On rink 1, Doreen W and Hetty S (with Pat C taking her place in the second half) were ably skipped by David N. It was a close contest, early on, with the visitors in contention. David asked for a shorter jack and we were level at the eighth end. At the ninth, we had four against, but skip sent up an excellent shot, taking out three of the opposition’s woods, so that we trailed by 9-8, at the break. After tea, the home side stiffened their resolve and came through to win, 22-13.

  On Rink 2, our triples team started with Trudy, Bella and Pete B, as Skip. The Chatham team was Glyn, David and skip, Roy. The scoring, initially, was fairly even, until Chatham scored a very good three and made it 5-2. At half time, the score was 9-4. After the tea break, Bill and John R replaced Trudy and Bella. Unfortunately RBBG did not push the score on and Chatham seemed to be in the grove, at one end scoring a hefty 5. The match was played in a friendly spirit, but the home bowlers were very accurate and ran out winners at 21-9. We did have the consolation of winning the last shot.

  Marian R, Terry F and skip, Hans F, played on rink 3, against Beryl, Geoff and skip, Ron. For ten of the first eleven ends, the lead swung, pendulum-like, and at the tea interval, Chatham were leading by 6-4, but with two single shots, RBBG brought the score back to parity.

  Over the next two ends, a three and a two, put the home team in command, with the score at 11-6. An excellent second wood from Marian was good enough to give our team a point, at the fourteenth, although Chatham restored their five point advantage, at the next end. On the sixteenth, RBBG mounted a strong attack, holding six shots, only for Ron to come in (with his last wood) to cut us down to one. Another point to Chatham, in the penultimate end, meant that we needed five to tie the match. In truth, our bowling had not been up to its usual high standard and it would have taken a minor miracle to achieve our goal. We were holding one, but needing to clear one of Ron’s woods, Hans came in with a hopeful backhand wood, which only succeeded in gifting the hosts a handful of points, making the final score 18-8.

  Rink four was no place for the faint hearted, on Monday afternoon. Gill, Chris (Chatham’s captain for the match) and skip, John, were worthy opponents to Lynn F, Penny G and skip, Chris P, on rink 4.

  The first four ends saw only four points, two to each side and this nip and tuck continued, until the break for tea when ten ends had been played, the score being 6-4, in favour of RBBG. Something in the scones must have affected skip Chris, for the next eight ends did not quite show what a really tight game this had been. End 12 saw us at 9-9, but it was end 14 that saw a rush of blood to Chris's head, as his last wood gave the opposition four shots. Sadly, things got worse! End 16 saw Chris in action, again, and this time he gave away five shots. It was only the brilliant bowling of the two RBBG ladies, on end 18, when they guided four woods close to the jack, which Chatham could not counter. The final score was 14-19.

  The final, aggregate score for the four rinks was 81-44. Perhaps, this does not reflect the good quality of play in a really good match and the splendid tea that everyone enjoyed. Thank you, Chatham, for such a great afternoon.