The ladies’ County Triples final was played at Exonia on Friday morning with Sidmouth’s Pat Pritchard, Pat Harvie and Jill Bishop playing a team from Mayflower in Plymouth, write Sue and Peter Mison.

From the start Sidmouth took the lead which they kept throughout the match, eventually winning by 20- 8.

A loyal band of Sidmouth supporters watched the game, excitement rising as Sidmouth’s lead gradually increased. It is a great achievement for Sidmouth to win a county final, their first win in a county competition for over 20 years and our congratulations go to both Pats and Jill for their outstanding performance. Sidmouth Bowling Club is proud of you.

The two finals days have now been held. On the first, Marian Watson and Jill Bishop played Lorna Lever and Christa Turner in the Ladies’ Pairs. After 20 ends Lorna and Christa conceded the game to Marian and Jill who had played consistently well throughout winning by a score of 30-14.

Playing at the same time was the final of the Nominated Triples Cup with Rob Cartlidge, Gordon Blood and Peter Mison against John Farmer, John Mason and Norman Brimson. Rob, Gordon and Peter all played extremely well winning by 20- 6 with the opposition conceding after 17 ends. Over 20 spectators were watching the high-quality games played, whilst enjoying home-made cakes provided by the indoor committee.

The second finals day saw two matches playing in the morning. On one rink The Turner Cup, given by Christa and Bill Turner who were present, was played between Brian Smith and Ron Cook. This was a hard-fought game with Brian winning through by 21-17. On the other rink The Joan Jeffrey competition was played between Pat Pritchard, Mary Bristow, Jane Painter and Margaret King against Beryl Sparkes, Daphne Jamieson, Rita Daw and Mary Smith.

Margaret’s team took an early lead with Mary’s coming back to take the lead on the 19th end. However, they dropped five shots and went into the final end two shots down. Margaret’s team gained one more shot on the final end winning by 24-21. The game lasted for three hours and had all the spectators engrossed.

In the afternoon there were three men’s matches. The Men’s Championship was a contest between Tony Brown and Brian Smith. This was a very close match with some extremely accurate drawing shots but Tony gradually pulled away, winning by 21-15.

Also played were the Mens’ Pairs with Rob Cartlidge and Ron Cook playing against Ray Tallent and John Farmer. The Cartlidge/Cook pairing eventually won by 23 -22 after a very exciting final few ends. The third match was the final of the Men’s’ Afternoon Triples knock-out competition with Ken Bridgman, Jim Wrench and Bert Hague playing John Davies, Ron Graham and David Fairclough. Bert Hague’s team led all the way and ran out the eventual winners by 28 -10. Once again home-made cakes were provided by the ladies’ committee and another good day’s bowling was enjoyed by both players and spectators.

?Sidmouth men took three rinks to Madeira for the last match in a series of four over the Indoor Season. The games between our two clubs are always enjoyable and keenly contested and on this occasion Madeira just had the edge, winning by two rinks to one and by 59 shots to 54.

Well done to our winning rink, Ed Backhouse, Peter Mison, Mike Reader and Ron Cook who won by 22 shots to 21.

Although Madeira were successful in this match the Sidmouth captain was pleased to point out at tea that overall Sidmouth had won by three matches to one!

On Saturday the Social Committee led by Chris Hamer held their Spring social which included a fun bowls game, an Easter chick hunt, a raffle, hot cross buns and Cornish pasties. At 4.15 we all listened to the Grand National for which the club had held a draw for horses, and another on the afternoon for those attending the Social. Several ladies had made Easter bonnets to add to the gaiety of the occasion and an excellent time was enjoyed by all. The Club is extremely lucky to have such talented people who give of their time to make these events such a success.

On Sunday Padbrook Park brought three mixed teams to Sidmouth for our final match of the season. After a most enjoyable afternoon Sidmouth won by two rinks to one and by 49 shots to 46. Well done to our best rink Sue Mison, Tony Constable, Jane Painter and David Ingyon who won by 23 shots to 8. We can feel pleased with the overall result of our mixed matches for the Indoor season having won 20 out of 32 matches played.