The Ottery St Mary bowling week began with the Ottery men facing a County Trophy match against Sidmouth, writes Michael Smith.

It proved to be a close encounter which ended with the rinks being shared, but Sidmouth took the match honours, winning by a margin of four shots at 77-73.

Meanwhile, in the men’s Over-60s league the A team proved to be the sole winners this week with a 35-26 success at home to Sidmouth A with the winning rink being the one of Steve Hall, Dave Brown and skip John Pethick, who won 22-9.

The B team went down on both rinks on their way to a 38-27 defeat at the hands of visiting Morchard Bishop B.

For the first time this season the C team finally suffered their first defeat, going down on both rinks and by 20 shots to 52 away at Broadclyst.

The D team also lost away to Honiton C, beaten 34-28, but they did enjoy success on one rink, with Maurice Flower, Fred Dart and skip Mike Smith, securing a 17-14 victory.

In a rearranged East of Exe Mixed League game, Ottery entertained Culm Vale and defeated the Mid Devon team by 68 shots to 51. The rink scores were shared and the best of the Ottery rinks was the one of Dot Luff, Tony Bushell, Ron Cook and skip Leighton Burston, who were 24-9 winners.

Ottery then had a very good result in a friendly at Chardstock where they were successful on all four rinks and that enabled them to secure an overall 81-49 win with the best of the Ottery rinks being the one of Eric Richardson, Pam Baker and skip Brian Baker, who won 20-7.

To end the week Ottery had another good win in the EEML at home to Tiverton Borough. The Otters won on three of the four rinks and overall they were 81 shots to 50 winners. The best Ottery rink was the one Dot Luff, Tony Bushell, Tony Luff and skip Leighton Burston, who won 26-11.

For any information on club activities please visit the website at www.otterystmarybowlingclub.com or contact Mike Smith on 01404 811195.