THE Devon President, Frank Davis, brought a strong team of Vice Presidents, Past Presidents, Life Members and Players from Madeira, Mount Gold, Tavistock, Topsham, Feniton and Bitton Park to play Budleigh in a six rink men's friendly, writes Paul Griffin.

THE Devon President, Frank Davis, brought a strong team of Vice Presidents, Past Presidents, Life Members and Players from Madeira, Mount Gold, Tavistock, Topsham, Feniton and Bitton Park to play Budleigh in a six rink men's friendly, writes Paul Griffin.Despite the home side winning three of the six rinks contested, the President's side proved the stronger and won overall 129-95. The pick of the Budleigh victories was the rink skipped by Terry Kelly with Sid Cole, George Woolacott and John Dill who recovered from 18-12 down after sixteen ends to score eleven shots without reply on the last five ends to win 23-18. Harry Vanstones rink of Wally Nickels, Jeff Rigg and Ralph Lawson also came back from 14-5 down after nine ends to snatch a 21-19 victory on the last end. The other Budleigh winning rink was skipped by Gerry Roberts with Tom Maidment, Ken Hudson and Peter Woodland who held their nerve to win a close encounter16-14. During the match a superb tea was served by the Lady Members and after the match drinks and speeches were enjoyed by all concerned.Braeside, a club from Ringwood in the New Forest, have been visiting Budleigh for thirty years, but few encounters could have been as exciting as the latest one. In an eleven rink mixed friendly the rink count was five each with one rink tied, and incredibly, the overall score was tied at 189-189! The home rinks with the highest winning margin were John Vanstone, Bunty Hudson, John Dill and skip Joan Shaw with a 24-11 win and Allan Cottle's rink of Pat Pearson, Brian Evans and John Elliott who won 21-11.In a busy week of bowling, Pinces brought a team to play a five rink mixed friendly and, at the end of a competitive match, the rink tally was 3-2 to Budleigh who also won 100-83 overall. The best performing rink in this match was skipped by Stuart Butler with George Woolacott, Doreen Dealler and Don Huish who led all the way to win 25-13.In the Top Club competition Budleigh lost out narrowly to Feniton 3-2. John Lowe had a fine 22-10 win in the Two Wood Singles but John Dance, after leading 16-12 at one stage, lost narrowly 21-18. Feniton won the Pairs 22-7 but the Budleigh Triple of Bert Maneng, Allan Cottle and skip Rod Davidson squared the match with a good 21-14 win only to see Feniton claim victory in the tie by winning the Foursome 25-16.In the Over 60's League the Budleigh B team travelled to Sidmouth and beat their C team 30-25, with the rinks shared one each, and in atrocious weather conditions, the Budleigh C team scored a maximum eight points victory with a two rink 42-27 win away to Morchard Bishop "B".