THE LADIES at North Wilts indoor bowls club made a fine start in the Mason Trophy, reaching round two in the O60 double rink competition.

The A team took the honours on both rinks to beat Purnell (Paulton) 42-26.

Meanwhile the B side were awarded their match on a walkover when MidGlos B conceded the tie.

At home at Westcroft, in Chippenham, the quartet of Anne Roberts-Phare, Jane Taylor, Sue Cooke and skip Alex Jacobs were in excellent form and won their match against Jan Dart 27-14.

The other foursome of Margaret Cooke, Viv Baskerville, Irene Button and skip Jean Collier had a much tougher battle in Paulton, but just managed to stay ahead throughout to win 15-12 against Chris Godfrey.

Overall North Wilts led 9-6 after five ends and increased the advantage to 26-13 at 10 and 40-19 at 15 before claiming a 42-26 win at 18 ends.

In the next round on December 8, North Wilts ladies face their old rivals Clevedon – one rink at home and one away.

The B team will meet Thornbury in the second round on December 8 also.

The North Wilts ladies team take to the green again in round four of the Yetton Trophy, the top ladies national team championship in which they lost in the semi-finals last season to Spalding, next weekend, Saturday, December 9 when they face MidGlos (Brockworth, Gloucester).

The national championships in the four main events singles, pairs, triples and fours, for both men and women, are only in the early rounds but there does not appear to have been any major shocks in Area 16 to date - the area that North Wilts initial contest.

THE men at North Wilts are back in Wessex League action this Sunday.

They face neighbours Christie Miller in the third match of their central section campaign with one win against Purnell (86-76) banked as well as one heavy loss against St Andrews (Weston-Super-Mare (97-54).

Opponents Christie Miller have only played one game so far but lost that heavily 96-67 to Clevedon.