Year: 2026

The first clash of the season between our two teams, on a lovely spring Downton day. The sprinkler system had come on at 6am, so the middle of the green was very wet & we had to use outside rinks 1 & 6. Both of these were very slow, but sped up well as the match progressed. It was lovely to see Geoff, as he hasn’t been very well recently. Hopefully, we will soon see him back on the green.
Rink 1 – Janet, Lewis & Neil – won 18-10. A warm welcome to Neil, who was making his Bustards debut. Having lost the first end, we were never behind & played a very consistent match, winning 10 ends, which inc 2×4, 1×3 & 3×2. I promised Janet & John a decent skip this week & thankfully, we had Neil! An excellent team performance.
Rink 6 – Tony, Paul & Ivan – lost 8-15. It all started so well, winning 6 of the first 8 ends to lead 8-3, then Steve, John & Colin upped their game & they won 11 of the last 13 ends, taking single shots on all of the last 8! A good, tight match. Well done to the Dragons trio.
The overall match score was Bustards 26 v 25 Dragons. Bustards 6 points, Dragons 2 points. Other results went our way, so we are now off the bottom of the league!
Next week we are at home to Knyveton. The match starts at 10am & the bar will be open from midday. All spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 9thMay 2026.

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First B&D match of the season, the Bustards travelled to Bournemouth to take on Argyll C. Because of the road restrictions due to the Cuckoo Fayre, we were there very early & had time for breakfast!
So, on a lovely warm, dry, sunny, blue sky, windless day, on a small, fast green, what could possibly go wrong?
Rink 2 – Ann, Steve & Tony – Lost 6-20. We finally won the 9th end to trail 1-14 & whilst we then won 4 of the last 9 ends, we were never going to turn that deficit around. Our score was made up of 2×2 & x2 singles. In the circs keeping them down to 20 was a good effort.
Rink 3 – Janet, John & Ivan – Lost 14-18. 10-3 up 7 ends inc 3×2 & a 3 on the first end, this match was looking good. We then only won 3 more ends, due to some poor shot selection & execution by myself. A 5 against on end 16 really did for us. My apologies to Janet & John, who both played some good stuff.
The overall match score was Bustards 20 v 38 Argyll C. With a -18 shot difference, we head in to week 2 bottom of the league!
Next week we are away to the Dragons & hopefully, we can play a little bit better than we did today. Next week’s match starts at 10am. The bar will be open from midday & all spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 2nd May 2026.

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So, on a sunny blustery evening, the team match season got underway with a Harold Ford Cup match, one mixed triple home & away.
Our home rink team was Jane, Richard & Paul B. We played well in the first half of the match, indeed after 11 ends it was 8-8 & with a 3 on end 12, we were 11-8 ahead. Then Alderbury won 5 of the last 6 ends, including a 3 on the last end, to win the match 13-17. We won 6 ends, to Alderbury’s 12. Our score included 1×4, 1×3, 2×2 & 2×1.
The away rink team was Peggy, Lewis & Ivan. Alderbury won 8 of the first 9 ends to lead 2-12, before we started our comeback. A 4 on end 10 started things off, then a 2 & a 5 on ends 13/14 got us back to 13-14. We then won the last 3 ends to win our match 18-15. Our score was made up by 4×2, a 4, a 5 & a single of the final end.
Sadly, the overall score was Downton 31- 32 Alderbury. There’s always next year & now we can concentrate on winning the league!
Ivan Buss 30th April 2026.
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