A busy two weeks of internal league and practice games are enabling players to quickly adjust to the indoor rinks, writes David Fairclough.

The past week also saw two friendly matches, testing us against other clubs.

On Wednesday a men’s team travelled to Madeira to play a friendly match over three rinks.

This is always a popular fixture, against a very competitive club, with whom we have a keen rivalry.

This match lived up to previous encounters, with the aggregate score very close from start to finish.

Sidmouth won on two of the three rinks, but the overall score was a narrow loss, 53-55. With five men’s and mixed friendly matches with Madeira scheduled for the season, together with an interclub league match, there will be ample opportunity to seek a reversal of the score line. The best Sidmouth rink was skipped by John Mason, including Brian Barber, David Fairclough and Peter Mison, who won by a score of 21-12.

On Sunday we entertained a mixed team from Axminster and managed wins on two of the three rinks, and by an aggregate score of 64-47. The best home rink was that skipped by Ken Tolley, supported by Lorna Lever, Maureen Lamb and Rob Wheaton, who won by a score of 23-13.

These friendly matches have been very encouraging, giving us a degree of confidence ahead of the external league matches which are scheduled for the coming week.