A PROLIFIC charity fundraising skittles player has knocked down his last pin and retired after a decade in the alley.

Barry-born Michael McGregor, who has been organising skittles weekends away through the ShootOut Club based in Torquay, has retired.

The last weekend he organised, in April, was to Hayling Island, Portsmouth, and over the ten years he took his teams to the Isle of Wight, Seaton in Devon, Weston-Super-Mare, Torquay and Bude.

The teams he organised play under the names Barry Wizards, Wizzettes and Wizzbits and, he himself, is a member of the Liberal Club skittles team.

The Wizards, Wizzettes and Wizzbits are made up of members from The Allsorts Team in Dinas Powys and The Homeguard Club in Ely, Cardiff, where Mike is a serving committee member.

Mike's team achieved a highest placing of 8th out of 44 teams during the ten years of ShootOut weekends, but were never fortunate enough to win the tournament.

With his wife Margaret and the other team members, they raised more than £3,000 over the ten years.

Donations went to Cancer Research, SCOPE in Sully and this year they have donated £500, the sum of which includes a collection at the Homeguard Club for a six-year-old year old girl from Cardiff who has neuroblastoma cancer and whose family are hoping to send to Disneyland.

Mike's teams have never failed to join in the fun on the ShootOut weekends and have always donned fancy dress on the Saturday of the weekend, ranging from wizards, superheroes and villains, cowboys and Indians, schoolboys and schoolgirls, Rocky Horror Picture Show and, this year, as can-can dancers and gangsters.

Members of Mike's team have ranged in ages from mid 20s to late 80s, one of which being his mother-in-law who is 86.

He thanked friends from Barry and Dinas Powys and The Homeguard Club who made the ten years a memorable and a resounding success.

A special thanks went to Mike’s wife Margaret, who helped and encouraged the success of the weekends, and also the ShootOut club itself, and the directors and staff, for the brilliant organisation of the weekends and the effort they put in to raising money for Cancer Research.

At the presentation ceremony at the end of this year’s weekend, Mike was called up on stage to receive a card and trophy from his wife Margaret and all the team members as a thank you for the last ten year.

A few tears were shed.