North Devon Bowls League results

The wet weather played havoc with the latest round of fixtures in the North Devon Bowls League, with only eight of the 15 scheduled fixtures played.

The top of the table clash in Division 2 between Torrington and Bradworthy saw Great Torrington gain a convincing victory, so Bradworthy dropped to third and Morchard Bishop moved into second place. 

In Division 4, Victoria Park B had been experiencing a torrid start to the season but that changed with their first victory at Braunton.

Results
Division 1: Victoria Park A 8 South Molton C 2. Division 2: Great Torrington B 10 Bradworthy 0; Bideford A 0 North Tawton 10; Morchard Bishop 9 Bideford C 1. Division 3: Ilfracombe 2 Victoria Park D. Division 4: Great Torrington A 2 Combe Martin B 8; Braunton A 2 Victoria Park B 8. Division 5 Byeways 9 Barnstaple B 1.

Our feature club for this week is Great Torrington, which was, incredibly, established in 1645 during the English Civil War and is believed to be the third oldest club in the country.

The green is sited on Castle Hill in the old castle grounds and the castellated wall surrounding it was constructed by Lord Rolle in about 1846 for the town. The club changing room used to be in the gazebo in the corner of the ground then a wooden club house was erected by the members later to be replaced with a permanent brick building.

There was an extension built by a club member who was a local builder to accommodate a bar and is aptly named Crocker Bar after him. During the winter season of 2004/05 two further extensions were built on to the existing building to accommodate proper changing rooms and toilets for both the ladies and gents.

During the winter some of the members wished to play Short Mat so formed a club called Great Torrington Short Mat Bowling Club, which merged with the main club in 2013.