There were a couple of friendly matches played by Sidmouth bowlers last week, writes Carol Smith.

First up, a ladies' triples meeting with our friends and neighbours from Madeira. It was the Exmouth bowlers who took the honours, winning on two of the rinks and overall by 57 shots to 38.

The one winning rink for Sidmouth was the one of Wendy Cox, Paula Button and skip Zena Johnson, who won 15-7.

A visit to Mid Devon Bowls Club, Tiverton, saw Sidmouth land an impressive overall 64-47 success. Our top rink at Tiverton was the one of Mary Turner, Bob Underhill, Bob Daniels and skip John Mason.

Saturday saw a visit to Sidmouth from our long-standing friends Chardstock. What a good friendly crowd they are! They had an awful journey to get to us, but arrived in very good spirits.

Their captain, John, was a very good sport and said as usual they always enjoyed playing at Sidmouth. We did win on all three rinks, but the game was played in very good spirits. That's twice I have mentioned spirits; strange, as there was none to be had - from the bar that is!

We had tea halfway, but no bar at the finish. This pleased some, but not others!

Back to the action and our best rink was the one of Wendy Cox, Dave Lever, Elaine Reed and skip Wilf Radburn, who won 17-8.

Sunday saw another mixed home friendly, this time against a team from Chudleigh. One of our players didn't turn up (probably having a nap after lunch!).

However, luckily, our captain of the day, Valerie, found another to play, so many thanks to Ray Tallent for stepping into the breach.

Unfortunately, we lost on two of the three rinks with the final score being 67-55 in favour of Chudleigh. The successful home rink was the one of Carol Podmore, Jenny Fricker, Sheila Palmer and skip Wilf Radburn, who won 26-19. Well done, again, Wilf.