June update

There is a saying which states that “Success breeds success”, and this has been the case at the Club in the last two to three weeks.

At the beginning of the season, there are numerous regional and County competition matches to be played, and if the teams are successful, it can lead on to being part of the National Finals held annually at Leamington. To the uninitiated, Leamington represents Lords to a cricketer and Twickenham to a rugby player.

Firstly our ladies foursome consisting of Sharon Kenny, Gail Hawke, Marion Kelsey and Dot Luff overcame all opposition to become Devon’s representatives in the National Finals. They are not yet champions of Devon as they have to beat Tiverton West End to claim that title, but both teams are going to Leamington. We wish them every success and without putting pressure on them, it would be a great achievement to have national champions as part of Ottery St Mary Bowling Club! It should also be noted that for three of these ladies, this is the second consecutive visit that they have made it to the finals.

Not to be outdone, there have been successes for the men as well. Tony Panzieri and Richard Bland won section’ B’ of the men’s county pairs competition, and then had to play winners of another area. However, they could not overcome the team representing The US Services from Barnstaple. It was a great achievement for them just to get this far. Two
other gentlemen, namely Steve Hall and Terry House, won The Group ‘A’ Final of The Grater Pairs by beating Madeira, and are now through to the last eight of this Minor County competition.

A further success in the Foxlands Trophy preliminary rounds followed when one of the Ottery teams
included a young man who promptly helped beat his grandfather who was playing for the opposition.

Finally in an evening competition entitled “The East of Exe League,” Ottery are doing very well and find themselves sitting on top of the league.

Regular friendly matches continue to be played and as much as I would love to report roaring success, the results are best described as “Win some, lose some”. Perhaps more gratifying is to see new players proudly wearing the
blue and gold club colours and playing very well in these matches. In the internal competitions which are proceeding at a pace, some of the new players are making a name for themselves by winning against more established players.

With the continuing success outlined above, one can probably say “The future is bright, the future is Blue and Gold!"