PENARTH Bowling Club enjoyed a week of mixed fortunes with a further victory in the WBA competition enabling them to emerge as group winners and ensure their progress to the next stage.

There was disappointment in the Munro Cup, but another satisfactory week for Alliance captain Russell Daniel.

On Tuesday the “Alliance” had a satisfying 12 shot win over St Fagans with an excellent performance from Ron Maggs and top honours going to Mike Conway, Brian Hocking, Colin Hicks and skip Haydn Trow.

On Wednesday, Penarth visited Dinas Powys for the second of this season’s Munro Cup matches. Despite losing on three rinks, the Rectory Road men put in a creditable performance, losing by a mere nine shots.

The Foursome of Gareth Rosser, Dick Edwards, Dave Plank and skip Dave Dalby, were top performers with a fine 24-12 win. Narrow defeats for Colin Grant and Brian Brennan ensured that things were kept close.

The rapid downturn in Thursday’s weather saw the friendly against Barry Veterans being staged at the indoor stadium. This move shifted the odds heavily in favour of the home side and, as expected, Penarth recorded an emphatic victory by 85 shots to 38.

Top honours went to the experienced Ron Maggs, with the aid of Brian Hocking, Mike Conway and Paul Church and there were sound wins also for Bob Willmott and Dave Dalby.

Friday’s domestic affair between the Alliance and Penarth Ladies went in favour of the men on this occasion with victory on four of the five rinks.

The outstanding rink comprised Roger Gidman, Lawrence Brooke, Dave Ingram and John Peterson, whilst there were very competent performances from Dave Dalby, Peter Small and Bob Hill. Betty Jones, well supported by Sandra Roberts, Joan Lewis and Mary Bowen provided the bright spot for the ladies leaving Haydn ruefully commenting he “needed more practice.”

Saturday’s WBA match against Caerau Athletic was a crucial one and things were not made easy in the face of some keen bowling from the opposition. Indeed, the visitors, despite penalties resulting from deficiencies in their ranks, won on three of the four rinks.

However Penarth’s fears were put to rest once again by Clive Fry, whose rink, consisting of captain Phil Davies, Ron Birkby and Neil Gaskell won through handsomely to ensure the win.

According to Paul Church, the visit to Cardiff BC for Saturday’s friendly was, quote: “Very forgettable.” However, Penarth did produce two fine winning rinks with Bob Willmott and Bob Hill both having successful afternoons despite the 65-87 reversal.

Ron Birkby can also reveal that president Nick has been in contact from his top secret hiding place, claiming total innocence for the “faux pas” in the “Times” two weeks back. He has asked Ron to reveal that, after an intensive course in psycho-analysis and shock treatment in the form of prolonged exposure to the sounds of “Peter Needham's Greatest Hits”, his identity crisis is now resolved and he is returning to the Murch (sorry) Penarth Bowling Club very soon (Editor's comment: "This is an in-joke among club members and the Penarth Times has been asked to print it.").