​Our teams played well and put up a good fight but were defeated at Madeira yesterday by a close 8 points. The final overall score was 68-60 in Madeira's favour. Well done everyone for an enjoyable and good friendly game with our hosts.

​The very hot day did nothing to deter our players from achieving a great home win today against St. Thomas with a score of 73-53.
Well done to all.

​A very close but enjoyable game against Exonia on Monday at their club. We lost by a mere 3 points. The final score was 65-68.

Otterleigh Tour 2025
Friends from Budleigh and Ottery were made very welcome by two Cardiff teams at the weekend. The first on Saturday was Mackintosh Bowls Club, who had visited us last year as part of their South West Tour and subsequently invited us back to their club. Our six triples teams all did their best to beat the teams who had achieved a significant win when they visited Budleigh. But despite our best efforts, we were defeated by just four points. It’s not all about the winning!  

​Our second match was against Whitchurch Bowls Club, in the north of Cardiff, another very sociable and friendly club. But the friendliness did not extend to letting us win, and we sadly suffered another defeat on their excellent green. They had some very good players and a lot of ours seemed to beset with injuries and aches and pains. That’s our excuse and we are sticking to it!

A great weekend. Thanks to Tony, Gerard and Ralph for organising it. I know a lot of hard work went into it. Hopefully more to come in the future?

​Another successful quiz night with guest quizmaster, Gerard, who gave us some challenging and thought provoking questions and Dingbats.
The worthy winners are shown above, Ann, Brian (a second win this season), Nina and Ralph, with the Quizmaster, Gerard. 
Krispies came up trumps again and the fish and chips went down well.
Thanks to all for making it an enjoyable and fun evening.

Budleigh won on three rinks but the loss on the fourth contributed to our low cumulative score and the narrow defeat of 59 to 66. The fast green proved a challenge for all, especially when a strong wind developed.  An enjoyable afternoon with jovial friends.

​Playing at Pinces Gardens this year was like Groundhog Day.
The threatening grey clouds never delivered any rain. The lead Budleigh had gained before tea was slowly eroded after the boost of the wonderful lemon cake which seemed to work better on the home team as they clawed back to win overall. Maybe that it their secret weapon?
But it was a lovely, friendly, enjoyable match on the quirky green.
It was Torbay Air Show and the sight of the two spitfires and a tornado were maybe too much of a distraction for our players. Budleigh won on only one rink and that win by only one point.
Much of this was exactly what happened on the same day last year!

​The Bowls season in Budleigh is well and truly underway and at this early stage there have been some fine results for the club’s bowlers.
What has been encouraging is the involvement of players in the Devon Section 3 competitions against other club members and to date there have been victories in the first round of the Mixed Pairs for Andy Cardy and Evelyn Crook, Peter and Marilyn Foreman and David Roberts and Jackey Phillips. 
In addition last week has seen the club progress to the second round of the Foxlands Trophy with an overall six shots victory over Sidmouth. Played on both home and away rinks simultaneously Budleigh looked set to win the home rink leading by five shots going into the last few ends only for Sidmouth to finish strongly 25-18. However it was a good performance from Bryan Membery, Les Gay, Peter Cooper and Terry Flynn.
On the away rink a strong showing from Ted Shanahan, Peter Foreman, Brian Ward and skip David Roberts saw a 24-11 win taking Budleigh over the line to secure an outright aggregate victory and a place in the second round against Ottery.
In the Exeter and District Over 60s Triples league there have been contrasting starts for Budleigh’s two teams. The Beavers have secured two impressive away wins at Honiton and Sidmouth whilst the Otters are yet to register their first win with disappointing defeats home to North Tawton and Crediton. Early days in the season and they have the chance to put that right this week with a visit to Feniton, whilst the Beavers play local rivals Phear Park.
A very successful Open Day at the club recently has seen a number of new bowlers join the club and the coaching team of Andy Cardy, Les Gay, Jackey Phillips and Ted Shanahan are busy inducting the new members into the club.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon on Sunday when we hosted players from Seaton for a friendly match. The final score was not so friendly for us, it wasn't even a close match!, but the company was good. Well done Seaton

​Another lovely afternoon of bowls at Budleigh in the warm sunshine.
The friendly teams from Topsham were our guests and they gave us a competitive game. Before tea they just had the edge but we were rejuvenated by the refreshments and short rest and came back to take the lead on three rinks, giving us a narrow overall victory of 64/55.
Well done to all.

