Sidmouth bowlers get into a festive mood

Sidmouth Bowls Club members had their annual Christmas Social event, writes Susie Bonnell.

If we had not been in the ‘Christmas spirit’ before the event, we certainly got in the mood with an excellent selection of games, a terrific atmosphere, wonderful mince pies and great company!

Chris Hamer, chair of the entertainment committee, and her team, made everything look so easy and relaxed, but we all know just how much work went into giving everyone a great time.

Despite the moans and groans when we saw that fancy dress in panto characters was optional - there were more than 24 people dressed up in a huge variety of costumes - any passers by would have been amazed to see Puss In Boots, Mother Goose, Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty’s fairy Godmother, Wishy-washy and many, many more characters playing darts, tin-can-alley, shove halfpenny, mini-golf, Brucie’s ‘Higher/Lower’ and various other games - all at tuppence a go, in the aptly named ‘Twopenny Fair’.

We were highly entertained by a mini-play - Cinderella - with a very comely Cinderella (as played by John Greenaway) and her Prince Charming (Jackie Godbear).

Maureen Lamb took the first prize in the fancy dress in her very realistic ‘Elf’ outfit, complete with curly felt shoes and pointy ears!

Liz Boyle, a very new member, won the prize for shove-halfpenny (with inflation - Twopenny pieces!) - a lovely bottle of champagne. We even had a visit from Santa - bearing a mystery present for everyone!

So, with only another 365 days to go until the next Christmas Social, Chris and her team will certainly have to put their thinking caps on to beat this year’s party.