An element of Wallace & Gromit on Sidmouth visit to Lyme Regis

On arrival at Lyme it was discovered that one member had only brought two woods with them (naturally you require three for a triples game).

Add to that the fact that another player pitched up without any woods and then, to the dismay of the captain-for-the-day, another player did not turn up at all as he missed his lift!

What's more, that was not the end of the drama either for in the changing room it was discovered that someone had the wrong trousers - a touch of Wallace & Gromit at play! Fortunately, the clothing issue was resolved swiftly as it was just a case of bags being mixed up!

Lyme were kind enough to loan us the required woods - and a player. Goodness knows what they thought of us? That said, when play did get under way it proved to be a successful afternoon of bowls for Sidmouth as we won 80-59. The top Sidmouth rink was the one of Liz Boyle, Tony Anthony and skip John Mason. The latter was also the aforementioned captain-for-the-day and was no doubt exhausted come the end of the day!

-Sidmouth bowlers Zena Johnson and John Mason went to Culm Vale Bowls Club to play in the semi-final of the County Mixed Pairs, writes Carol Smith.

Sadly they lost to a pair from Bitton Park, who had previously won the title once before and were runners-up last year.

Zena and John had some excellent wins in the previous rounds to get to the semi-final, so very well done, to them .

Monday saw a visit from touring side Bannister Park from Southampton who arrived with seven playing rinks and lots of supporters. Not only were they a very competitive crowd, but they were also jolly good company.

As to the action, Sidmouth won on four rinks and Bannister on three with the final score being one of 151-118 in favour of Sidmouth.

The best of the home rinks was the one of Ray Tallent, Anita Mason and skip Jill Bishop (32-16). After a drink or two in our clubhouse the tourists returned happily to their Sidmouth seafront hotel.