On the County scene, all three teams in the Exeter Over 60’s triples league remain in their respective divisions due to some fine play by our B squad pulling out two wins in their last matches, writes Ron Cook.

At the end of the week, bowlers return to indoor sport where the programme allows plenty of opportunity for practice before competitions start. It is worth reminding bowlers to clean their bowls of wax and grease before playing on the indoor rink. Grippo, Willgrip, Crackerjack and glycerine etc, are all banned substances for indoor bowling.

?As far as the Laws are concerned, the Law which states skip’s should mark the card no longer applies. The change, introduced by World Bowls this year, has not been adopted by indoor governing bodies.

? Sidmouth’s first touring side in September were Ruddington BC from Nottingham, who found Sidmouth in fine form winning 147-80 with only one losing rink for the home side. Two rinks had 13 shot wins, Elaine Reed, Zena Johnson, Ron Graham and skip Bill Turner 34-11; Ken Bridgman, Sheila Ingyon, Jane Painter and skip Brian Smith 32-9; Christine Wells, Jackie Godbeer, Jim Wrench and skip John Mason 23-9; Christine Radburn, Wilf Radburn, Bert Hague and skip Jill Bishop 22-15; Ray Tallent, Doreen Pound, Sheila Graham and Paddy Wrench 22-18.

A mixed team of seven rinks from Yate Bowling Club in Bristol gave a very good account of themselves, pushing Sidmouth all the way to lose by just nine shots. Brian Godbeer, Paddy Chew, Paddy Wrench and Mike Smith 19-15; John Chew, Freda Humphries, Sheila Graham and Norman Brimson 28-7; Brenda Somerfield, Jackie Godbeer, Derek Limpus and skip Mike Borst 20-11; Pat Ashton- Pritchard, June Thomas, Bert Hague and skip Brian Smith 20-12

Sidmouth beat a mixed team of Triples from Uffculme and Sidmouth, won 117-85.

Best for Sidmouth were Carol Keating, John Doyle and Val Newnham with a score of 27-7

Our next visitors were Gidea park from Essex with Sidmouth finding good form on the day again to run out winners 153-129. Best rink for Sidmouth was Anita mason, David Fairclough, Ivan Robins and skip Jill Bishop with a score of 29-8

Our next match provided a rare draw against the Whitehorse Bowling Club 111-111. Best winning rink for the Home side was Betty Farmer, Doreen Pound, Trevor Wells and skip Derek Limpus 24-16

Bridport were our next opponents with a team of six mixed rinks. One outstanding result for Sidmouth saved the day with Christine Wells, Trevor Ashton-Pritchard, Zena Johnson and skip Chris Rourke returning a score of 28-6 to help Sidmouth to an overall 119-103 result.

One of the games keenly fought at the end of the season is always our Ladies invitation to The Gents which this year resulted in a resounding win for the Ladies by one shot. Ladies won five out of six rinks but thanks to a superb score of 27- 7 from John Chew, Andy Andrews, Harry Carpenter and skip Peter Mison the Gents pushed them all the way Well done to our Ladies for a very good team effort.

On Sunday the heavens opened and forced the teams indoors for a fun match which was reduced to three rinks with volunteers agreeing to stand down in order to give our visitors as many places as possible. In these circumstances the result is not important as long as the visitors feel it worthwhile and get a game in.

Our penultimate touring match was against Eastville Tourists which unfortunately was restricted to 18 ends due to bad weather. Sidmouth finished with a good result again and a score of 131-93 rounding off an excellent two weeks bowling for the Club.