THE late May bank holiday saw Okehampton Simmons Bowling Club joined by friends from Hatherleigh off on their annual weekend tour once again, organised by Club stalwart J Mills with the help of his wife.
The club visited Bournemouth where they opened the tour with an eight rink game against Richmond Park BC. This saw the rinks skipped by C Hutchings, R Letchford, J Mills, T Crispin and R Hunkin all have good wins allowing the tourists a comfortable win overall by 155 shots to 128. Only the rink of J Marles, P Jones, G Down and R Gard went down heavily to gain the first booby prizes of the tour.
Next came Southampton where, under the captain of the day J Hutchings, the club took on Atherleigh BC ? one of the strongest clubs in the area. Good wins for the rinks of D Lower and J Marles were unable to stop Okehampton going down by 128-147. The day?s booby prize went to the rink of W Jones, J Hutchings, G Hollis and D Phare.
After a visit to the New Forest the team, under D Thorpe, played Christchurch BC, where with wins on four of the six rinks Okehampton had a comfortable win 127-80. J Marles had the best win of the day, 28-6.
The rink of C Hutchings, D Payne, J Bliss and G Hollis were the booby prize winners, being the only rink to lose, with the rink skipped by R Letchford gaining a draw on the last end.
Monday saw the tourists homeward bound with a final game played at Honiton under the captain of the day W Jones.
In a reversal of fortune the rink led by C Hutchings had the best win of the afternoon 29-12, and with wins on three other rinks the tourists won the game 140-123. The final booby prizes of the tour went to T Crispin, G Hollis, T Hellyer and P Wellman.
After a final meal and the settling of fines for misdemeanours while on tour the players and guestsreturned home tired but happy to resume the normal bowls season.
Okehampton Simmons Bowling Club welcome any, especially ladies, who wish to try the game. Come along on Fridays to club night or contact any club member.