​A beautiful sunny afternoon for our visit to Ottery on Tuesday afternoon. It was a close fought match for a while but then Ottery forged ahead and the final score was 70 - 56 to the home team.
We will be looking for revenge later in the summer when they come to Budleigh.

Our postponed season opening event was very successful and attended by 27 members. The spider and round robin competitions took place on Saturday on a lovely afternoon. 
The Spider competition was won by Rosemary and the Round Robin competition was won by the team of Ted, Lynda and Ann. Well done to them. 
Thanks to Tony Mackness for all his hard work in organising the afternoon, which ran smoothly and everyone knew where they had to be and when.  Thanks also to Ann and her team for providing the tea and cakes.

​We knew our regular Quizmaster, John, was not available for our quiz event yesterday evening and after weeks of suspense, it was finally revealed who was taking his place. 
Gerard McCarthy stepped in to present an excellent quiz, with a new Dingbats round to test our mental skills even further. A new team to grabbed the prestigious trophy this time. Well done to Terry, Brian, Mike and newcomer Trevor. The triumphant smiles say it all!​

The internal indoor competitions have now finished as the indoor season draws to a close. The winners are shown above with their trophies. Well done to the winners and all who took part.

Congratulations to Les Gay, Jackey Phillips and Ted Shanahan, on their Level 1 coaching qualification. They join Andy Cardy and now the Club are proud to be able to offer the services of four qualified coaches.

On Saturday 22nd March Budleigh Salterton Bowls Club hosted their final indoor match of the 2024/25 season against 2 Mixed Triples teams from Topsham.
On Rink 1, the Budleigh team of Stewart Jackson, Marilyn Jackson and Martyn Ashmead got off to a flying start and at the halfway point of 9 Ends, the Budleigh trio had scored 12 Shots against the 2 by Topsham.The Budleigh team maintained their form over the final 9 Ends and enjoyed a win of 26:5.
Meanwhile on Rink 2, the home team of Gwen Hurst, Beverley Ashmead and Peter Foreman maintained a narrow lead from the first end and came away the victors 12:10, giving Budleigh an overall win of 38:15.
Peter Foreman, the Budleigh Skip, congratulated his colleagues on their performance and hoped they would maintain their form when they play Topsham in an outdoors fixture in May.

​Our ladies had a lovely afternoon at Sidmouth on Saturday, despite losing by 8 points overall. It was nice to see one of our previous members, Lucy, playing for the opposition.

​On Saturday 8th March 6 players from Budleigh Bowls Club travelled to Honiton to play a Mixed Triples match.The match was played over 18 Ends and the Budleigh teams got off to a flying start on an Indoor Carpet that had been stretched recently and was playing extremely fast. After 11 Ends the Budleigh trio of Tony Mackness, Jackey Phillips and Andy Skudder were ahead by 10 shots at 15:5. However, over the final 7 Ends, the Honiton team, led by Judith Broom, amassed 15 Shots, with Budleigh gaining just 2. This gave Judith's team a win of 20:17.

On the adjoining Rink the Budleigh trio of Melissa Camp, John Sheppard and Ann Vincent were proving to be a strong team and after 9 Ends were losing by just 2 shots at 5:7. The Honiton team then found their form and went on to secure 15 shots over the final 9 Ends, compared to 5 from Budleigh. This gave the Honiton trio a victory of 22:10  and an overall victory to Honiton of 42:17.
Tony Mackness, the Budleigh Captain, congratulated Judith and her players for their strong performance and looked forward to the return game.

​A closely fought game with the teams from Axminster resulted in an overall draw, with 35 shots each. Well done everyone.

So the pesky Peskies (minus Evelyn) regained the prestigious trophy last night in a closely fought battle with The Other Team. The questions confounded many, as the difficulty level had been increased by the evil Quizmaster and the high scores of previous quizzes were sadly unattainable.
Again, there were internal disputes within the teams about the answers, to be brought up at some future date no doubt, but all were friends at the end of the night.
Photo above of the worthy winners, together with the Quizmaster.