The last two weeks at Sidmouth Bowls Club have been more than eventful than most, writes Ron Cook.

The mix included hard games in County competition, weekend flooding and three close encounters in friendly fixtures.

The evening of February 4, brought some terrible weather which proved slightly too match for our drains, bringing down an internal ceiling and flooding the corridors, kitchen, toilets and changing rooms!

John Chipchase raised the alarm having to brave a ‘waterfall’ as he described it to get to the phone and raise the alarm. Well done, John.

A team turned out early on Sunday morning; John Mason, David Fairclough, Trevor Smith, Ron and Sylvia with her Vex, to get the mops and brooms going to clear the mess allowing play to continue and make the facilities fit for use. Well done, team. Your efforts were appreciated.

The match against Chudleigh that afternoon was fairly close at tea with only five shots in it.

However, Sidmouth pushed ahead winning two rinks to one and by a score of 62-52. Best Sidmouth rinks were Ken Bridgman, Joan Peel, Janice Quinn and Bert Hague with a score of 22-13. Lorna lever, Pat Hague, Derek Mountford and skip Ken Robertson put in a good score of 23-11.

The following weekend we were delighted to welcome back our friends from West Berks, reinstating their Winter tour to the West Country.

The party made their base in Sidmouth, staying at the Royal and Faulkner Hotel, playing two separate teams on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday saw a really good match in favour of Sidmouth 63-50 winning two of the three rinks. Sidmouth played well on all three rinks on the Sunday which ultimatley saw them win 122-106. We look forward to seeing them all again next year.

Times were hard in the County matches against Torquay B and Honiton and disappointingly we failed to pick up any points.

Members now have one eye on the outdoor season with news released of forthcoming tournaments.

Sidmouth will host their third mixed pairs Tournament on July 8. Well supported by Right Move and East Devon Associates, up to 28 teams will compete in an all-day event with lunch and tea.

Open to any member of an affiliated bowling club, its popularity has spread to Cornwall, Bristol, and Pentland in Dorset.

There are a few places still to be filled. Any bowler interested can obtain all the details from our web site. Just go to Sidmouth Bowling Club and there you will find all the relevant information.