Christmas is coming so most people are busy with shopping, decorating, and of course, pre - Christmas lunches with friends and so we do not have an awful lot of bowling to report on, writes Carol Smith.

There has been some play though with the ladies in County Lane action against Torbay.

In the home element of the fixture the two teams did well with one winning and the other drawing. The successful rink was the one of Chris Radburn, Anita Mason and skip Zena Johnson, who won by just one shot at 17-16 to make sure Sidmouth banked two points.

The rink that ended all square comprised of Wendy Cox, Pat Poole and skip Freda Humphreys, who drew 14-all and so that helped us to bank another point. Sadly, the two rinks tasked with travelling to Torbay were both beaten and the overall score ended as 68 to Torbay and 52 to Sidmouth.

The ladies' Foxlands League team were also in action and once again the opposition where our current nemesis - Isca ladies who, not for the first time this indoor campaign, got the better of us, winning on both away rinks and one home rink. Our one success was with the home rink of Karen Hollingdale, Paddy Chew, Jill Mison and skip Susie Bonnell, who did very well to win 20-16. Alas, the final overall score was one of 58 points to Sidmouth and 93 points to Isca - ouch!

We certainly hope to do better against Kingsley in the new year. Last year we took all 10 points from them, so onwards and hopefully upwards!

We also sent three mixed triples rinks to Taunton Deane to play a friendly match. Taunton has over 400 members who enjoy six rinks and also play on a blue carpet, not the normal grass green! Several large clubs seem to go for blue, but for what reason I know not!

Unfortunately, we lost on two rinks, but, once again, Wilf Radburn and his team managed to win, albeit this time by a single shot. So, well done, to them.