The men from Sidmouth Bowls Club will be playing their Zone Final of the National Over 60s Rink against a team from Exonia BC this Sunday, February 4, writes Carol Smith. It will be at home, starting at 6.30pm. It should be a good game to watch, so members please come and support.

Several friendly games played this week, starting with an away game for our men against Madeira.  And what a great result they had, winning on all three rinks. They were Wilf Radburn, Derek Mountford and skip Brian Smith, 21 - 15. Denis Griffiths, Phil Meadows and skip John Mason, 17 -12. Also John Quinton-Navarro, Ron Clint and Captain Paul Irvine, 14 - 13. Overall score, 52 - 40.

In a mixed friendly at home against Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth won on both rinks with a resounding overall score of 56 - 12. Our top rink with a plus score of 32 shots was Bert Hague, Anita Mason and skip Chris Ward, 35 - 3.

The next friendly was against our neighbours from Honiton. Two rinks finished their 18 ends with the third rink having just one end to spare. The score was level overall at 39 each, so anyone's game.

However, the rink of Keith Pollitt, Derek Mountford, Jane Painter and skip Chris Ward managed to make two more shots to win the game overall 41 - 39. Their rink was also the top rink, with their score being 18 - 12. We kept hearing ‘Well done Derek’, who obviously had a great game and was named Man of the Match. Another rink won and the third one lost.

Finally, another mixed friendly, this time against Feniton. When they last came to play against us back in November, we had a very close game and overall we only won by a few shots. This time was rather different. 

Feniton brought with them some new younger players and this was the first friendly game they had played in, so this time it wasn't such a close game. Sidmouth won on all three rinks and overall by many shots. However, everyone enjoyed the company and once they gain some experience, they will probably knock the socks off all of us.