Stotfold played against a team representing the Francis Drake Fellowship, a bowls charity, formed in 1926 for the benefit of families of deceased members. They are represented by bowlers from a wide area and the Mid Beds club has been supporting them sinc

Stotfold played against a team representing the Francis Drake Fellowship, a bowls charity, formed in 1926 for the benefit of families of deceased members.

They are represented by bowlers from a wide area and the Mid Beds club has been supporting them since 1982.

Stotfold won the match but the most important element was the money raised for the charity.

In other friendly matches, Stotfold lost to both Bedford Park 56-85 and Wilstead 87-116.

Baldock narrowly lost out to Royston in the North Area final of the county league.

A slow start on Dave Turner's rink saw Royston ahead by 10 shots at the halfway stage but a recovery on this rink and steady bowling on Ian Greig's rink narrowed the deficit to only a couple of shots.

Greig needed two shots on the last end to steer Baldock to a win but narrowly failed and Royston scraped in by one shot.

Baldock's match against Dunstable Kingsbury was reduced to two fours and two triples due to lack of Kingsbury personnel. Baldock ran out winners by three rinks to one on Saturday. Details: J Gluckstein, R Bacon and I Walker lost 8-17; J Tait, Phil Page, J Russell and M Wintrip won 20-15; G Cross, S Garrett, R Dempster and P Riley won 25-15; A Cross, H Baker and D Turner won 25-9.

Hitchin Town travelled to Datchworth for a four-rink match reduced to 15 ends due to rain on Sunday, losing by 15 shots (40-55). The top Hitchin rink was Ann Marsden, Brian Marsden, Norman Parke and Andy Hill.

Rink one: J Parish, J Hill, G Billingham, M Wadsworth lost 9-13. Rink two: J Squires, W Harrison, M Squires lost 12-14. Rink three: A Marsden, B Marsden, N Parke, A Hill won 12-10. Rink four: R Allen, J Warren, B Clark, G Munge lost 7-18.

Hitchin Town travelled to Kent Athletic for a four-rink match the day before, losing by 20 shots (74-94). The top Hitchin rink was Les Lane, Roy Cole and Ian Thorne.

Rink one: G Corda, M Williams, S Dawson lost 16-29. Rink two: L Lane, R Cole, I Thorne won 21-15. Rink three: R Allen, N MacLeod, M Squires, A Hill lost 19-27. Rink four: L Hill, J Hill, G Billingham, A Cook lost 18-23.

Howard Garden played an away friendly triples against Kimpton on Saturday, winning overall 103-45 and on four out of five triples.

Rink one: Brenda Wood, Les Smith and Doug Fenn won 22-2. Rink two: Betty Millard, Tony Dumont and Daphne Brothers won 17-14. Rink three: Doug Kingsmill, Maureen Smith and Tom Macey won 25-7. Rink four: Pauline Kingsmill, Ted Offord and Tony Wood won 26-9. Rink five: Janet Taplin, Harry Tindall and Ron Williams drew 13-13.

On Sunday, Howard Garden played their annual triples tournament which was won by Peter Gough, Bill Spurden and Tony Wood. Runners-up were Pat Jack, John Pepper and Brian Atkinson.

The midweek bowlers drew 66-66 with Steeple Morden last Tuesday and won 55-49 against St Ippolyts last Thursday.

Datchworth's five matches produced some mixed results.

Scores: Datchworth Blue 28 Knebworth Evens 30; Datchworth 83 Welwyn Garden City 78; Datchworth Gold 18 Shire Park Gold 36; Datchworth 85 Rosehill 74; Datchworth 55 Hitchin Town 40.