​Budleigh travelled to Sidmouth for a friendly match on a rainy and gloomy Sunday afternoon. A very friendly pair of Sidmouth teams did not help to left the gloom for Budleigh who came away with a significant defeat.  The scores were quite close at the half way stage but Sidmouth found their feet and romped away on one rink and slowly built up a lead on the other to win overall. Well done Sidmouth and commiserations to the gallant Budleigh teams.

​It was another successful quiz evening yesterday and we have new winners! Nick and Alf with friends Robert and Mo, proudly holding the trophy, with Quizmaster John, who obviously enjoys his role and the banter.  Fish and chips from Krispies went down well again.
Thanks to the many members who work hard to make these evenings so successful.

​It was the first of our internal club matches between the men and the ladies.
The ladies had won the last outdoor battle in the summer, but had struggled to gain any victories during the last indoor season.
On one rink, after several ends, the ladies had yet to score and it looked like the start of another defeat, and but gradually they crept back to a resounding 19-13 win, under the leadership of the skip, Marilyn Foreman.
On the second rink it was nip and tuck all the way, until after tea and perhaps the gents were suffering a sugar rush from too much cake, enabling the ladies to forge ahead to a 22-14 victory.
Well played everyone and well done to the ladies. It was an enjoyable afternoon with some great bowling and banter.

We are always guaranteed a good friendly game when the members of the Masonic team join us in Budleigh. Most come from Plymouth but our own star player, Gordon, always joins the opposition and does his best to beat us.  Sadly for him, not on this occasion, as we continued our winning streak against the Masons with a score of 32-29. They didn’t seem take it too badly as they enjoyed a post match drink and chat, before their long journey home.

​It was a very close first match of the season against Honiton on Saturday.
It was a friendly, jolly, but competitive game and on one rink Honiton took a substantial lead and on the other rink Budleigh did likewise. But the final result was a one point lead for Honiton. Well done to all who took part.

Our popular annual Ladies v Gents match was played in good spirits on the 18th and 30 members took part. As there were more gents than ladies, three of the men got in touch with their feminine side and played as ladies (but thankfully they couldn’t find skirts to fit them!).
It was a jubilant win for the ladies with a score of 86-68 and a jolly afternoon with a fair amount of competitive banter. A wonderful tea of cakes and scones was prepared and served by Ann and her willing helpers. Thanks to all who made this a successful event. I’m sure the men will get their revenge when we meet on the indoor rink.

The finals of the Internal Outdoor competitions took place over the finals weekend. The winners and runners-up were presented with their trophies at the prize giving buffet that took place on Sunday evening. Congratulations to all the winners and runners up.
Thanks to all those who took part in the competitions and to Marilyn and Andy for the organisation of the competition throughout the season.

​Sadly rain stopped play this afternoon in our friendly home match with Ottery St Mary. But it didn’t stop everyone from enjoying a cuppa and chatting about how things might have been!

A​ lovely sunny afternoon for our home match against Exonia yesterday. We had a win on one rink, with Les, Wendy and Judith, (well done), but sadly the skills of the Exonia players on the other three rinks outshone our own players.

We started off in the rain when we visited Topsham yesterday and initially things were going well for us. By tea time the rain had stopped and scores could have gone either way. Unfortunately they didn’t go our way and the end result was a heavy loss for Budleigh. The only saviour was our team on the only rink playing against a Topsham team of men only, who had a good 16-8 win. Well done Brian Membery, Russ and Jackey!
An enjoyable afternoon and we were made very welcome.

A home win on all four rinks for our teams against Phear Park on Saturday. Final score 76-45.
Well done everyone

There seems to be a common theme with the winning team of our club quizzes! It’s that man standing on the left - Brian Ward! He has been part of the winning team in our last three quizzes. Who can stop him now? He was joined last night by Mike, Andy and Jen, pictured below with Quizmaster John, returning to his rightful post after a short absence.
Another fun evening yesterday, with fish and chips and lots of laughter.
Thank you to everyone who made the evening such a success.

Sunny smiles pre-match at Honiton for a friendly game on 14th August. I don’t suppose our Budleigh players were so cheerful post-match!

​Twelve Budleigh players travelled to Chardstock on Saturday to play on the 'challenging' rink under sunny skies and in the gusty wind. One team, skipped by our match captain Penny Weeks, with Ann Vincent and Trevor Davey had an astounding win of 28-5. The other rinks struggled to find their form and didn’t fair so well but, in the spirit of friendship, the overall score was called a draw!
An enjoyable afternoon in the beautiful countryside.

​A lovely afternoon, full of good humoured banter, entertaining players from the Erdington Bowling Club at the start of their tour of East Devon. They were resplendent in their colourful new modern polo shirts.
Their outdoor rink is synthetic so some of their players struggled with the demands of a grass rink.
The final overall score was a well kept secret but Budleigh did have a significant win, with 4 out of 5 rinks ahead in the scores. But no one really cared about the scores as we were all winners, having enjoyed the company of other like minded bowlers.
Thanks to all who made this such a successful afternoon.

On Friday we hosted our annual Victory Cup, with six home teams competing against teams from Ottery, Sidmouth, Exonia, Madeira, Phear Park and Honiton.
It was a beautiful day and very well organised by Tony Mackness and helpers. Tea and cakes rounded off the afternoon.
The 18 end round robin competition was played in good spirits and won by the players from Ottery (pictured above with Tony), proudly displaying their trophy. The second win in a row for the club. 
Well done to all who took part and thank you to those who made the day possible.

Ten members of the Budleigh Salterton Bowls Club attended an EBUA Markers Course at the club on Saturday. It was an informative and thought provoking day and we all left with a much better understanding of what it is to be a marker. Wilf from the EBUA was a great tutor who posed many questions we had never really thought of before and patiently provided answers to our questions. A thoroughly enjoyable introduction to marking.

​It was a very warm and muggy afternoon when we welcomed the players from Feniton yesterday. Some of our rinks started very strongly and our hopes rose for a possible victory, but sadly our luck changed after tea and only one rink had a win, with an overall defeat of 72/50. Well done to Feniton.

​Our ladies Spear Trophy team had a lovely afternoon at Sidmouth, including a great lunch. 
There were high hopes this year following their runners up place the previous year, sadly it was not to be. The ultimate winners on the day were Madeira. 
Thanks to Sidmouth for a great competition.

​Heavy skies, heavy green and heavy hearts as our Budleigh players lost to Phear Park on Monday.
The final score was Budleigh: 38 Phear Park: 60