Royal Leamington Spa open their season in style

Jim Tighe started particularly strongly for Spa, scoring six shots on the fourth end to open up an early 9-1 lead. His rink was pegged back to 9-9 at half-way but Spa had built a 19-shot overall lead as their other four rinks started to ease ahead.

Spa’s dominance continued for the rest of the match, with Dave Turner (23-14), Graham White (19-10) and Ray White (22-13) all finishing nine shots ahead on their rinks.

With Dick Allibon also coming out on top (19-17), only a narrow 17-16 defeat for Tighe prevented Spa from completing the whitewash.

Meanwhile, Avenue lost their home two fours match with Welford 47-39.

John Hughes (skip), Barry Connolly, Colin Thomas and Dean Whyte found themselves 7-1 down at five ends before going on to suffer a 33-14 defeat.

In contrast, Bill Port (skip), Phil Wadland, Mick Preedy and Graham Parker were always in charge of their encounter, opening up a 16-5 lead at ten ends on their way to a 25-14 success.

Avenue bounced back in their away match at Wolvey, winning 89-85.

The highest winning rink of John Harris (skip), Barry Connolly, Dean Whyte and Graham Parker claimed a 25-9 success, while Ron Walton (skip), Stewart Aitken, Colin Thomas and David Deacon held on to win 19-17 after opening up a six-shot lead at ten ends.

Bill Port (skip), John Rheams, Fred Sawyer and Keith Orme were in total control at five ends having taken a 7-0 lead. However, the home side rallied and Avenue were relieved to cling on for a 17-16 win.

Phil Wadland (skip), Peter Hooper, Andy Hewitt and Dave Miller were involved in a see-saw encounter which they lost by a shot, while it was a bad couple of days for John Hughes who again found himself skipping a losing side alongside Rick Hayes, Paul Chapman and Mick Preedy, the quartet going down 25-14.