It was a week to relax for Sidmouth bowlers as there were no league points at stake, writes David Fairclough.

However, there were three equally competitive mixed friendly fixtures, and Sidmouth continued to show the good form we’ve seen this season.

Firstly, we took three rinks to Dawlish, and won on two rinks and by an aggregate shot score of 55-52. The winning rinks comprised Alastair McGregor, Joan Monaghan, Mary Smith and skip Kent Tolley, who won 18-13; and Rick Parner, Steve Pearson, Connie Tolley and skip Allan Davis, who scored 22-17.

Thanks must go to the Dawlish Club, who, in the spirit of such fixtures lent us a player after the late withdrawal, through illness, of one of our members.

Last weekend there were two more mixed friendly matches. A trip to Taunton on Saturday was followed the next day by a visit from Feniton.

The Taunton fixture resulted in another win on two of the three rinks, and by an aggregate shot score of 53-48. The best Sidmouth rink, by a score of 23-12, was skipped by Ron Cook, supported by Alastair McGregor, Dave Lever and Anita Mason.

The match against Feniton, unfortunately, failed to make it a hat-trick of wins for the week!

Sidmouth won on one of the three rinks, but lost by an aggregate shot score of 47-58. The winning Sidmouth rink, by a score of 23-10 was skipped by Ed Backhouse supported by Ann Elwood, Dave Lever and Chris Radburn.

All in all, it must be considered a very satisfying week, with two of the three matches won, and five of the nine rinks won.