HONITON men had a good win in the County Trophy League against Ottery St Mary. Three of the four rinks winning earned 14 points.

The Over-60s A side continued their winning run with a two-rink, eight point, victory over Heavitree B away.

The rinks were: John Bryan, Roger Willcocks and Mike Saunders 25-18; Harry Riley, George Hoare and Norman Oliver 22-11. They are now one point leaders of Division 4.

Tony Trembeth, Bill Sheerman and Tony Broughton had a another good win of 19-12 in the B side’s battle against a tough Okehampton A side, but the other rink could not keep up so yet another match defeat.

The C side repeated their one win, one lose match plan, but still came out winners with six points. This puts them six points clear at the top of Division Two. The winning trio were Wally Heard, Mike Dart and George Selvey 28-9.

The ladies went to Exonia for the second leg of the National Two Fours where they had a convincing win against Winkleigh: Rosemary Hirons, Rita Barwick, Ann Hillyear and Shirley Hiscocks 21-14; Carole Binmore, Yvonne Rayner, Brenda Harris and Sue Evans 29-12.

The Men played away at Madeira in the Top Club Competition. Four bowl singles player Trevor Pipe was beaten by Bill Davis and in the two bowl, Josh Hadfield finally got his revenge by beating Mike Dart in a very tight match.

The triples, with a late Geoff Sanders substitution, had a good win, the pairs lost and the fours drew 18 all. This puts Honiton out of this competition.

The club’s last hope in the County Triples, Rosemary Hirons, Berry Maynard and Ann Hillyear were, unfortunately, beaten by a Budleigh trio skipped by Jean Coates.

Six clubs sent teams to compete against Honiton for the Howard Cottrell Trophy. Feniton and Ottery St Mary came out joint equal first with plus 27 shots. After a countback, Feniton came out one shot and one end up on Ottery so were awarded the trophy (see facing page).

The Ladies travelled down to Teignmouth to play the National Top Club champions, Kings, on the Bitton Park green. Carole Binmore got the Honiton side off to a great start by beating Commonwealth Games team member Natalie Melmore 21-19.

The triples, Rita Barwick, Brenda Harris and Ann Hillyear, finished next with a convincing win of 20-7 over Sophie Tolchard. With 15 shots in hand they knew they only had to keep it tight to win.

Yvonne Rayner and Shirley Hiscocks were eight shots down with one to play. Lorraine Hackett gave the mat to Honiton, this promptly went into the ditch. Lorraine’s lead played a short jack and also played into Yvonne’s hands. She had possibly her best end of the match with three very close shots and one a metre through. All the Kings bowls were through.

Shirley covered them and also had an attempt to block a metre short. Lorraine fired all four bowls and missed, leaving Honiton four shots behind on 17-21.

Rosemary Hirons, Dulcie Broughton, Joan Heard and Sue Evans were three down with one end to play, this meant King’s needed eight to tie. They decided this was not possible and did not play the last end.

This is a big feather in the caps of the Honiton Ladies. Well done girls, but especially to Carole, that initial win was a super set up for the side.

In the afternoon a visiting side from Sidmouth played and the hosts managed to beat them 71-52. Top rink was Tracy Crawford, a new club member, Tony Tooley and Owen Cleverdon with 24-10.