WITH the weather remaining hot and sultry, the men of Penarth Bowling Club seemed to respond to the conditions and raised their game somewhat, much to the delight of captain Mike.

First was a convincing win in the Munro against visitors Cowbridge. Three rinks victorious saw a margin of 40 shots ( 91 - 51 ) and a 12 point haul.

Clive Fry, Bob Lewis, Lawrence Brooke and Phil Davies led the way with a super 32 - 10 win, with the two other rinks registering 18- 9 and 24 -14 wins. Bob Hill's withdrawal due to his devotion to pies and pasties, meant a shuffle on his rink with the evergreen and articulate Jack Beanland moved to skip. He seemed to be leading Colin Hicks, Mike England and Russell Daniel to a comfortable victory. Disaster loomed however on the 17th end when six shots were surrendered and a one shot defeat ( 17 - 18 ) concluded their valiant efforts. A crestfallen Jack was convinced the selection committee would see the error of their ways for future reshuffles.

Saturday saw a trip to sunny Pentyrch for a PG1 encounter which turned out to be a nail biting affair which went to the last end of the last rink.

With three rinks concluded the game was poised at a draw and despite being down by 27 shots to 8, the six points for a win relied on Colin Grant producing a winning end. Penarth players milled excitedly around the end of the rink and enthusiastically cheered on Terry, Mike, Paul and Colin. The vociferous support proved critical as a momentous end of bowls resulted in a one shot advantage to Penarth. Colin went from zero to hero in securing the win by 79 to 78 and 12 points bagged.

The ladies continued their winning vein with three most impressive wins. The first came with an M4 minibus ride to Pencoed in an afternoon league fixture. Belinda Price, June Williams, Barbara Brown and Norma Duggan bowled superbly to register a win by 30 - 8, which was the foundation for an overall win by 63 - 49. Betty Jones drew 21 - 21, and Sue Croll went down 12 - 20.

Another minibus sortie on the M4 to Kenfig Hill & Pyle club produced another welcome win ( 49 - 39 ) This time it was Tricia Brinkworth, Kath Jenkins, Jill Gaskell and Sue Roberts who produced the result ( 22 - 9 ) that carried the team through.

The two other rinks went down narrowly 12 -13 and 13 - 17. Overall another great effort.

Another afternoon victory eventuated at Llantwit Major. With the green very much to Captain Kath and her team, all three rinks produced a well earned and satisfying win.

Rink scores were 18 - 12, 18 - 15 and 19 -12. No mini bus was required as the M4 was not involved in the trip.

The week concluded with the visit of Clevedon for a five rink mixed friendly. Captain for the day Mike England led his mixed troops well in what turned out to be a most enjoyable and fun game of bowls played in an excellent spirit. Fittingly the overall result declared by Mike was a draw 99 -99, although the cards, when checked by this scribe, added up to win for Penarth by 99 - 97. Mike is always generous to a tee.