The Sidouth Bowls indoor club finals took place last week and it was great to see so many of our newer members reaching these finals, along with some of our older stalwarts.

Many members turned up on the first morning to watch the bowling and enjoy the breakfasts on offer. This was organised by Debbie with the help of several other ladies. It was a great start to a sociable day, with lots of laughter and of course a few drinks here and there!

The bowling started with the Ladies Championship between Karen Hollingdale and Jill Bishop. A great game, with Karen a little in front most of the way. Towards the end, Jill banked a great score of 4, going in the lead by one shot at 19 -18. Karen wasn't deterred and in the next end scored the 3 shots needed for the game.

The Mens Matchplay Singles was played between Andrew Lowe and Scott Archer who has only been bowling a couple of years. They both won one set each, so went to a play-off of 3 ends. Andrew won 2 for the game.

After lunch, both Jill and Scott were in pairs games. The ladies' pairs were Jill Bishop and Debbie Leeds against Anita Mason and Marie Timms. After working in the kitchen all morning Debbie must have been a bit tired, but that didn't stop her and Jill playing well to win 23 - 15.

Scott and Lynn Pike were against Brian Deam and Sue Turner in the Mixed Pairs. Another excellent game to watch, Lynn was a little nervous being in her first final, but it didn't show and she and Scott bowled very well, winning 20 - 10.

The following morning saw the Mens Championship between Ian Dudley and Tony Broughton. Tony started well, the score after a few ends was 11 -2 in his favour. Ian stepped up his game to draw level at 11 all, then kept going to reach 18 - 11.

Tony came back to win a few more shots but it wasn't to be as Ian bagged the three shots needed to win 21 - 14.

The Club Mixed Championship was between two of our best bowlers, Jill Bishop and Andrew Lowe. Unfortunately, Andrew didn't get it together on the day, so Jill won 21 - 8.

The Mens Pairs final was the most exciting. Two newish players, Les Crump and Keith Pollitt against Scott Archer and the much more experienced Brian Smith. A really bad start for Les and Keith meant they were 11 - 1 down after 4 ends. However this is a game of 18 ends, each player with 4 woods, so plenty of time to catch up.

They clawed their way back and at 17 ends the score was 15 - 16, ending with a draw at 16 all. It was very exciting and the victors after the extra end were Scott and Brian.

To complete the finals it was the Ladies Joan Jeffery Cup and the Mens Colin Bryant Trophy, both triples games.

The Mens Triples consisted of very experienced and very new triples. The new "boys " were Alan Hornibrook, John Brennan and skip David Cockburn and they gave the experienced players, Andrew Lowe, Paul Irvine and skip Ken Wheeler a real run for their money. Although Ken's team led all the way, Davids's team got to within a few shots on one end, when being 5 down on the green he took the jack to 4 of his woods. However experience won, with Ken's team the victors at 28 - 12.

The ladies' triples on paper were evenly matched but the score defied that. The team of Joan Crook, Debbie Caine and skip Jill Bishop went 11 shots down in the first few ends and never recovered and at the finish the score was 22 - 13 to the team of Jean Brimson, Janet Barton and skip Zena Johnson.