With so many excellent sportsmen playing bowls, local competition in every club and between clubs is of an extraordinary high standard.

At the start of each outdoor bowling season, home and away games of singles, pairs, triples and fours are arranged between bowlers from all over the West Glamorgan County area. Many rounds are played up to the County Finals which are held to determine who battles it out at the Welsh Finals held in August each year at Llandrindod Wells.

To reach the County Finals is quite an achievement and Resolven was well represented at the Finals again this year.

At the West Glamorgan County Finals held at Brynhyfryd bowling green, Neath on Thursday, 13th and Friday 14th July this year were Resolven Bowls Club’s Over 60’s triples of Martin Addis, Tony Gregg and Lionel Stock who were successful in the Semi-Final beating a team from Coed Gwilym BC and although they succumbed to Pontrhydyfen BC in the Final, they still qualify for the Welsh National Finals.

Usually, for this important tournament, the surround of the Brynhyfryd green is full of spectators, but the rain and heavy showers kept them away.

The RBC triples of Steve Gall, Mike Herbert and Andrew Hopkins fought well but narrowly lost in the Semi-Final to an Aberavon team.

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Stephen Allen romped through his Semi-Final of the Open Singles against Edward Johnson of Jersey Park to face Mike Brain, Briton Ferry Steel Combine BC in the Final and successfully became West Glamorgan Open Singles Champion.

He travels to Llandrindod Wells to represent Resolven Bowls Club and West Glamorgan in the Welsh Championship Finals next month.

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In the afternoon/evening of Friday 14th July the Double Fours (Two rinks of four players) saw Resolven BC -v- Mount Pleasant BC which became a very tense thrilling match going down to a measure on the last end.

Back row Lt to Rt : Simon Ace, Andrew Hopkins, Shaun Kelly, Stephen Cooper

Front row Lt to Rt : Lionel Stock, Nigel James, Mike Herbert, Nigel Davies

As you see above, Resolven were the 2023 West Glamorgan Double Fours Champions.

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On Saturday 15th July, Resolven hosted a Neath & District Bowling Association League, Div. 1 match against Pontardawe BC in difficult weather conditions again but secured a good win.

The following day Resolven were also hosts of Round 1 of the 2023 SDFS Super 8 Tournament, when Resolven managed a narrow victory over Merthyr West End Bowls Club.

Resolven travel to Penygraig for the second round of the Super 8 on Sunday 20th August.

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Added to everything previously mentioned, Resolven BC play throughout the season, in a midweek Cwmtawe (Swansea Valley) League with many of their members also playing in the midweek Port Talbot League with Cam Gears BC.

{Busy Bowling}

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Resolven Ladies bowler, Ceri Holmes, became the first Resolven woman club member to play for her country last weekend. in the British Isles Internationals held in Ayr, Scotland. She was part of the Cymru 1 side that did very well, ending 3rd out of the 7 nations competing in the Home Internationals.

As well as the honour of gaining her first cap, she played second in the rink that won the Bronze Medal.

After flying home from Scotland on Sunday evening, she still had the energy to turn up on her home green on Monday evening to play an evening league game for Resolven Ladies and to share her delight with them and her mother, Carwen.

Many congratulations Ceri! May this be the start of a long and exciring time in your bowling career

It’s been a while, the Wales Coast Path has been keeping me busy. I started this journey on January 1st at Chepstow with the intention of walking the whole path by the end of the year. Earlier updates can be found on Resolven District News, or you can find me on Instagram @jack_walkaholic but for now on with the journey.

Carmarthenshire boasts the flattest county on the coast path and it starts off really well. From Bynea around the Wetland Centre, skirting Machynys Golf Course, through North Dock and onto the Millennium Coast Path. These are the days that the miles rack up, a good path, flat and no cows chasing me.

The path curves around Pwll, Burry Port and into Pembrey Country Park. This park has a lot going on, even on a damp miserable afternoon in March, people come to enjoy its activities.

For me the highlight is Cefn Sidan beach, a length of 7 miles, the longest beach in Wales and has many shipwrecks along its shore. The largest of which is called the ‘Paul’, shipwrecked about 120 years ago, 70 metres long.

The Path makes its way around the airport, along the banks of the River Gwendraeth Fawr, along a Canal and eventually to Kidwelly Quay. This is where I stop for the day.

For some reason the Wales Coast Path doesn’t pass Kidwelly Castle, but I think it would be rude not to take the small detour to see the finest example of a remaining castle in South Wales. From Kidwelly, the path climbs out of the town and to Llansaint, a small village with an 11th-century church.

This bit of the path is nowhere near the sea; it’s over hills that give panoramic views over the Towy River and Llansteffan Castle on the opposite side of the river.

