BERKSHIRE Ladies began their outdoor season with a 144-82 defeat at Northamptonshire.

The hosts got off to a good start to leave Berkshire trailing, and although they found their line and length to finish the match, winning three of the six rinks, Northamptonshire’s trio of winning rinks gave them the overall victory.

Top rink for Berkshire was skipped by the county’s honorary secretary Gillian Chamberlain, with Jo Lawrie, Catherine Wooldridge and Lillian Holliday. They were plus four shots.

The rinks skipped by past president Sandra Harrison and current president Val Oakley both finished with a plus three shots scorecard.

  • TWYFORD continued their successful start to the season in friendlies with good performances against Wokingham (99-88) and Maidenhead Town (124-84).

At Wokingham, Brian Stain, Ann Harris and Mick Walker led the way with a 31-13 victory, while there were also wins for Barry Carter with Ann Pope and Dave Johnson (20-9) and for Phil Rose, Mick Kenway and Jan Walker (17-10), who came out on top against Twyford old boy Colin Livingstone’s team.

Against Maidenhead Town at home, there was victory on all five rinks.

Top honours went to Carter with a 31-14 win along with Pope, Alan Wrigley and Tony Phillips. There was a strong comeback from Steve Chamberlain, Jean Bennett, Annette Stain and Mike Self who recovered from a 17-5 deficit at halfway to win 28-20, and there was the same eight-shot winning margin for Neil Patchin with Carol Hooke, Jim Walter and Kathy Lewis (26-18).

Twyford’s ladies made a good start in their season opener at home to Caversham, winning on two of the three rinks and 50-39 overall.

The main contributor was Pope, who won by nine shots along with Tina Scherer and Ann Harris. There was a three-shot victory for Walker with Hooke and Trisha Gaskell.

The Over 55s KLV league team lost 57-41 at Great Hollands A. Jim Turner skipped the only winning rink (19-16) for Twyford with Peter Garraway and Paul Hynes.

Twyford lost 111-97 to a strong Royal County of Berkshire Bowling Association President’s team.