THE fourth annual Windsor Bowls Club tour to Spain produced an excellent win and a draw in their two matches on grass at the prestigious La Manga Club. The party of 59 tourists played a total of six games in Spain. The other matches, all played on artificial surfaces ended in defeats. On those occasions, the straight woods of the home teams were far better suited than the wider swinging woods of the visitors. The difference in class may also have had a bearing. Even Austin Meredith’s practice end in the coach en route to one match did not improve his performance whilst Tim White’s wide bowling line troubled the jack on the adjoining rink rather than on his own.

At La Manga, there were wins for skips Rod Hudson, Richard Flitney and Di Roper in the first winning match. In the second match, which ended in a draw, there was a big win for skip Alun Daniel with Lance Davies, Sally Morgan (in her first ever competitive match) and Ann Morrish. Special mention must also be made of Alan Davies, Gill Mathias, Julie Davies and skip Peter Morrish who achieved a recovery of Lazarus type proportions by recovering from 1-13 down to record a last end win by 18-17.

Every game on the Spanish tours results in an award of the Winning Teddy and the Losing Teddy to the best and worst performing rinks on the day. At the end of the tour, all the results are collated and the overall Teddy winners are announced. Despite a valiant effort by Alan Dudley, the Losing Teddy went to Dave Johnson whose shot deficit shall not be revealed. To everyone’s utter shock, the Winning Teddy went to Roger Ellis for the second year running. In his acceptance speech, he gallantly and accurately acknowledged that he owed it all to his fellow rink bowlers rather than to any great performances on his part.

There were many other fine performances and winning rinks in the losing matches but the detailed records have not survived the journey back to the U.K.

The tours are as much if not more about the Social side than the bowling and in particular, all enjoyed the two cabaret nights. The evening featuring the wonderful voice of Maria Lynn was superb and also gave an opportunity for Windsor’s resident Lothario, Colin Roper, to make quite a contribution to the Act.

Four losses in the Bowls, but there were three other losses to be reported. John Follon lost his wallet, Steve Close lost his footing in the shower and broke two ribs and Vueling Airlines lost the Ellard’s luggage. As always, the tour was brilliantly organised by Veronica and Richard Flitney. Appropriately, they actually won the Winning and the Losing Teddies in the final match so both trophies will be retained by them in readiness for the next tour.