Clarence Bowling Club has won the Bowls England Club of the Year title for 2012.

WESTON’S Clarence Bowling Club has won the Bowls England Club of the Year title for 2012.

The Clarence Park-based men’s club, who were runners-up in the national ruling body’s competition last year, beat off stiff competition to win the accolade for the first time.

Clarence, founded in 1907, have more than 100 members. The Bowls England announcement of the award said that they had demonstrated to the judges their continued efforts to promote the club, recruit new people to the sport of bowls and provide a range of services of benefits to its members.

The most delighted man at Clarence is club president Reg Flicker, whose two presentations for both the regional and national awards – Clarence were also the regional winners – were highly praised by the judges.

Mr Flicker, a retired sales and marketing executive, said: “I am over the moon, having worked so hard to change the attitudes and make the sport of bowling more attractive to a younger element, but we still have a long way to go. Having finished runners-up last year, we were determined to go one better this time and we are the first club from the West Country ever to win.”

Clarence’s triumph has earned them, among other prizes: �250 cash; four sets of bowls from Drakes Pride, the competition sponsors; the Tony Allcock Trophy; and a match against the Bowls England President’s team in 2013.

Bowls England chief executive Tony Allcock, a former world champion, said: “All three regional winners – Berkhamsted and Locksheath were the others – were of an exceptionally high standard and Clarence are worthy winners of the overall title.”

WOODSPRING ladies played against Minehead for the Masons Cup.

Although it was a hard-fought match, Woodspring were the runners-up.

In the Weston Mixed League, St Andrews could only field three players on one rink at Woodspring, but still managed to win by half a point.

Woodspring 45, St Andrews 45.5 (home rinks): N Urch, M .Sell, D Cooper, G Russell 18-1.5; D Urch, G Fews, R Bryant, J Beat 9-13.

Away rinks: J Sansam, N Coombes, R Tasker, C Hedges 7-16; G Sansam, S Davies, M Tasker, D Fairhurst 11-15.

ST ANDREWS scraped through another round of the Over-60s double rink competition, this time against Donyatt.

The home rink of Barrie Forse were outbowled by the opposing skip, taking away shots on many occasions. They fought back from a large deficit to lose only by four shots.

The away rink of Tony Steer did well on the away carpet, all having a steady game which resulted in a five shot win giving Saints victory by one shot.

In the Weston Mixed League, the two home rinks were victorious. Bob Roberts’ rink having a four shot win and Irene Hicks a nine shot win. Away, Phil Villis went down by 12 shots and the other rink of J Smith had a four shot win.

The first of the Wessex League games was played against a North Wilts side and St Andrews were well and truly beaten, the two away rinks of Barrie Forse and Tony Steer lost by 15 shots each.

At home, Andrew Owens’ rink went down by eight shots and Don Bailey’s rink managed to salvage two points with a seven shot win.

St Andrews 43, Donyatt 42 (Over-60s two-rink): K Uglow, G Millard, G Wride, B Forse 23-27; A Hyde, M Campbell, B Reeves, A Steer 20-15.

St Andrews 50, Woodspring 45 (Weston Mixed League): R McMillan, J Matthews, E Blight, R Roberts 15-11; B Alden, M McMillan, M Blight, I Hicks 16-7; R Smith, S Sinclair, B Ennis, J Smith 13-9; C Riley, J Forse, P Villis 6-18.

St Andrews 63, North Wilts 94 (Wessex League): M Campbell, W Ainsworth, R Venn, A.Owens 13-21; G Millard, R Roberts, B Reeves, D Bailey 26-19; K Uglow, G Tofte, S Davies, B Forse 10-25; A Hyde, A Yeeles, P Aldus, A Steer 14-29.