ONCE again, it was left to the PG Two side at Penarth Bowling Club to provide the only bright spot in this week’s exchanges.

Elsewhere, it was defeat at the hands of Victoria Weston and an extraordinary collapse against Penarth Windsor which provided the rest of the news. The ladies had a very good win against Millwood and, unfortunately, saw the recent match against Murch fall victim to the weather.

The annual excursion to the Victoria Club in Weston-Super-Mare is always a popular and eagerly anticipated affair and last week’s incursion into the West Country was no exception.

A very pleasant day was enjoyed by all concerned with the only downside being the final result which saw Penarth lose on four of the six rinks and turn in a match result of 99-121.

Perhaps the luncheon stop, punctuated by much “liquid refreshment” finally took its toll because the only two winners for Rectory Road were Nick Chandler (skip), Phil Davies, Lawrence Brooke and Gareth Rosser (21-14) and Russell Daniel, Brian Fisher, Peter Needham and Roger Gidman (18-16).

Sadly the intervention of horrific weather on Wednesday saw the postponement of the first of this season’s Les Heap Trophy matches against Penarth Windsor, which has now been rearranged.

Penarth’s last visit to Penarth Windsor saw the home side completely dominate, so the men of Rectory Road visited Robinswood Crescent on Saturday with a great deal of trepidation.

However, as the match progressed it seemed that all predictions of gloom were groundless as Penarth dominated to the point where they led by 21 shots overall with just six ends to play.

It was at this point that things took a sharp turn for the worse as The Windsor (with captain Brian Rogers already having written his post-match speech congratulating Penarth BC) staged the most extraordinary fightback to turn this seemingly unassailable deficit into a two shot victory and saw Penarth, yet again, managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and wondering what might have been.

Bob Hill (skip) with Dave Clements, Don Shirley and Mike Conway did well to combat the power of Tony Holmes’ rink, whilst Dave Dalby, happily restored to the ranks, was well supported by Bob Lewis, Phil Davies and Ron Birkby in defeating Matthew Woodcock’s strong rink after a titanic battle. Elsewhere, the fighting qualities of the Ken Mcleod and Steve Close fours proved instrumental in this monumental turnaround.

For yet another week it was the PG Two side which provided the success with a fine victory, again over Penarth Windsor at Rectory Road. Yet again, Ron Maggs delivered the goods and with the help of John Whitfield, John Bowen and Dave Holdaway produced a handsome 27-8 win. With the Roger Gidman rink winning 19-12 and Brian Brennan producing a winning 20-13 scoreline it was victory by 78 shots to 55 and a further 12 league points.

The ladies Evening League match with the Murch, sadly, produced no overall result due to the intervention of the weather but there was a notable success in the match against Millwood where a 33-19 win was secured by Belinda price (skip) Betty Jones, Diana Willcocks and Kath Jenkins (15-9) and Elizabeth Coleman (skip), Pat Rees, June Williams and Christina Church (18-10).

With all results in, Penarth finished a creditable third in this year’s Munro Cup, no mean feat in a League comprising 15 teams. Congratulations also to their very good friends from Penarth Windsor who finished in second place, some 11 points ahead of Rectory Road. These positions reflect very well on the state of bowls in the town.