Spalding Indoor Bowls Club players are part of the triumphant England team which regained the Hilton Trophy
Dominic McVittie's first international series was one to remember for the Spalding Indoor Bowls Club ace.
His performances saw him presented with both the English Indoor Bowling Association and British Isles Indoor Bowls Council men's player of the series accolades.
McVittie, alongside Spalding club-mates Stephen Harris and Graham Smith, was also part of the triumphant England team which regained the Hilton Trophy and won the series for the eighth time in nine years.
McVittie had been selected for the first time at number three in a rink with Shaun Jones, Andrew Walters and Jamie Walker for the event at Falcon Indoor Bowls Club in Essex.
Harris was chosen at lead in a rink with Martin Puckett, Les Gillett and Greg Harlow while Smith was number two in a rink skipped by Robert Paxton, with Paul Hartley and Joe Dawson at lead.
Scotland were defending champions so England were hoping to regain the Hilton Trophy in front of their home crowd.
England started the series well with comfortable wins against Ireland (151-105) and Wales (129-75) and, while Scotland also won their first two games, this set up a series decider between the two on Saturday.
England started the better of the two teams and, although Scotland battled hard to reduce the deficit to eight shots at one stage, they proved too strong as they won 120-93.
Harris' rink came away with one win (23-18, 15-17, 17-20), Smith's rink the same (17-26, 16-14, 14-20) but it was an impressive first series for McVittie as his rink returned three wins (37-20, 27-11, 29-18).
McVittie, Smith and Harris were then part of a strong representation from the Spalding club at the Lincolnshire county semi-finals day on Sunday at Louth.
In the first session of the day, Brian Martin, Harris and McVittie booked their place in the county triples final with a 24-8 win against Boston’s Ian Clark, Alex Tomlin and Martin Tomlin.
Their opposition in the final will be Rod West, Nathan Dunnington and Jonathan West from Boston.
McVittie continued his excellent run of form by beating Richard Ashton from Lincoln in the county singles semi-final, 21-10, and will play Ollie Jeapes from Stamford in the final.
The county sets singles final will be an all Spalding affair as McVittie will play Jordan Philpott.
In the semi-final, they beat Chris Ballard from Stamford and Richard Ashton from Lincoln respectively, both in straight sets.
Harris and Smith progressed to the county pairs final with a 21-19 win against Richard Feetham and Colin Barks from Dunholme.
Their opposition is unknown as the semi-final between Spalding’s Simon Lilley and Jordan Philpott and Lincoln’s Danny Brown and Billy Jackson is due to be played at a later date.
Due to McVittie being in four semi-finals, the all Spalding match in the mixed pairs between Jean Patterson and McVittie against Chelsea and Martin Spencer is due to be played on Friday evening.
Spalding finished top of the Mixed County League after victory in their final fixture against Skegness.
They won on three rinks as they triumphed by 14 shots, 79-65, and won 12-2 on match points.
Top winning rink was skipped by Graham Jackson, with Gill Haydon, Dave Overton and Trish Stafford who won 21-13.
This win means that Spalding have won the South Division and will play in the county final on Saturday, April 6, at Sleaford.
Rink scores: G. Haydon, D. Overton, P. Stafford and G. Jackson won 21-13; T. Westland, A. Phillips, M. Wheatley and G. Wright won 21-14; A. Newbury, S. Slayven, M. Taylor and A. Cronin won 19-16; J. Collins, S. Jackson, P. Everett and P. Turner lost 18-22.
Spalding travelled to play Boston A in their final fixture of the Men's County League season.
Although three rinks were closely contested, Boston won on them as they took the honours 94-74 (12-2).
Spalding did manage one winning rink which was skipped by Brian Martin, with Max Butters, George Almey and Ean Morton who won 15-14.
With all games now played, Spalding are currently top of the County South Division but Stamford A need eight points from their final game next weekend to win the league.
Rink scores: Max Butters, George Almey, Ean Morton and Brian Martin won 15-14; Nathan Puttrell, Aiden Brickles, Ian Stafford and Kevin Ekins lost 24-25; Mick Dolton, Robin Roffe, Chris Warboys and Dan Mills lost 24-26; Eric Wakefield, Gavin Staite, Nick Wilkie and Martin Simpson lost 11-29.
Spalding Indoor Bowls Club held their President's match.
Club presidents Kevin Ekins and Julie Hicks invited 48 players to play in this annual charity fundraising match and afternoon tea.
The afternoon started with a spider which was won by Jenny Horner.
This was followed by a fiercely contested ladies against men match.
There were a couple of twists during the game as, on end five, players had to deliver a bowl with their opposite hand which had a disastrous effect on all rinks and, on end 10, everyone had to play with other bowls from their team.
This turned out to be interesting as most played better than with their own.
Best rink for the ladies was Gill Haydon, Paula Lawson, Sue Cooper and Hazel Tokley and the mens were David Murray, John Rawding, Graham Jackson and Alan Tokley.
An impressive £323.60 was raised. The club charities of the year are the Tulip Suite at Johnson Hospital and Lincolnshire Air Ambulance.
