IT has been a very warm few weeks for club matches both home and away.

The men’s MDL Premier season started well, facing off with the likes of Shaldon, Kings, Bitton Park and Newton Abbot.

Marina had success in the Top Club beating Chudleigh 3-2 and individually, Lee Wooldridge, Andy Moore and Marc Baker made it through to the section five final, beating a Shaldon team to get there only to then lose to another Shaldon team.

In the County Trophy competition, wins against Newton Abbot and Shaldon have set Marina up with a place in the final, where they’ll meet Abbrook Park.

Meanwhile, Dave Blandford is through to the final of the men’s 2-wood while Sue Owen is the section five winner of the 4-wood singles. The Senior Fours team of Debs, Helen, Stephanie and Sue reached the final before falling to Bitton Park.

The ladies SDLA team are currently in second spot with 24 points, having played five games. In the B league, they won two of the three rinks against Marldon recently before gaining eight points from Paignton B.

Marina ladies played in the Interclub competition, winning the first round at Culm Vale before losing against Kings at Abbrook Park.

Marina entered teams in the 4321 at Marldon, winning the singles, triples and rinks. They advanced to face Bovey Tracey and won the rinks, triples and pairs there.

The men’s over 60s were involved in some tight clashes with Budleigh Otters, Sidmouth Sunrise and St Thomas Ravens. All three matches have ended in defeat but they gave it a good go and Alan Buggs said the most important is to enjoy the matches, win or lose.

Lastly, to the club’s charity donations. On Monday, June 30, the club handed over a little over £100 to Dawlish Community Transport from 2024’s fundraising.

Charity Donations Presentation to Dawlish Community Transport

Pictured, left to right, are: Mike Takel, Pete Sweet, ladies captain Stephanie Cheshire, Sherry, Sally Preston (Manager DCT) DCT representative, president Cherry Chapman, Richard Kettley, Mark Dumble and Deborah Kettley.

Well done to Eileen Coombes and Linda Dedman on winning the Section Five over 70s Women's Pairs Final- they now go on to the open stage where they will play away to the winners of Section Four.

Eileen also featured in a rink with Isobel Burley, Joy Medley and Julie Barnes playing at South Molton in the open stage of the Women's Fours Championship. Whilst they won their first game in the morning, they were defeated in the afternoon.

The men’s A-team made it six wins in a row in the MDL, overcoming Torbay Country Club at home.

Andrew Rice, who was born in Chagford, played for Newton Abbot in a friendly at said club recently. Featured in the photograph for Newton Abbot is Dave Pickett far left, Catherine Pickett fourth right and Andy himself, far right.

​In the Men's Over 55s X Division, an impressive win away at Abbrook Park resulted in Bovey gaining six league points to Abbrook's two, a result which raises them to second place in the division.

Elsewhere though, there was a Y Division defeat to Ipplepen and an MDL loss at the hands of Dawlish.

Bovey ladies were in action at Ipplepen in the Ladies' Triples Challenge and found the carpet more to their liking than the men had, gaining six points to their opponents' two. In the 4-3-2-1 competition, Bovey played hosts to Marina and, despite losing the pairs, triples and rinks, a 29-8 win in the singles resulted in Bovey winning by 72 shots to 67 overall and progressing to the next round at Chudleigh.

A shortened two-rink friendly at Newton Abbot was won by Bovey by 22 shots to 16. A mixed home friendly against Babbacombe resulted in Bovey recording a draw and three narrow losses by just eight shots overall. In another mixed friendly at Abbrook Park, Bovey went down by three rinks to one.

In county competition, Andy Walding and Keith Lockett reached the section final of the men’s over 70s pairs and in a back-and-forth affair, Jeff Sharland and Kevin Taylor of Abbrook Park got the win.

Andy was also involved in the over 60s men's singles playing Terry Ash at home. After building an early lead of 11 shots to three, Andy then lost 10 of the last 11 ends with Terry winning by 22 shots to 14.

The latest results from club competitions follow: men's 2 woods; Arthur Chew 15-14 Phil Cridge; Roger Bailey 18-9 Andrew Cromwell; Keith Lockett 14-15 Phil Joy. Ley Cup; Kenny Breame 2-0 Phil Cridge; Deb Simpson 2-1 Julie Chew. Ladies' Handicap; Lucy Brothwood 21-18 Deb Simpson. Ladies' 4-woods; J Chew 21-1 Tina Langdon.

KBC’s Y over 55s team travelled to Bitton Park on July 2 and lost 40-35 (6-2 league points).

Kingsteignton captain Bill Beech said that he thought KBC should have claimed all eight points but sadly, he’d had a fall and took a chunk out of his knee and banged his playing elbow and, so, he felt he let his side down.

On one end, KBC dropped seven shots, then a five and a three which really sealed their fate, although KBC did lead the game for periods.

Then, on the other rink, it was nip and tuck for much of the game with both sides leading at various stages. On the final end, though, KBC got a 2-shot win which gave them a 22-19 winning result.

A mixed team from KBC travelled to Torquay ‘A’ B.C. to play in the Riviera Mixed Triples League on 3rd July. 39-50 to KBC (2-8 pts).

This match was played in ideal conditions with the green playing very well and not to slow which was kind to the Kingsteignton bowlers. All three rinks were evenly contested and were nip and tuck for most of the match.

The KBC captains Margaret Sole and John Saunders who both played agreed that Kingsteignton did very well winning on an unfamiliar grass lawn. Everybody contributed to a good performance.

Torquay’s bowlers were good company and fine sports. All players said how much they enjoyed the match playing on a lovely morning.