Townsend were narrowly beaten by Royston in the county finals of the Eversley Trophy.

After winning their division, Townsend faced strong opponents Garston in the semi-final.

Townsend won on two of the three rinks by 18-15 on the rink skipped by Peter Armstrong, with Bob Lawrie, Alan Charran and Roger Potter, and by the extraordinary score of 30-3, attained by the second group of Andy Bates, Robbie Ransted, Peter Thomson and Gary West.

In the final they came up against the team from Royston who had won easily on all three rinks in their semi-final, against the host club Rosedale.

The Townsend four that had won so convincingly in the morning again came good with a 23-18 victory but the other two rinks, despite a dramatic finish that saw the Royston skip trail the jack for overall victory, came up four shots short of an overall victory.

Home club bowler Gordon Williamson and his trio won top prize at Townsend Bowls Club’s annual gala.

More than 20 teams of bowlers and interested spectators watched as the Mayor of St Albans delivered the first wood to start the gala.