My next stop is Ferryside. I’m surprised at the grandness of the houses here. On my other visits to Ferryside, I’ve just seen the main road through and didn’t realize how much of it there is behind. There’s a ferry that crosses to Llansteffan that operates on weekends and school holidays. As this is neither, I have to walk around and visit the oldest town in Wales on the way.

Carmarthen with the River Towy sweeping around its core. The day I visited was the highest tides of the year, and it was raining. I crossed the footbridge that links the train station to the town and walked back down by the side of the river. The footpath is flooded and I wade through water up to my ankles. I hope it doesn’t get any deeper. A little downstream is the railway bridge. I’ve seen it many times before but never realized it’s a drawbridge fit for taller boats to come up river. Now their way is blocked by the road bridge, and the river is all silted up so it never gets used.

The path wanders about and somehow ends up on the main road to Llansteffan. This is a busy road with no pavement. I walk a few miles carefully watching for traffic and ready to jump out of the way of any vehicle that doesn’t expect to see some grumpy bloke walking this road in this terrible weather. Eventually, the path takes a turn into a field and I’m relieved to be in Green Castle Woods. It’s an ancient woodland that most people haven’t heard of but a very welcome if not soggy sight as it gets me off the road. That’s it for the day.

There are some days that I know where I’m going; this wasn’t one of them. As soon as I left the car park, I crossed the road and immediately turned the wrong way, back into Carmarthen. It wasn’t long before I realized I was going the wrong direction and I’d been there before. About-face, march! Still in Green Castle Woods, a few paths meander about until they finally get to a gate. Through the gate is a wet field and through the field is a farm and a farm track. Farm tracks are great; an easy walk that I can cover ground quickly and no traffic. The farm track joins a road, then a busier road, into a field over a hill and onto what feels like a drover’s path. This now heavily saturated walkway must have linked Llansteffan to Carmarthen, and before I know it, I’m standing on Llansteffan Sands looking across to Ferryside.

The path skips past Llansteffan Castle and takes me to an area known locally as ‘The Benches.’ This area was a place that would attract a lot of people from the area, and ferries would bring others from Ferryside across to a singing festival here. There would be a ceremony to crown a mock mayor. The path plods past the castle, past one of the prettiest houses I’ve seen at St. Anthony’s Well and through an area called Lord’s Park. Around the headland, walking mainly on quiet roads, the miles melt away easily. The day is going well, and the sun tries to make an appearance; then it happens. Walking through a farmyard, three dogs run out. The old Jack Russell jumps up and bites me just above the leg. There is no sign of the farmer, and the dog keeps his distance after, so onward I go. From that moment, the path changed from a colorful cartoon-like place to a black-and-white horror movie. It started to rain, and I’m walking on a marsh that had washed debris of reeds to create a slightly drier, less likely to sink area to walk over. Luckily it doesn’t last too long; there’s a combination of roads and fields between here and my endpoint for the day at St. Clears. However, some of the roads I have to walk are a few inches deep in floodwater, and when I see a sign that points into a lake stating that’s the way the Coast Path goes, I take a detour and stick to the roads.

I’m not sure what I missed by walking around the flooded area. There was a castle marked on the map, but talking to a local, there’s not too much of it left. For a change, I’m walking on a Sunday; the only sound is the church bells ringing from St. Mary Magdalene of St. Clears. I feel relaxed today as the weather forecast is clear and sunny for the first time in ages. Looking at the map, it looks like a lot of my day will be spent on busy roads with no pavement, but there are paths just off the road, the other side of the hedgerow. Field, woodland, road, field, woodland…… Follow the path, follow the river, another castle! This is the hometown of Dylan Thomas Laugharne. The castle dominates the area, and there’s a calm that I feel is unique to this place; it’s a different sort of quiet. The path follows Dylan’s Birthday Walk around the headland and onto the Pendine stretch. I had hoped to walk the whole length of Pendine; I was told there was a way so took my directions, walked this way and that and I got to a gate saying it was an MOD site, not to enter and there are explosives around. That was enough for me; back to the relative safety of the path. I followed it to Pendine.

Where did all the people come from? A sunny spring Sunday afternoon, and the world has decided Pendine is the place to be. Having not seen a soul since Laugharne, now there are people everywhere. I fight my way through the crowds, ignore the ice cream queue and head out, up and over Gilman Point. I think this is the steepest climb I’ve done since starting this walk and I fake taking a photo just to get my breath back. It’s not long before the path brings me down to almost sea level again, then back up, up and down, up and down; this is how it goes for a while. I get to Marros Sands, a little-known beach between Pendine and Amroth. It could easily compete with its two larger siblings, but parking is not available. It’s over a mile of lovely-looking beach and only has a few people on it; my sort of beach.

A slight detour here: The cliff has eroded and taken the path with it, so the last length into Amroth is via the road. I’m not finished for the day yet, but I’m going to leave you at this point.

Amroth marks the start of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, and that is another story.

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