins over this long time.

The Munro Cup side travelled over to Barry Central on 23rd with some trepidation as the green there has not reached its best condition for some years.

However it was a much improved but still tricky encounter which PBC managed successfully.

Three rinks ran out comfortable victors to provide a satisfying win by 60 shots (104-44). Clive Fry (35-5), Dave Plank (34-8) and Nick Chandler (26-11) ensured that 12 points were bagged on the night.

Saturday saw the final Carruthers game with Caerau Athletic being the visitors to Rectory Road.

This was effectively a nothing game as neither side was in contention for the next round. Unfortunately Caerau arrived two players short. The overall result was a win for Penarth by 86 shots to 69.5.

Grant, Blainey,Thorne and Buckingham powered their way to 20-7 lead after11 ends, but then faltered somewhat managing to hold on to win 26-17 (12.75 adjusted).

Church, Crocker, England and Daniel had a somewhat topsy turvy battle and did well to win 23-18 (12.75 adjusted)

Chandler, Horne, Shirley and Conway battled well throughout eventually grabbing the lead on the 19th end which was consolidated on the last two ends to win 25-21.

Plank, Davies, Willmott and Beanland lost another hard encounter 12-25. With a number of Wales trialists and internationals in the team, Caerau posed a difficult challenge which Penarth responded well to.