THIS past week has been a busy one for Royston Bowls Club, with Thursday especially interesting as several players were involved in National and County competitions. Royston s Peter Graves took on Baldock s M Parsons in the first round of the national ove

THIS past week has been a busy one for Royston Bowls Club, with Thursday especially interesting as several players were involved in National and County competitions.

Royston's Peter Graves took on Baldock's M Parsons in the first round of the national over-55s competition and although his opponent won by 21 shots to 13, Graves put up a good fight and even pulled back to within a couple of shots of his opponent at one stage.

However, Parsons proved too strong on the day.

Two ladies teams were in action in the county triples matches.

Royston's Gillian Fisk, M Gisby, and Ann Martin had no answer to their opponents' steady scoring rate and suffered a heavy defeat.

Royston's other team of Joan Knights, Eileen Hyde, and Shirley Pawson gave a better performance against a Baldock three and eased home by nine shots to win 19-10.

On Friday, Royston Vets were away to the Three Horseshoes fielding five rinks of mixed triples.

This game was very tight and although one Royston rink won by 32 shots to six, the overall result was a three shot win for the home team.

result: Royston 88 shots. Three Horseshoes 91 shots.

In the evening, Royston were over at Baldock to compete in the first round of the County League (2x4), The Ginder Cup.

Initially the Royston four of Colin Pawson, Keith Dockree, Roger Davies and skip Don Sheriff, sprinted into a 17 shot lead after only seven ends, but Baldock fought back and at one stage were within five shots of Royston.

Royston responded well though and they scored nine shots in four ends to win the tie 29-15.

On rink two, Royston's Brian Pepper, Bob Porter, Roger Neville and skip Stuart Brown, eased to a 14-6 lead at 10 ends.

Then disaster struck with Royston dropping eight shots on end 11 which brought the scores level.

Stepping up a gear, Royston scored steadily over the next 10 ends to cross the line nine shots up giving the Royston team a hard fought triumph.

Result: Royston 59 shots. Baldock 36 shots.

Royston once again played away on Saturday, this time at Bishop's Stortford.

Only one rink managed a one shot difference in their score while all other rink scores were over 10 shots apart.

Despite one Royston rink winning 36 shots to 10, this was cancelled out by a loss of six shots to 33 on another.

In the end Royston pipped the home side to the post by just seven shots.

Result: Royston 124 shots. Bishops Stortford 117 shots.

On Sunday, Royston were at home to Roebuck (Stevenage) in the National Top 11 competition.

Royston's Brian Pepper gave his team a good start by winning his two wood singles (21 ends) against Kevin Lamacraft, 14 shots to 10.

Meanwhile, Simon Lee had an epic battle with Roebuck's Gary Wood in the four wood singles.

Lee had a slow start but edged back into the game and took the lead at 20-17 leaving himself just one shot away from success.

Wood, however, made Lee fight hard and it took four ends for Lee to gain that winning shot and win the contest by 21-19.

In the pairs, Royston's Laurie Ramsay and Peter Adams had a tight game against Paul Turner and Martin Brackley.

At 10 shots apiece on the on the 14 end, it was Roebuck who edged away to win by just 4 shots.

The triples rink suffered a similar defeat with Royston's Stan Whitehouse, Terry Hollands, and Mick O'Flanagan unable to control the steady scoring rate of their opponents who, after a brief Royston rally, won by 17 shots to 12.

In the fours, it was Royston's Len Payne, Mel Flack, Don Sheriff and skip Stuart Brown who were required to produce a win to enable Royston to clinch the day.

After being 12 shots to two up on the 10th end, Roebuck scrambled back to within four shots.

Stepping up a gear, Royston coasted home to an eight shot triumph, the score being 19 shots to 11 - a good performance against strong opposition.

There was disappointment for Matt Coppin who failed to find good form against Peter Roseblade in the Champion of Champions competition played at Roebuck on Sunday.

Coppin admitted that his opponent had played well, but stated that he was unhappy with his own performance being unable to find consistency.