IN A record-breaking week, both the men and the women of Dorchester Bowls Club scaled new heights in national tournaments.

Vivienne Trophy

DORCHESTER 92 PALMERSTON 47

HAVING reached the last-16 stage of the national Vivienne Trophy with creditable wins over East Dorset, Bournemouth and last year’s runners-up Dolphin (Poole), the ladies of Dorchester Indoor Bowls Club expected a testing battle against Palmerston Bowls Club from Fareham in Hampshire.

Even the most optimistic of the Dorchester supporters were taken aback by the clinical and total demolition of their opponents, who had notched up earlier victories over Atherley (Southampton) by a mammoth 111 shots to 26, and the Arun Club from Sussex by 89 shots to 48.

Confident Dorchester moved effortlessly into the national quarter- final stage with all four triples contributing to their success.

The anchor result was constructed at home by Jan Meyers, Sue Lofthouse and skip Jenny Trotman, who handed out a 29-8 beating to their opponents and were well supported by the companion Dorchester threesome of Chris Jones, Hillary Wilson and hard-working skip Ann Kay, who fought back well from being behind to record a commendable 16-16 draw.

The two away units travelled the 70 miles to Palmerston with the prime aim of keeping the scores relatively close.

Having dropped three shots on the opening end, Wendy Webb, Linda Hill and skip Margaret Cullip soon slipped into gear to rock Catherine Coleman and her trio by taking the next five ends, including a six-count to go 12-3 up.

Dorchester never looked back as they ran in 24 shots to 13.

The fellow travelling Dorchester three of Jan Cherry, Sandra Hubbard and skip Kay Johns were equally impressive against veteran skip Wynn Small.

Dorchester trailed narrowly after five ends but went on to establish a healthy 12-6 advantage and were never troubled as they finally accumulated 23 shots and dropped only 10.

The prize for Dorchester’s overall victory is now a quarter-final tie against North Wilts Bowls Club (Chippenham) next month.

Buoyed by their current success, the Dorchester ladies are now determined to make every effort to reach the National semifinal stage.

Denny Plate

DORCHESTER 76 NEWQUAY 67

DORCHESTER’S men faced an 8am start for the game played at the neutral venue of ISCA Bowls Club, Exeter, and both teams took a little time to adjust to the playing surface.

As the game developed, Dorchester inched ahead and, at one time, were 20 shots clear, before Newquay closed the gap to just eight.

Dorchester re-established a 20-shot cushion which proved to be of vital importance, as a late surge from the Cornishmen again reduced the difference to single figures.

A determined finish from Newquay resulted in an overall win to the county town club of just nine shots.

The outcome was mainly due to the polished performance of John Lawlor, Phil Hallett, Dave Joslin and Eddy Young who skipped his rink to a 26-14 success over Newquay skip David Roe, having led 10-0 after just four ends of play.

Another rink to get the better of their opponents skipped by Timmy Phillips, was Brian Paulson, Ged Costello, Roger Nicholas and skip Colin Gifford.

Although trailing 5-1 at the outset, Gifford and co were 9-6 in front at the midpoint of the game finishing 20-12 to the good. This was mainly due to a 16th end haul of six shots Fourteen-year-old Jack Corbin- Willetts, playing in his first season for the club’s senior side, was supported by Terry Greenman, Martin Patterson and this season’s high-scoring skip Nick Voss.

In a close encounter with Newquay’s Gary Frost, Dorchester were ahead until a disappointing penultimate end meant they dropped six shots, cancelling out all of the 15-11 Voss advantage.

Although Dorchester gained a single on the final end, the spoils narrowly went to the Cornish rink 17-16.

Keith Corris and his rink gave Newquay their best result as they posted a 24-14 score against Dorchester quartet Kevin Holbrook, Kevin Roche, George Spracklen and skip Alan Curtis.

However the all-round team performance put Dorchester into the national quarter-finals of this competition for the first time in their 25-year history. The club will now have to overcome Riverain Bowls Club to gain a place in the semi-final. The game will be played at a neutral venue in February.