Now that the festive season is over and we are at the start of a new year, perhaps it is time to reflect on the progress of Sidmouth lady bowlers, writes Jennifer Fricker.

The Atherley trophy is a national competition and recently Devon County won against Somerset and are now due to play Dorset. Congratulations to Jill Bishop for being selected for such a prestigious team.

In the Foxland’s League, a county competition, Sidmouth are currently leading Division Two.

However, they have played more matches than some clubs so there is no time to relax.

The Lane League campaign is not going so well with the team sitting fifth out of nine.

However, players are being rotated to give everyone a chance to gain experience and this will hopefully mean better times ahead in the future.

The ladies pair’s competition got off to a disappointing start being plagued by a plethora of accidents and illness and, as a result, only three matches were played.

In a friendly match against Honiton we lost by a disastrous total of 69 shots to 44. As rink three managed to win and rink one lost by only two shots - whatever happened to rink two?