Two (reports) for the price of one!

At this time of the year, matches tend to come thick and fast, almost to the point that there is no time to draw breath!

The first match of the week was against one of the Tiverton clubs, Tiverton Borough. Not such a good result for Ottery as we lost by 62 shots to 68, losing on 3 out of 4 rinks. The only successful rink and also the top rink for the home team consisted of Celia Russell, Gerard McCartney, Richard Bland and Tony Panzieri.

The next match was an away match to old rivals Madeira, which turned out to be a very close game, with Ottery winning by one shot. On this occasion Dot Luff, Jean Rainton Brian Baker and Gail Hawke formed the top team.

It’s always good to welcome visiting teams and Old Basing Bowling Club arrived on Saturday 14th May as part of their Devon tour. Ottery certainly pulled out all the stops, winning by a handsome margin, with six out of seven rinks triumphing over the tourists, and a draw occurred on the other rink. The top team on this occasion was Eric Richardson, David Rose, Leighton Burston and Gail Hawke.

A proper Devon Cream Tea was provided and we think that the visitors creamed and jammed their scones in the correct manner!

Finally, it was the turn of Brixham St Marys to visit us at Strawberry Lane. It appeared that the age old comment borrowed from another game would be applied, namely “Rain stopped play” But the sun came out and the match started only 10 minutes late and an afternoon of good play and laughter ensued. At the end of the afternoon, it was found that the scores on most rinks were close with the exception of Ottery’s top team, where a win of 21 shots to 6 was recorded, thereby ensuring that the home team won the match. Carol Keating, the anonymous CR, Jan Richardson and skip Mike Kelsey proved too strong as a team for the opposition.

The second week of fixtures proved the saying that all good things come to an end!.

Firstly Ottery experienced a heavy defeat against Seaton, with the home team winning on all four rinks. An away match at Hemyock on Sunday produced a similar result, as Ottery lost by 65 shots to 54. Perhaps, it should be described as a bad week at the office!