THE first weekend of April saw the culmination of the indoor competitions at Penarth Bowling Club.

The finals kicked-off on Friday night with the men's triples being contested between Raiders and Kingfishers. The contest overall was a close one except for two slack ends by the Raiders dropping a five and six shots which enabled the Kingfishers to take a grip on the game.

The eventual final score was a win by 23 shots to 11 for the Kingfishers.

The Monday night rink final was played out on Saturday afternoon. An uncharacteristic lacklustre performance by the favourites, Untouchables, saw them lose convincingly to an in-form Cavaliers rink. The final margin being 19 - 10 in their favour.

Two games were played on Saturday morning, with an interesting Lady's Novice Final being contested between Chris Davies and Lorraine Palmer.

Not much to chose between these two consistent performers, although Lorraine quickly took control and raced to a 9 - 1 lead after seven ends. Chris however, was having none of this and over the next seven ends fought back to within one shot (9 - 10 ).

All was not lost as she then took a full house to lead 13 - 11. Lorraine obviously woke from her mid-game slumber and took control again eventually running out the victor by 22 - 16. A fascinating game of bowls.

On the next rink the Men's Two Wood Pairs Final was a different affair. Partners Russell Daniel and Dave Clements were in complete control giving Lawrence Brook and Dave Dalby a somewhat torrid time.

Excellent leading skills from Russell backed-up by some expert skipping from Dave saw them lead by 20 shots to four after 15 of the scheduled 21 ends. Despite some resolute bowling from Lawrence and Dave, they were just not able to get into the game and threw the towel in after 18 ends with score standing at 22 - 5.

Dave Clements was back on the green in the afternoon, this time partnered with the ever green Colin Hicks. Their opposition in the Four Wood Final was Phil Davies and Sully's answer to Peter Pan, Dennis Edwards.

A close contest was anticipated and the fans were not disappointed. The game was nip and tuck all the way until the 19th end when they were tied at 15 - 15. The last two ends were taken by Colin and Dave scoring five shots to run out winners by 20 - 15.

The ladies were also busy on Saturday with a Triples and Four Wood Pairs Final being played out. Sue Croll led her triple rink well to command a seven shot lead after seven ends. Ably assisted by a youthful Stella Davies and Viv Duckers they never let that lead slip, eventually being triumphant by 18 - 10.

A spirited fight was provided by Mo Musk, Cynthia Conway and Francine Douglas reducing the gap to only two shots at the half-way point. The lead was just too much to overhaul.

The Four Wood Pairs promised to be another tight game but things were not to turn out as hoped for Wendy Grant and C McGillvray. Joan Lewis and skip Belinda Price were always in control of the game never giving the opposition any sort of look in. They amassed a 12 - 4 lead after 10 ends moving steadily on to lead 22 - 7 on the 16th.

Joan and Belinda eventually ran out 25 - 12 winners.

Sunday bowling commenced with the Mixed Pairs and Ladies Two Wood Finals.

The Mixed Pairs Final saw Carol Hall and Haydn Trow facing the formidable Christina and Paul Church. The Church pairing quickly set the standard of consistency and worked themselves steadily to lead by 16 - 5 after 12 of the 21 ends.

Carol and Haydn staged a mini revival taking six shots off the next five ends. However, they were not able to get close enough to really worry a confident pair and the result was a win for the Church's by 21 - 12.

The Ladies Two Wood Pairs with Chris Davies partnering Kath Jenkins and Joan Lewis with Tricia Brinkworth was a very tight affair with only one shot between them after 13 ends.

Chris and Kath held this narrow lead and managed to take control of the game winning a 10 shot advantage over the next four ends. The game finished on the 19th end with the score in favour of Chris and Kath - 22 - 13.

The afternoon session saw Wendy Grant up against Belinda Price. For the second time of the weekend, Belinda was able to get the better of Wendy, running out a winner by 16 - 11 after 19 ends, to take the Two Wood Singles title.

The evening session consisted of the two Championship games.

The Lady's Final saw Sue Croll and Chris Davies going head-to-head. The game started evenly, but Sue settled better than Chris and took a steely control of proceedings. She scored consistently with Chris putting up a brave, if futile, resistance. The game ended after 14 ends with Sue taking the match by 21 shots to seven.

The Men's Final was a similar start with Dave Clements taking early control and picking up shot after shot. He engineered a 13 - 1 lead after 12 ends against worthy opposition in Colin Grant. Dave just would not let Colin in to the game at that stage.

However Colin is nothing but competitive and his concentration finally paid dividends. Over the next seven ends he fought back tremendously to narrow the margin to three shots.

Unfortunately for Colin, Dave came back at him and took the next three ends to lead 20 - 12. Colin took a two on the next to keep his hopes alive. Dave then drew the one shot he needed on the next end to run out winner by 21 - 14.

Huge congratulations to all finalists on what was an intriguing weekend of quality bowling.