Most of the reports are written by me, Brian, the Captain. I am making that quite clear because in my reporter function here I shall be quite rude about my play as Captain/skip, in the Marden match. Clearly, there will be no grudges.

  Let us get it over with. With Bill, Bella, and Ian for eight ends, Pat F for the rest, we played Malcolm, Mary, Hugh and Norma. For four ends it was going well, tied 3-3.Then in the next three ends Marden took six unanswered shots to lead 9-3 - a hill to climb, but there is often ebb and flow in bowls. Well, perhaps not so much flow as flood, as in end eight, Marden’s rink held eight shots as I, the RBBG Captain/skip, played the last wood before tea. You are not allowed to fire in a blind bowls match but I figured that playing into the head with a little weight, I would at least take a couple out and might do better. That was the theory. After three whips I had contrived to move through the head and beyond without changing the position - 17-3 down at the break.

  We lost the last eight ends 7-4. Not too bad, but I have to reveal that Norma had started to try to play for us, and move our woods up! Mind you, I played almost my first decent wood of the match on end fifteen and with her next wood she played her worst; she knocked me out of the head. It was the worst because she had been aiming to push one of our other woods into the count! It was not our day! We lost 24-7 and it could have been so much worse!! RBBG got absolutely no help from their captain, who suggested his performance was impeded by having to carry a heavy pocketful of money (more of this later).

  But it was still very enjoyable and I could watch Malcolm teasing Bella, at first hand. That is something about bowls, you can have great one-meeting-a-year friendships, lots of them.

  The other three RBBG rinks played wonderfully well. Rink honours go, albeit narrowly, to David, Penny and Pat C, who were 10-4 up at tea, took the next end to go 11-4 up but then saw Marden take seven shots in four ends to level the match. RBBG moved two ahead, Doreen, Dorothy and Malcolm B pulled it back to 13 all, going into the final end. With Marden holding shot Pat’s wood was almost perfect but the wick he took was just enough to stop him edging through the head. Never behind in the match till the final end was called, when RBBG went down 15-13. But what a great performance and really compact, top class heads throughout.

  Trudy, Hetty and Chris, too, were ahead for much of the match, Del, Bonnie, Jill and Marden Captain Ken catching them at 9-9, with only three ends to play. Marden took two shots, RBBG pulled one back and only one shot in it on the final end. But Marden took two to run out 13-10 winners. Again, this was a tremendous performance and definitely the prize for the noisiest rink (well done, Chris) but clearly lots of fun had by all.

  On rink four it also looked, for a long time, like an RBBG victory for Marian, Terry, Tom and Hans, over Pat, Carol, Peter and skip, Eileen.

  By the end of the first four, tight ends, RBBG had taken a slender 3-1 lead. The fifth proved bountiful, seeing the visitors take four, to increase the advantage. Marden pulled one back, in the next end, but two more ends went to RBBG, by single points, and at the interval, they held a commanding lead of 9-2.

  After the break, our hosts came out fighting and took two, but an immediate reply restored the lead to 11-4. The next two ends were crucial and saw Marden’s bowlers put in their best woods, taking three on both counts. The deficit was reduced to a bare point. As nerves were further tested, RBBG took the next two ends, each by single points ... 13-10. There, in what was the finest end of the encounter, which either side could have claimed, Eileen snatched a point with the last wood. Now, Marden were but two behind, with one end to play. As she had done, throughout, Marian set up a good head, followed by good support from Terry and Tom, but the home side put in a grand concerted effort. As the two skips took their turns at the mat, Marden were holding two; Eileen and Hans came close by, but neither could affect the state of play. So it was two to Marden and the match all tied, at 13-13. A tremendous battle ended in a fair result, enjoyed by all.