Sidmouth Bowls Club enjoyed some fantastic success in the first round of the Tony Allcock Trophy.

This is a National Double Rink Mixed 4's Knockout Competition named after the legendary Tony Allcock, a multiple world champion and now chief executive of Bowls England. The competition begins with county matches before moving to regional and national fixtures.

The draw for Sidmouth was against Crediton but luckily on our green, and the sense familiarity proved to be a major factor. Both of our rinks played really well in securing victory, with the combined score ending Sidmouth 42 Crediton 23.

At one stage, the players all got pretty wet, but were not deterred. Sidmouth now proceed to play against either Topsham or Madeira, which will be a big challenge on away turf.

Roger Stewart, Brenda Somerfield, John Mason and skip Jill Bishop won their match 24-14, while the team of Mary Turner, Zena Johnson, John Chew and skip Peter Mison triumphed with a dominant score of 18-9.

There was even more good news for the Sidmouth Ladies in their second round match of the Devon InterClub.

It turned out to be a very exciting and very close match played at Culm Vale against Abbrook Park. After the full 21 ends were played, the scores were all equal. As a knockout competition and not a league match, there must be a result on the day, so both rinks needed to play extra ends until there was a clear winner.

Thankfully, the tension did not need to go beyond the first extra end, with Sidmouth scoring five more shots between them for a final score of Sidmouth 42 Abbrook 37, and some great bowls in a pressure situation.

The next round will be against Unity Park Plymouth, who beat Paignton. This match will be played on June 15 at Bitton Park. Our teams were Karen Hollingdale, Zena Johnson, Anita Mason and skip Jane Painter, alongside Jean Brimson, Mary Turner, Brenda Somerfield and skip Jill Bishop. Well done ladies on another great win.

Unfortunately, it was not such a good result for Sidmouth in the Men’s National TopClub. This match was played against our neighbours from Madeira. The knockout competition has five disciplines, where you need to win three or more to proceed.

Sadly, Sidmouth only won one discipline on the day, but well done to the triples team of Bill Sheerman, David Timms and skip Peter Mison for saving the day.

Our ladies also didn't have a very good result against Madeira ladies in the Devon Grace Matthews TopClub.

Again, this competition has five disciplines. Jane Painter did well and got her revenge on Lin Halpin in the 4 wood singles. They played against each other in the National TopClub and Lin won on that occasion.

Our triples of Jean Brimson, Anita Mason and skip Jill Bishop also won, as they did in the National TopClub. It would have been good to have had just one more discipline to go through to the next round but, as they say, that’s bowls!

Then, to end the week, came our Platinum Jubilee Drive at Sidmouth BC. Some 48 players attended and all dressed for this special occasion in red, white and blue. The Jubilee Drive was run by our competition secretary David Timms, with the help of John Mason.

They are both very good at organising these drives and it was a great afternoon of bowls, with the threatening weather passing us by. All enjoyed the great atmosphere and terrific company, finishing with a delightful cream tea with fresh strawberries and plenty of prosecco.

In third place it was Brenda Somerfield and Derek Mountford with a plus 15 score. Just beating them to second place were Mary Turner and John Mason on plus 16, but the outright winners were Jill Bishop and John Squire with an outstanding plus 22.

Sidmouth Herald: David, Competition Secretary and Mike, Men's CaptainDavid, Competition Secretary and Mike, Men's Captain (Image: Carol Smith)