Rochford Bowls Club powered into the next round of the County Double Fours with a 62-28 victory against Thorpe Bay.

The rinks of John Horrex and Bill Collins both enjoyed great wins.

Scores: John Horrex 37 J Adams 9; Bill Collins 25 P Boxall 19.

Rochford recorded a 27-shot friendly victory over Stock and Buttsbury in a triples friendly clash.

The club won on four out of the five rinks but the captain for the day, Mike Harding, ended up as the losing rink in a 101-74 win.

Scores: P Parsons 21 P Fredrick 12; M Harding 13 T Smalley 16; B Tolhurst 22 R Ginn 12; F Fisher 25 F Brown 16; W Graves 20 B Moull 18.

But they bowed out of the national Two Fours competition after a narrow defeat on an extra end against Essex County.

With the scores tied at 36-36, Bill Collins's rink had to play the extra end to get a result which went the way of the visitors.

Scores: Brian Arnell 18 Malcolm Artus 20; Bill Collins 18 Neil Jackson 16.

Rochford narrowly beat Wickford 36-35 in a Group Six Division Three thriller to claim four points against the visitors' two.

Scores: E Overell 20 D Markham 16; K Pracy 16 V Hennesey 19.

Wickford got their revenge in a friendly, winning 92-89, although the rink of club president Frank Ffitch enjoyed an 11-shot victory with his rink of Brian Ward, Audrey and Brian Tolhurst.

Scores:

P Parsons 16 K Tillett 21; J Staines 17 P Romang 17; J Jeffrey 24 B Clarke 16; G Sellears 10 K Savage 27; F Ffitch 22 T Salter 118.

Rochford lost 100-74 to Southminster in a mixed triples friendly, although Frank Ffitch, Connie Butcher and Barb Steel had a good performance on the day with a nine-shot win.

Scores: P Parsons 17 J Raggett 15; B Neville 10 B Wright 14; J Jeffrey 10 M Smith 19; L Pye 8 E Barker 13; M Harding 7 K Sanders 26; F Ffitch 22 J Raymen 13.

The rinks skipped by Bill Graves, who won by 35 shots, and John Staines (17 shots) inspired Rochford to a 99-45 victory over Hadleigh in a Top Gear Triples match. The club picked up eight points and lost just two.

Scores: W Graves 40 L Needman 5; J Staines 26 A Beach 9; Mrs J Bowtle 15 H Forster 17; Mrs B Horrex 18 A Bailey 14.

Rochford Ladies continued their tremendous progress in the Travelsphere Competition against a strong Rayleigh Bowls Club.

The clubs shared two wins each but the overall score of 85-63 went in Rochford's favour.

Singles: Mary Neville 19 Jean Noakes 21. Pairs: Barb Steel 20 Barbara Fletcher 11. Triples: June Tann 27 Dorothy Lewis 9; (Fours) Beryl Horrex 19 Maureen Newman 22.

Runwell Bowling Club found Peter Devaliant's rink in top form when they lost 42-28 to Rochford in Group 6 Division 1. Rochford picked up five points to the visitors' one.

Scores: John Horrex 15 M Bartholomew 15; Peter Devaliant 27 P Harris 13.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.