MEMBERS of Okehampton Simmons Bowling Club enjoyed their annul tour to Banbury. They were joined by friends from Hatherleigh for the tour, again organised by Okehampton?s J Mills with the help of his wife, Pat.

The first game was against Banbury Central Bowls Club, who came out on top with a 114 to 100 score.

Although the tourists won three out of the six rinks, the 13 shot defeat of the rink led by J Marles was too much to pull back by the winning rinks of N Reeder, E Crispin and T Crispin.

After a morning checking out the sights of Banbury the visitors travelled to Halford, reputedly one of the oldest greens in the country. Again the rink scores ended up three each, but the home side gained the overall victory by 110 to 106.

The rinks led by T Crispin and E Crispin came out on top, this time joined by skip W Jones and his team. The heaviest defeat of the day fell to the rink of C Hutchings.

The team travelled to Oxford where the visitors were given a brief tour of Queen?s College, including the library, chapel and great hall, followed by a mini tour of Oxford Centre.

Following a buffet lunch Morris Motors became the next opponents. This time wins by the rinks of J Westlake, R Letchford, C Hutchings, D Lower and N Reeder saw an overall win by 113 to 102, with only the rink of T Toynton going down to the home side who even managed to take a maximum score on one end.

The final game was against Culm Vale Cullompton. Due to heavy rain it was abandoned after nine ends with the combined Okehampton/Hatherleigh team leading on five out of the seven rinks with level scores on one and only the rink of N Reeder being behind.

Of the seven players who played in all the games both T Crispin and his wife were on a winning rink each day.

All those who travelled thank not only John and Pat for organising the trip but also Les of Carmel Coaches for his skill and good humour.