THE new outdoor season clicks fully into gear this weekend, with several important matches and county trials taking place.

Wiltshire ladies hold the first of their two Johns Trophy inter-county trial matches today at Wroughton, with the second being staged at Devizes next Thursday.

Fifteen players from Swindon area clubs will be taking part today, and one more at Devizes.

Representatives from this area at Wroughton are:

Julie Jones and Alison Fail (Purton); Charlotte Godwin and Maisie Daniell (Royal Wootton Bassett); Maggie Jordan and Linda Young (Highworth); Julia Hunt and Deanne Davis (Wanborough); Wendy Anderson and Janet Willis (Stratton Churchway); Susan Griffiths and Bev Millin (Supermarine); June Corbett and Babs Salter (Wroughton) and Laura Laytham (Swindon Town Gardens).

All of these players minus Supermarine duo Griffiths and Millin are included at Devizes, alongside Highworth’s Joanna Hicks, Marilyn Kilburn, of Supermarine, and the third member of Purton’s Chris Mitchell.

Wiltshire’s opening Johns Trophy match is away at Sherbourne against Dorset on June 2, but before then, the county ladies have a South West Counties League match at Tiverton against Cornwall on May 15.

  • THE county ladies, the stewardship of president Dawn Edwards (Avon) for 2018, begin their campaign of friendly matches next Wednesday in Wales.

They play West Glamorgan at Brynhfrid Bowls Club, with five local players represented – Wroughton duo Babs Salter and June Corbett, Stratton Churchway’s Wendy Anderson and Supermarine duo Pat Jones and Marilyn Kilburn.

  • WILTSHIRE’S men’s U25s side play another friendly today in preparation for their national White Rose Trophy, men’s inter-county U25 double rinks competition, match next weekend against Somerset.

They entertain Oxfordshire U25s at Swindon BC and more than half of the 16-strong side are drawn from local clubs, with Westlecot and Royal Wootton Bassett topping the list with four representatives each, while Highworth and Purton have one each.

  • SWINDON & District men’s bowls association open their season of friendlies with a mixed match against Bowls Wiltshire on Sunday.

The match will be played at Swindon BC, with the S&D side led by 2018 men’s president Maurice Simpson (Faringdon) and players only drawn from five clubs – Swindon, Haydon Wick, Faringdon, Wanborough and Supermarine.

  • TWO players from the Westlecot indoor club in Old Town, Neil Smith and Mike Titcombe, have qualified for the Open Singles Circuit (OSC) 2018 Grand Final at Potters Leisure Resort, Norfolk, in November.

Smith and Titcombe sealed their spots in the top 32 of the OSC rankings at the recent Bristol Open, the 24th and penultimate tournament of the season.

Former England indoor international Smith reached the last 16 at Bristol before going out to the eventual winner Imogen Cracknell (St Andrews, Weston-super-mare).

However, Titcombe went out in round two but had sufficient points in the bag already for a top-32 finish.

The schedule for next season’s OSC tournaments has just been announced and will feature 28 tournaments, commencing with the South Shields tournament on September 8.

Local club Westlecot once again features in the list of tournaments, with the annual Westlecot Open Singles tournament to be staged on the weekend of December 1-2.

  • SWINDON Town Gardens BC are one of the oldest established bowls clubs in Wiltshire.

They are the third eldest club in Swindon and celebrated their centenary in 2012.

Town Gardens members participate in the various men’s and ladies’ Swindon & District Leagues as well as competing in the Wiltshire county competitions, championships as well as national championship events.

The club are introducing a new initiative in the form of 'Social Bowls' to run every Friday from 4.30pm to 8pm throughout the season.

The aim is to give existing members opportunities to bowl more but in an informal atmosphere and, more importantly, to attract new bowlers to the club.

For more information, visit www.swindontgbc.co.uk.