Sidmouth seniors played their annual match against the Sidmouth ladies in fine sunny weather and with the course again in excellent condition, writes Chris Grubb.

This year the ladies received their minimum allowance of five courtesy shots in what was once again a closely contested match.

Both teams had to make last minute changes to their line-ups through ill health or late withdrawals.

Ladies captain Margaret Deuce was replaced by Coral Roberts alongside Angela Coles. David Bromage captain of the seniors’ with Brian Margison won their game four-and-three. The next two matches were close; two-and-one wins for the seniors with Ray Gunston/John Townsend beating Penny Lyne/Margaret Thompson and John Bainbridge/Bob Winstone beating Marie Timms/Sue Langdon.

Two halved games followed with Les Pratt/Bob Reynolds sharing the spoils with Anne Blackler/Sue Billinghurst and Alan Billinghurst/Bruce Harcourt halving with Ros Eaton/Alison Cook.

Next out, Ann Willoughby/Penny Ashby received 16 shots, but were still beaten by Phil Spencer/David Roberts, three-and-two.

Colin Paddon/David Stone followed this up with an excellent four-and-two win against Maria Clapp/Paddy Hutchings. Last year’s seniors’ captain Nigel Sharp and partner Colin Mitchell were relieved to settle for a half with opponents Linda Reynolds/Mavis Vanstone in the penultimate game.

Glyn Hewitt/Terry Blackler closed out the match for the seniors with a keenly contested game emerging as two-and-one winners.

The final match result was seven-and-a-half to one-and-a-half to the seniors, who will have their work cut out next year when the ladies will receive six courtesy shots.