'The Bowling Championship'

The Bowling Championship is the third story in Volume 1.

It is also the first story to take place after Part I of the series'   'Bite-Sized Bits!'  , as the short   'Master Planner'  leads directly into this story.

Premise
Billy, Jean and Ryan are all tired - overloaded with the stresses of daily life, they band together in search of a change to cure their exhaustion:

The answer comes to them in the form of the local Bowling Alley in Cheston Village, and Ryan soon leads the charge in a tournament that quickly leads to matters of the heart.

Contents

 * Chapter One: The Food Man in Action
 * Chapter Two: Overworked
 * Chapter Three: "Heading for Good-Time City!"
 * Chapter Four: Night at the Bowling Alley
 * Chapter Five: When Worse Comes to Worst
 * Chapter Six: Practice Makes Perfect
 * Chapter Seven: Dinner With the Girl Next-Door
 * Chapter Eight: "Let Battle Commence..."
 * Chapter Nine: Bowled Out
 * Chapter Ten: Winners and Losers

Characters

 * Billy Butterbread
 * Ryan Thompson
 * Jean Phelps
 * PC Janet Worthing
 * Mister Snoutnose
 * Adam Bowler
 * Martin Matthews
 * Charlie Johnson
 * Carys Anderson
 * Nancy Blight
 * "Pinhead" Tyson Philips
 * Rufus McCoy
 * "Ditzy" Dilys Duckworth
 * Abby Jennings
 * Marcus Boyd
 * "The Editor" (mentioned only)
 * Mayor Greg Jameson (mentioned only)
 * "Skinny" Flint Perry (mentioned only)
 * Kevin Curry (mentioned only)
 * Ed Case (mentioned only)
 * Mrs Dewsbury (mentioned only)

Trivia

 * This story marks the first full appearances of Jean's friends, Carys Anderson and Nancy Blight, who were unseen and mentioned respectively in Chapter Two of The Beginning.
 * Billy's pep talk to Ryan in Chapter Eight is reminiscent of Jean giving the former a reality check - a deliberate throwback to  'The Beginning' - even going as far as to paraphrase her (almost) word-for-word in one instance, with both saying - "...if you DO sit there, on your trouser-wearing backside, feeling this sorry for yourself – without EVER getting up – then you’re not giving yourself much to live for - are you?".
 * This story is the first to include hand-drawn images in every chapter - as well as the first to feature them in colour.