Sidmouth Bowling Club members had their annual away-weekend to Torquay last weekend - and a very special occasion it was for more than one reason, writes Susie Bonnell.

Firstly, it was the 25th year in a row for this trip - leaving on Thursday and returning on Sunday.

Secondly, it was the first time, in all those 25 years, that a ‘hotshot’ was made by one of the Sidmouth teams on the Torquay rinks.

For any non-bowler reading this, a ‘hotshot’ is where each and every wood bowled by a team is included in the point count. It means that on a rink with four players taking part in each team and having two woods each – all eight of the woods delivered by the team score points!

So, when skip Chris Hamer and her team, Ann Elwood, Chris Radburn and John Chew, got a Hotshot on their very first game on Friday, it was a great reason to celebrate in the Hotel bar that evening!

Tour organisers, Chris and Stuart Hamer had, as always, planned and arranged the trip to give the Sidmouth members a great few days bowls, including prizes each day for the best winning rink - a special mention here for Doreen Pound and Rob Wheaton who seemed to always be on a winning team!

Members all met up to share dinner together each evening and with groups getting together to play cards, bingo, board games, ten-pin bowling and even a mini table tennis tournament, the weekend went by all too quickly.

Roll on next year!