Well, after winning five games in a row, I thought I had cracked this sport. That was until the last three matches I've been in (writes Rick Francis), including the men's triples that I mentioned last week. Then the over 60s men's singles was a battle that I never looked like winning. John led from the gun and in a 21 up contest I was doomed at 20-10. I don't know if John had nerves or I had a good run but at 20-19 I was lying two for the match with the shot just two inches in front of the jack. John bowled the perfect draw and pipped me by an inch. He totally deserved the match, but we should have had a few onlookers, because it was very tense.

I haven't mentioned the ladies much, but this is a truly equal competition for men and women. On Tuesday afternoon in the mixed rinks our team was truly hammered by one man and three ladies. Every one of them played brilliantly. A week last Wednesday, I played in another mixed match and our lady third and lady skip showed just how the game should be played, ensuring a great victory.

Bowls is one of the easiest games to get in to... but one of the hardest to master - but that is the fun of it.

Talking about fun, we had an annual general meeting where a married couple were having a little battle with each other. Now any normal chairman would not know what to do about it. Lewis, our tremendous chairman, stepped in straightaway and said: "My wife and I never go to bed on an argument - and it's worked for the last 55 years... mind you, I never went to bed for three months once!" Everyone was so busy laughing that the tiff was over. That is Lewis and that is also Heatherton Bowls.

Heatherton had another fine victory in the club championship on Saturday, defeating Bro Myrddin 168-88, winning on five rinks and drawing on one to pick up 21 of the 22 points available.

Rink scores (Heatherton first, Bro Myrddin skips only) were as follows:

G. Rycroft, A. Hooper, T. Howells, J. Roberts 31; C. Griffiths 21.

P. Gilder, B. Simmons, M. Evans, M. Jackson 34; M. Thomas 14.

C. Davies, J. Webb, M. James, A. Whitehouse 29; W. Samuel 13.

M. John, B. Cloake, J. Dennis, C. Court 24; S. Harries 11.

J. Shields, A. Reese, C. Wynn, S. Reese 31; J. Rees 10.

T. Harries, R. Court, H. John, G. Thomas 19; E. Garcia 19.

Another excellent performance. Well done to all those taking part.