Two friendly matches, both played at Cricket Field Lane, saw victories for the Budleigh players, writes David Roberts.

In a rearranged match against Mid Devon, there was an overall 36-24 win with both rinks playing well.

Melissa Camp, Mike Clark, Tony Hanson and skip Mo Bond made a great start, and, by the halfway stage, held a lead of nine shots and stayed in front, going on to win 20-9.

In a nail-biting finish, Gwen Hurst, Mike Shaw, Joan Shaw and Gerry Roberts were trailing for all of the match, but remarkably took it on the last end where they scored a three to secure a 16-15 success!

The Budleigh ladies played Madeira in a triples match over two rinks, and, whilst the rinks were shared, Margaret Avery, Ann Vincent and Mo Bond kept the lead throughout, finishing strongly over the last two ends, scoring eight shots to win 22-9.

Melissa Camp, Gwen Hurst and skip Di Dixon fought back well on their rink to keep the score in touching distance at 17-22 as an overall win 39-31 was recorded. In a friendly against Honiton, there was an overall 46-36 loss for the club, but there was a good 18-16 win on rink one for Marion Lacey, Stephen Lacey, Dick Mitchell and skip Joan Shaw.

The ladies were also in action in the Top Club (Lacemakers) competition against South Hams, a competition fought out over five disciplines and they almost pulled off a great result just missing out, going down by three disciplines to two.

Budleigh men had high hopes of making further progress in the Parrott Trophy after their previous round win over Plymouth.

However, against Dawlish they went down by three shots at 40-37. On the away rink, Bob Clifford, Brian Ward, Peter Cooper and Paul Griffin recovered well from a slow start to lose out by six shots at 22-16, whilst, on the home rink, Richard Cooper, Don Huish, Simon Weclawek and skip David Roberts fought back strongly to win 21-18.

The Tuesday Triples saw wins for Team Oak - Bob Clifford, Keith Edwards and David Roberts, 13-11, against league leaders Team Elm and, for Team Willow, Hilary Medley, Bob Gooch and John Dill.

In a close encounter in the Budleigh Evening League the Maderia Bluebirds took four of the six points in a 35-34 win.