It was another busy week for the Sidmouth bowlers, writes Carol Smith.

On Wednesday, our ladies played their latest match in the Lane County League against Isca ladies.

Exeter-based Isca is the largest indoor bowls club in our area and, as an example, they have eight rinks compared to the three we have and, it is fair to say, they enjoy great strength in depth being able to attract players both from Exeter and further afield.

That said, on this occasion, our ladies did very well to bank four of the 10 points available from the contest!

We had two winning teams, one enjoying away success and one winning at home – both bagging victory by the smallest of margins – a single shot. Phew!

The successful away team comprised Lorna Lever, Pat Poole and skip Freda Humphries, who won 16-15, while the successful home quartet comprised Jenny Crow, Carol Timms and skip [STEVE - name of skip?], enjoying an 18-17 score line. So, very well done to them and, as for that all-important aggregate score? Well, that was a tad disappointing at Sidmouth 54, Isca 72.

Thursday saw another round of the County Foxlands League. This time the opposition came from our friends and neighbours from Exmouth – Madeira.

It is always a great pleasure to play against these ladies as, although they are very, very competitive, they do match their competitive edge with being a jolly friendly bunch too – which, of course, is just how it should be!

This latest meeting produced some very close scores. Sidmouth enjoyed success on one of the home rinks, but the two teams away were both beaten, albeit by just two and three shots respectively. The successful home rink was the one of Mary Smith, Mary Turner, Jill Mison and skip Jane Painter, who were 18-17 winners. It did mean just the two points for Sidmouth from the match – onwards and upwards!

Friday saw the club’s ladies in action in the Masons Over-60s Knockout competition. Our B team had been knocked out by Isca’s A team in a preliminary round and our A team were also drawn against an Isca team in their first round, paired with Isca B. Sadly, not too much to say about this encounter other than we lost on both rinks and went down overall to the tune of a 36-20 score line. The nett result of all that is that, in the next round, Isca B now meet Isca A!

The Saturday action centred on a friendly against Axminster, and this was certainly one of those ‘close encounters’ – it was one that must have got the adrenaline going as it was oh so tight!

Two Sidmouth teams lost by just one shot each, but the third team, the one of David Lever, Derek Mountford, Chris Radburn and skip Susie Bonnell, had a three shot win, which was just enough to see Sidmouth to a nail-biting single shot overall success at 50-49. Now, I bet that set up plenty of post-match discussion in the bar!