The weather was good and a fair amount of spectators assembled for the first of two days of finals.

The weather was good and a fair amount of spectators assembled for the first of two days of finals.

First up was the two semi-finals of the Tucker Men's Triples. Tony Trembeth, Gerry Dommett and Mike Sellick were the first to the final beating Doug Hirons, Dick Summers and Keith Parsons 21-7.

The second three through to the final were Derek Morris, Mike Critchley and Gordon Tillier who beat Tim Holding, Paul Crockett and Trevor Pipe in a thrilling match by 23-22.

Bill Sheerman, who is playing his second season for Honiton gave our top lady, Sue Evans, a good game in the Marshall Handicap but eventually lost to her 42-35.

In this game players use three bowls then get three points for shot, two for second and one for third, other bowls do not count.

In the afternoon Yvonne Rainer and Trevor Pipe surged ahead against Sue Evans and Colin Mees in the Corney Mixed Pairs final but, when Sue got her drawing eye in and Colin started converting when down, things quickly changed and they came out 24-14 winners.

Colin lives in Honiton and has been a member for many years but when work moved him to Exeter, he started to play for Exonia, and still does. He only plays in this one competition with Sue each year and usually they win it.

Selectors, it's time we raised some transfer money to get Colin back home!

The Evans Ladies Pair's competition started well but turned into a bit of a landslide when Pat Trembeth and Carole Fisher beat Carol Pidgeon and Pearl Hackwood 32-8.

The Dimond/Nex Pairs saw Jean and Paul Crockett play Shirley Hiscocks and Sid Hattam.

This was a very close fought match and came down to the very last bowls of the match.

Sid was up by one shot on the match but two down on the last end but managed to convert to one shot to win the match 18-16.

Sunday morning started overcast and again Sue Evans was in action this time against Dulcie Broughton in the Rice Bowl Handicap.

Now this is strange because Dulcie's handicap is five and Sue's seven so Dulcie needs to get 26 shots and Sue 28. When I was a kid we always gave the underdog a start for example they start before me in the 80 yards swimming and stand in front of me in the 100-yard running. So the single game is 21 shots - why did they not give Dulcie a two shot start?

Let's hope when the Ladies' and Men's Association become one soon, they get some parity in this type of thing. This was the only final Sue lost, at 26-24 to Dulcie.

The final of the Tucker Triples was again a tightly fought battle. On the 18th end Gordon was four shots down on the match but managed to claim four to force the extra end. With his last bowl in the extra end he sliced the jack but failed to get shot leaving Tony, Gerry and Mike the winners at 22-21.

The Pollard Men's Pairs was also tightly fought for most of the match but eventually Chris Stone and Ken Large beat Mike Saunders and Mike Dart 24-15.

The afternoon saw Sue in action twice against the same opponent, Shirley Hiscocks, first in the Ladies' Championship that she won 21-7 and then in the Heard Two Wood singles played over 21 ends which she again won 18-6.

The Men's Championship final was between Trevor Pipe and Steve Dommett and started very tight, but Trevor forged ahead to 18-11. Steve dug deep and pulled it back to 18-18, he then seemed to change jack length presumably to go for a win but this turned out to be a disaster as Trevor gained a three to win the match 21-18.

The final match of the day was Tony Broughton playing Paul Crockett in the Webb Singles - for men that have not previously won a club singles.

The match started well for both players and the score was soon 7-7 then a light rain came on and seemed to change the speed of the green. Paul adapted, Tony did not, and Paul won quite comfortably at 21-8.

Reporters note: Paul was using a set of bowls bought from Tony just 6 weeks ago and Trevor was playing with Tony's first set of bowls purchased in Reading when he started playing 30 years ago.

So there's a lesson to all you would be top bowlers - you don't need the latest style or colour bowls to be a champion, good bowlers can play with anything!

Presentation of trophies for Indoor and Outdoor bowls winners will be in November at the Honiton Golf Club.

To keep up to date with Exeter's & District Over-60s League see the web site http://beehive.thisisexeter.co.uk