Braintree Bowling Club continued their preparations for the forthcoming outdoor season by making a trip to the coast to face Clacton Indoor Bowling Club in a friendly competition.

As well as the longer-serving Braintree bowlers, this was a good experience for their newer members on the faster indoor surface compared to the slower grass rinks outdoors.

On five of the six rinks, Clacton teams took early leads as the Braintree players gradually got use to the weight and line of the bowls on the quick resilient surface.

Once the visitors had accustomed and corrected their bowling action, the scores became more respectable but still in the majority favour of the hosts.

Clacton won on four of the six rinks with a final overall score was of 146 shots for the hosts to Braintree’s 83.

Braintree’s winning teams were Martin Law, Derek Hardy, Carl Cheetham and Brian Todd, who won 22-15 and Gill Costin, Paul Bromley, Olive Hawkins and Peter Chesley, who triumphed 25-11.