OKEHAMPTON Simmons Bowling Club had the pleasure of hosting a game against the Devon Patrons on Monday July 25. The Patrons had players from Combe Martin, Uffculme, Ivybridge, Plymouth, Tavistock, Morchard Bishop, Bradworthy and Launceston representing them for this game. During the tea time, the captains of both teams stated that these games are friendly matches giving players of both sides the opportunity to meet old friends and to make new ones. This was not shown in the result with the hosts going down by 87 shots to 141, with only the rink of D Reason, T Hoar, K Marshall and R Letchford recording a win on the last end by one shot. The rink led by T Halton was unlucky to lose. Needing 3 on the last end to tie they scored 2, so went down by 1 while the rink led by M Verity dropped a maximum of l8 shots on only the second end and were never able to recover from this devastating start, ending up 20 shots behind. On the other 3 rinks skip J Mills lost 11-31; C Hutchings lost 16-27 and W Jones went down 16-19. All the scores were soon forgotten over a quiet drink following the match where, as the captains had said, new friendships were made. The Okehampton players will look forward in the hope that next year they will again have the pleasure of entertaining the Devon Patrons.