MARINA men have played many matches in the last month with mixed results. Some of the losses were by the narrowest of margins.

They won in the County Trophy by 30 shots against Shaldon to take them into the Section Five final. On Sunday, July 27, they battled with Abbrook Park in a back-and-forth affair.

A late move from Abbrook saw them win the final by a single point, to the disappointment of Marina.

Andrew Moore and Marc Baker represented Marina for Section Five in the Coronation Cup v Section Three, Section Five won overall.

Marina Ladies were asked to field a team for Section Five to be played at Abbrook Park on July 29 against Devon County ladies and they won 93-62 overall.

The ladies SDL A&B teams are playing well, although there have been some losses it’s not because of lack of skill, sometimes one team seem to have all the luck. The B team are still struggling to field nine players for some games but not all.

The ladies have done very well in the triples challenge re-introduced this season and are currently in top spot, albeit they have played one or two more games than some clubs.

Friday 24 saw another social evening, a bbq followed by horse racing. It was a very warm evening and went very well despite some members not being able to attend due to the cycle race in Dawlish and road closures.

August began with the annual Whitelegg Cup match, only the men’s match took place and Marina retained the cup 116-66.

ON July 24, a mixed team from Kingsteignton travelled to Paignton to play in the Riviera Mixed Triples League.

J Smith 16, Stephen Hewett 16; B Hodges 25, Margaret Sole 14; T Cairns 14, Derek Tout 18. 55-48 to Paignton (7-3 pts).

At a venue that has been difficult for KBC in the past, they still managed to get some points out of it.

KBC lady captain Margaret Sole said it was a credible performance from her team against the league leaders in the RMTL.

Kingsteignton Over 55’s X Div invited fellow bowlers from Bitton Park BC to play on July 30.

Ian Westaway 10, J Harvey 21; John Saunders 18, P Tetrealt 9. 28-30 to Bitton (2-6 pts).

Both rinks were keenly contested throughout the first half but after the tea break, Bitton pulled away on one rink and KBC on the other. The overall scoring went down to the wire.

KBC skipper Saunders said they all enjoyed the game but it was a shame to just lost overall. Bitton Park are usually a tough nut to crack.

Meanwhile, KBC's Over 55's Y Div were invited to play at Ipplepen.

35-31 to Ipplepen (6-2 pts). K Shacksheave 14, Martin Redfern 15; M Wilkes 21, Bill Beech 16.

The team fought hard across the board with skip Bill Beech admitting his rink weren’t at their best, losing their way to towards the end. The other rink was going well for KBC before lady luck played a part and so they walked away with two points rather than the six.

COMMISERATIONS go to Chris Hallwood, Paul Osbourne and Steve Doyle who lost out in the Section 5 Final of the Minor Triples.

Newton Abbot men's A Team after three consecutive away defeats, still remain comfortable in the Premier League and with three home games to come, hope to finish the season strongly.

The men's B Team, despite a recent first win of the season, remain bottom of Division Two but there are still plenty of points to play for. The men's C Team are top of Division Four so hopefully there will be a promotion to celebrate come the final reckoning.

Newton Abbot members Catherine and Dave Pickett recently went on a Bowls Devon Tour to Stratford on Avon which was where President Keith Clarke started playing bowls and it should be said, it was a splendid tour with some bowlers able to play at Royal Leamington Spa for the first time.

Bovey's Mid Devon League team continued to struggle in their latest home match against Brixham St Mary's, who they had earlier beaten in the away fixture, losing by nine shots overall to earn just four league points to Brixham's ten.

J Hampton, K Lockett, K Breame, A Franklin 21-15; D Anderson, P Cridge, L Hignett, T Ridgewell 19-25; C Young, A Tremlett, C Shorland, P Joy 10-25; A Walding, S Callard, D Johnson, R Bailey 21-15.

The malaise also seems to have struck the men's Over 55s X Division team who lost their home match against Newton Abbot by 28 shots to 37, giving them eight league points to Bovey's nil. A Walding, J Richards, P Joy 16-20; N Fletcher, S Callard, C Shorland 12-17.

Conversely, the Y Division team achieved the standout result of the week, taking all eight league points from a potentially difficult match at Dawlish Marina. D Cosway, P Cridge, R Bailey 15-13; A Chew, S Perry, A Franklin 22-9.

A tough afternoon for Bovey ladies in the South Devon League at Bitton Park on a challenging green resulted in a win for the home team by two rinks to one, earning Bovey two points to their opponents' eight. R Young, J Ridgewell, S Johnson 9-16; P Fletcher, S Breame, H Call 20-13; C Towle, D Simpson, K Callard 15-24.

A home mixed triples friendly against Chagford was won by Bovey by three rinks to one and by 65 shots to 55 and a home mixed rinks friendly against Marldon was also won by three rinks to one and 53 shots to 46 overall.

IMPORTANT NOTICE! The club is holding a CAR BOOT SALE on Sunday, August 10 at the recreation ground on Newton Road, Bovey Tracey. Sellers should arrive between 7.00 - 7.30 a.m. to set up. Charges are £5 for cars and £7 for vans.

Potential buyers are welcome to shop from 8.00 a.m. until midday. Also available during the morning will be refreshments and home-made cakes, bottle tombola, children's lucky dip and a plant stall.