Victoria bowls club began a busy week on Monday when the Vic Vikings welcomed the Ashcombe Knights in the cup, a difficult task playing against a team from a higher division.

The visitors duly obliged by going through to the next round, however there was some good news for the Vikings in the performance of the triplet led by Graham Rain with Simon Pratt and Colin Cleeves who had a great 23-12 win.

Wednesday saw the Vikings back in action at the Quadrant when they entertained the visit of Mark Moor in the league.

This match happily got the Westonians off the mark with an excellent first win of the season.

Top triple was the Barlow, Ferrari and Nicholls combination with 22-12; this was closely followed by Johnson, Rossiter and Hubbard at 18-9.

Tony Hine’s debut as a skip was fruitful as his team of Sharp and Hollier won 15-10.

There were two more winners for the Vic both winning by four shots namely Smart, Kelly and Pratt, and the trio of Brookes, Cleeves and Sage to result in a final score of 19-1 to the Vikings.

Thursday witnessed reigning champions Saxons visit Burnham-on-Sea looking to kick start their season and they did this in style with an emphatic win on the road.

The Saxons started well and controlled the game throughout, winning five of the six rinks with an overall score of 125-72.

The Saxons' star showing came from the Heal led team aided by Campbell and Milliner who won 29-08.

There was a further big 26-9 win for Bradley, Whyte and Bromet.

Newman, Coumis and Crawford won comfortably 23-15 and there were also victories for Owen, Carpenter and Manning plus Cooper, Robbins, and Fairhurst D.

On the same day Victoria Ladies took on Clevedon in the Wessex League.

With conditions ideal the match began well for the Vic who was holding a twelve-shot lead at the midpoint.

However, the visitors fought back hard but in the end the Vic prevailed by 55-49 and won all three rinks which all came down to the wire.

The Wefare, Gibbs, Wade and Harrison rink won 24-21 while Kay Wilson’s team of Hartree, Cleeves and Frye won a low scorer 14-12.

Finally, the Stephens rink of Turner, Lawrence and Taylor won a nail bitter by one shot.

On Friday Victoria ladies travelled to Portishead in the Weston District League and despite winning two of the three matches Victoria lost 43-54.

There was a superb display by S Cooper, I Miles and H Frye who won 21-9.

The other win was a closer affair when K Wilson led her team of F Payne and B Williams to a two-shot victory.

Saturday saw all three of the Victoria men’s teams in action.

The C team lost at Nailsea 36-60.

The highlight being the G Frost rink which salvaged some pride winning their rubber by the smallest margin 15-14. George was helped by K Fairhurst, B Nicholls and N Robbins.

The B team shone in a supreme triumph winning all three rinks in their defeat of Portishead RBL 76-39.

The best win went to the Burgess four which featured R Rossiter, R Crawford and Brian Johnson who had an outstanding game to win 27-9.

Next up the Harrison rink of Carmine, R Bromet and J Newman won 27-18 and the other winners were D Fairhurst, H Whyte, M Campbell and H Gibbs.

Finally, the A team took on a very strong Taunton team in the top league in Somerset and despite losing by eight shots the team can be extremely proud that they won two of the three ties.

Firstly, S Davies, P Coumis, P Owen and C Heal who had a very tidy game won by three.

Also, the reliable D Nutt quartet featuring D Carpenter, M Milliner and P Sloman won with the very last bowl by one shot.

Considering the circumstances the A team must take heart from another fighting effort.

Sunday saw the final game of the week with a crucial cup tie against Congresbury in the N Somerset KO Cup.

The match began with neither side giving way and at the halfway stage the score was tied at 46-46.

However, the next five ends were the turning point as the Vic surged forward and took a commanding lead to finally win 93-76. Top Team was S Davies, P Coumis, R Bromet and P Owen 22-11.

Next up was C Gazzard, H Gibbs, M Campbell and A Bradley who came back from a shaky start to triumph 21-15.

There were two further wins for Victoria both by one shot.

Firstly, D Fairhurst, Carmine, M Milliner and K Burgess and secondly D Nutt, D Carpenter, D Wheatley and P Sloman completed the week on a high note for the Victorians.