The National Championships start their first week at Northampton next week and Acle bowls players have qualified to be there in three events.Tim Stone and Melanie Haylett will be defending their national title in the Mixed Pairs, Tim Stone and his father David will be trying for the final time to win the Father and Son Competition, as the event is to be removed from the calendar next year, and in the final event of the week, Tim and Melanie join up with George Tubby and Marion Himpleman in the Mixed Fours championship.

The National Championships start their first week at Northampton next week and Acle bowls players have qualified to be there in three events.

Tim Stone and Melanie Haylett will be defending their national title in the Mixed Pairs, Tim Stone and his father David will be trying for the final time to win the Father and Son Competition, as the event is to be removed from the calendar next year, and in the final event of the week, Tim and Melanie join up with George Tubby and Marion Himpleman in the Mixed Fours championship.

The second week of the National Championships will be at Nottingham next month, so teams are still competing to qualify. Acle will be there in the Men's Triples as the local final is between two Acle teams captained by Tony Dunton and Robin Norman.

Acle ladies Joanna Church, Jennifer Hudson and Marian Himpleman have just won the County Federation triples and the men's triples was won by Jamie Howlett, Rob Parker and Tony Dunton.

The Acle club are running a singles tournament on good Friday, April 10, entry �10, closing date is Sunday, March 29. For details contact the club on 01493 750869.

Acle Ladies A travelled to County Arts, a game they had to win stay in the race for the championship.

Joy Pearson, Jenny Stone and Jean Cossey were 3-4 at five ends, 7-9 at 10 and finished drawing 11 each. Geraldine Reeve's block were 7-6 up at six ends, failed to score another shot and lost 7-20. Elaine Cole's block were six each at five ends and they only scored two more singles and lost 8-22. Melanie Haylett's block were four each at six ends 8-5 up at 10 lost the last three ends and finished 8-9.

Result 34-62 (�-7�).

The Men's A team were at home to table toppers Gallow and needed to win keep the championship in sight.

Roy Himpleman, Rob Parker, Jamie Howlett and Robin Norman were drawn against Mervyn King's rink and were determined to get revenge on his recent successes against Acle Players. At 10 ends they were 12-2 up, excellent bowling meant they had doubled their score by 15 ends and were 25-2 up and went on to win 32-7. John Marshall, Paul Webb, Simon Elliott, and Patrick Willimott were another rink in fine form and by 10 ends they were 18-3 up, by 15 it was 26-5 and went on to win 39-9. Lewis Moore's rink were 5-6 at seven ends, nine each at 12 and 15 each with three ends to play but lost out 17-20. Tim Stone's rink were 9-2 up at eight, then nine each at 12, lost five ends on the trot and finished 12-17.

Result 100-53 (5-2).

This result puts the Men's A team nine points behind Gallow but with two games in hand.

Away to Bowling Club the Men's B team won well 76-65 (6-1).

Captain Mick Harvey, Jim Fruin, Barney Wymer and Les Smith were 1-6 down at four ends then 9-8 up after 10, 14-13 at 16 and went on to win 17-15.

Johnstone Mackie, Sid Siely, Stanley Ward and Bimbo Meeks found the quicker pace of the green difficult to adjust to at first and were 1-10 down after seven ends. Came back to level the score at 13 each after 15 ends, a score that was unlucky for the opposition and at 19 ends it was 19-13. The game finished 20-15.

David Cole, Jim Pearson, Mick Crow and Eric Crouch went into a 11-3 lead after only seven ends, were 17-8 at 14, then 17-15 with three ends to play, kept their nerve and won 22-15. Alan Rowsell's rink were eight each at eight ends and 13-11 at 13, but then the 13 voodoo struck as they went 13-19 after 17, in a grandstand finish lost 17-20.

Great Yarmouth IBC

Great Yarmouth Ladies Red found the going tough at Gallows Bowls Club. All blocks lost and no points were gained, the overall score 41-79.

B Payne, B Phillips and J Howlett were 8-4 at six ends then went six ends without scoring a point and the score was then 8-12 after six more ends, with the result 11-17. J Warnes, S Allen and P Ellis didn't find their usual form and were down 0-8 at four ends, scored six shots over the next four ends (6-8), but then went down seven more shots to one on the following three ends (7-15), and lost the game 11-18.

G Sewell, M Nichols and M Lynes, 3-10 down at seven ends, picked up seven shots on the next three ends (10-10), but then took only three more shots to nine against, finishing 13-19. A Lynes, N Pyzer and D Edwards were 1-11 down at five ends, 5-16 at 11 ends and lost 6-25.

Browston IBC

In the battle for top spot in Division Two, the men's A team took five points from Diss A, but this was not quite enough to retain the lead and now Lakeside are ahead by half a point.

Top rink and getting away with a flying start V Moore, T Gowen, P Aldis and M French 22-2 up at halfway and continued strongly to win 39-7.

P Hurren, K Leech, R Kippen and J Burwood in a close matched game in the first half, eventually pulled away and a six on the final end put them 30-14 up. P Morris 16-18 and D Pratt 17-24.

Not such good news for the B team who played away against Division Four leaders Dereham A and struggled against a strong team playing at home, losing 50-106 (0 pts).

The C team playing at home against Wymondham C managed one point.

The winning rink of C Posner, B Gooch, R Matthews and E Barnes nine all at halfway then dropped shots, but came back with a six and held on to win 23-17.

The ladies B team playing away at Shotford collected two points in their 37-53 defeat.

Liz Myhill, Sally Moon and Ella Cooke 9-9 at penultimate end, and scoring two shots on the final end won 11-9. Janet Barber, Sheila Shaw and Wendy Triggs 9-2 up but with their opponents scoring five shots of the final three ends held out to win 9-7.