ST ANDREW'S Barrie Forse has made it to an historic fourth area final this season in his bid for national honours.

ST ANDREW'S Barrie Forse has made it to an historic fourth area final this season in his bid for national honours.

After his appearances in the Over-60s Fours and Over-50s Triples, he will contest the Over-60s Singles at 2pm, on Tuesday, January 26, at Taunton Deane. In this event last year he narrowly lost in the national final and a win in the area final would give him another shot at the title.

Meanwhile, he is waiting to be notified of the date and venue for the area final of the Over-60s Pairs for which he is joined by team-mate Ken Uglow.

The ladies had a busy weekend, competing in the Optika Cup, with two teams playing, one at home against Taunton Deane and another away at Woodspring.

The home team had a tight game, the result not decided until the last bowl, with three rinks playing, a pairs, triples and fours. The pairs were behind for most of the game but the triple, skipped by Meg Favis fought to the end to win by one shot.

This left the onus on the fours skipped by Doreen Henderson as it was two out of three rinks to win the game. They came back from a five-shot deficit to 20-all at 20 ends, then lost a two on the last end, so Taunton came away victors.

The away team at Woodspring did better, despite the triples losing by 30 shots, the pairs, skipped by Ann Campbell, won and the fours, skipped by Monica Patterson, also won to give St Andrew's a victory.

St Andrew's 1 point, Taunton Deane 2 (Optika): Pairs, M Millard, J Pitman 17-28. Triples: P Gill, M Bailey, M Favis 18-17. Fours, J Kimmins, B Huggett, S Priory, D Henderson 20-21.

St Andrew's 2, Woodspring 1 (Optika): Pairs, P Uglow, A Campbell 26-10. Triples: M Wride, S Glenville, A Powell 6-36. Fours, J Smith, H Watson, I Hicks, M Pattenden 22-15.