Highly successful Aussie Pairs weekend

It was a busy weekend down at Vigo Park with the finale of the Club's inaugural Aussie Pairs competition taking place on Saturday morning; while Sunday afternoon saw a well-attended Aussie Pairs competition sponsored by Mark and Trudy Slade, of Flamed Earth Ceramics. In between was another first-time event: a twilight bowls evening, kicking off at 7pm on Saturday and for which the Club had over 35 people sign up.

Saturday morning saw the semi-finals and final of the Club's own competition, launched this year substantially for new bowlers under Aussie Pairs rules. Aussie Pairs sees both partners in the pair alternate between lead and skip roles. On an end, the first to bowl takes two woods, before swapping over with their partner, who bowls all four of their woods, and then the first bowler delivers their final two woods. On the next end, the roles are swapped: the one bowling all four woods on the previous end now delivers the first two woods and then the final two after their partner has delivered all theirs.

The competition has been running on Saturday mornings for much of the summer alongside the traditional coaching sessions, and has seen the development of a number of teams within the group taking the names of UK raptors. Each team has had three or four members, covering for each other during periods of absence. The aim has been to give those taking part a regular taste of competition over eight ends and to broaden their experience with many of the participants likely to go on to play for one of the Club's teams during 2026.

The semi-finals saw Hawks (Angie Aspinall, Steve Baulsom and John Horner) take on Falcons (John Peacock, Clara Arundell and Tom Smith); and Merlins (Ady Aspinall and Ken Bulpitt) take on Kits (Caroline Mills and Tracy Howard). Sadly, Kits never really got going on the day while Merlins won six of the eight ends for an overall 14-2 scoreline. The other semi was, in the words of Tom Smith, one of the participants, a 'game of two halves': Falcons started brightly, winning the first four ends for a 10-0 score before Hawks won the next four, scoring four shots on each of the last two ends to take the match 11-10. The final saw Hawks build a steady lead, taking them to 6-1 after five ends before Merlins grittily dug in and pulled it back to 6-5 with one end to play. Hawks, however, scored two on the final end to take the trophy 8-5.

Dave Corbett, who developed the idea of the competition and organised it, congratulated the winners and thanked everyone who took part in it, while wishing everyone future success. A sincere 'thanks' from the Club to Dave, while the idea of an Aussie Pairs competition has taken root with an event taking place under these rules possibly featuring in the Club's calendar in future seasons.