WITH the Rectory Road green still recovering somewhat from the ravages of a hot dry summer all was set for a weekend of interesting and competitive bowls at Penarth Bowling Club.

Members were not disappointed as standards were high indeed. Saturday morning saw three finals.

The men's handicap matched up Colin Grant and Paul Church ion a ding dong battle that saw the lead change many times. Colin managed to secure the lead on end 7 and kept in front for most of the game eventually winning by 21-19.

Ken Thorne never surrendered the advantage against Mike England to take the 2 wood title by a 16 - 7 margin.

Some very consistent bowling throughout by Ken never really gave Mike a look in. It was a very similar theme with the lady's 2 wood as Jayne Edwards controlled the early stages and by end 11, led by 12 shots to 2.

Wendy then staged a worthy fight back, but the task proved too much, eventually losing 15 - 10.

The afternoon session was saw mainly pairs and triples taking place, except for the men's seniors singles between two old stalwarts Ron Birkby and Peter Small.

Peter on the day proved to be the stronger of the two producing a comfortable and impressive win by 21 - 7.

Peter was in control of the game from the outset and never really allowed Ron to get in to his usual consistent bowling.

Sunday's bowling consisted the pairs and triples for both ladies and men before the main events took place early evening, being the Championship finals.

However mention must be made of the excellent games of bowls served up by both Val Turner and Sandra Roberts in the Novice final.

Val started off superbly by picking up a 4 on the first end and continued to dominate the game, building up a an impressive lead of 13 - 5 by the 9th end.

Sandra, not to be outdone, produced a mini revival to claw her way back to trail by just 15 to 13 on the 16th end.

This game was now on a knife edge and would depend on who held their nerve better.

Sandra then drifted a little to be losing 18 - 14, but with a remarkable spell of bowling over 3 ends picking up a 3, a 2 and then a 4, she ran out winner by 23 - 18.

A great game of bowls from both.

The Championship finals then concluded the weekend's bowls with both games taking similar routes to conclusion. Wendy Grant and Belinda Price took to the green in what promised to be an entertaining and classy final.

The game proved to follow the old adage of '' a game of two halves ''. Belinda very quickly found her line and length, preventing Wendy with little opportunity in the early stages.

She had built up a lead of 11 - 3 by the 8th end and was in confident form.

However Wendy decided to take control and over the next 5 ends scored without reply to take a 12 -11 advantage.

This advantage was never relinquished and Wendy stormed on to win by 21 - 12.

The men's final had a similar ring to it as Phil Davies, using his lead expertise, built up a 9 - 4 lead by the end 6.

Clive Fry, however, settled into his game at this stage and started to take control.

He managed to fight back to lead 12 -11 on the 12th end and then never looked back.

By winning the next 5 ends he secured victory by 21 - 11.

Men

Handicap C. Grant 21 P. Church 19

Novice P. Church 21 R. Daniel 13

Seniors P. Small 21 R. Birkby 7

2 Wood K. Thorne 16 M. England 7

2 Wood pairs P. Church, B. Lansley 22 M. Conway, C. Grant 17

4 wood pairs C. Grant, B. Lansley 22 M. England, A Forsyth 12

Triples P. Needham, J. Beanland, K. Thorne 22 M. Conway, K. Brinkworth, C. Grant 15

Championship C. Fry 21 P. Davies 11

Ladies

Novice S. Roberts 23 V. Turner 18

2 Wood J. Edwards 15 W. Grant 10

2 Wood pairs J. Williams, C. Church 23 K. Jenkins, V. Duckers 14

4 Wood pairs B. Jones, N. Duggan 24 J. Williams, C. Church 16

Triples J. Gaskell, V. Duckers, N. Duggan 23 J. Williams, J. Lewis, C. Regan 11

Championship W. Grant 21 B. Price 12

Mixed Pairs L. Palmer, M. England 14 W. Grant, C. Grant 13