In their quest for the Inter Club Durham County Seniors League Championship The Quakers Men's team, playing from The Morrisons Centre, this week had a neck and neck battle with an equally determined Durham City Three Rink Team.

For Darlington Jack Grayson, Bill Elliott, Mort Mooney and skip Ken Lamb lost their first end to T. Duffy, B Jones, J. Quigley and skjp Robson collecting one shot. Darlington were soon to settle and established an 8-3 lead after seven ends. Going into the 12th end they conceded a three, then a two to go behind by 9-11 . Darlington picked up a handsome four to regain the lead but then lost a three to go one shot behind. A well deserved three at the last end captured them a hard earned 16-14 final victory.

For Darlington Ken Bousfield, Ken Coates, Harold Robinson and skip Barrie Armstrong were level on 5-5 after seven ends against N. McDonald, N. Kitto, R. Forster and skip Brian Shearer. Darlington lost a 1-4-3-2-1 and lost 13-16.

George Cairns, Les Walker, Norman Rae and skip Eric Ramsdale lost five consecutive ends in the middle of thier game to E. Stevens, E. Gibson, S. Wilson and skip Derrick Houggan to trail by three shots to 12 after nine ends. A later Quaker recovery when scoring seven shots to two was not sufficient to earn them a point, going down by 10-15 to a highly focused Durham City side who are keen to be Veterans County title holders.

The Darlington Over-60 Two Rink Team take on Hornsea this week in search of a Double Fours trophy whilst Ken Lamb and Brian Metcalf meet the experienced Dave Roberts and Vince Robson of Great Aycliffe in the Veterans Durham County Pairs Championship chase.

On the national scene the Morrisons Centre bowlers have been battling it out in the prestigious Famous Grouse Four Nations Top Ten Classic.

There are two Darlington teams in a Northern area group of seven which also include Stanley, Hebburn, the Parks (North Shields), Ferryhill and Houghton.

The winners and runners up of this group go on to qualify to play the runners up and winners of the North West Group which includes Cumbria, Blackburn, Swinton, Blackpool and Newton Hall (two teams).

The four national four day finals shall be played out at the Morrisons Centre with previous title holders from County Antrim and Exeter expected to join Glasgow (Coatbridge) expected to qualify again alongside a total of 16 top ten teams.

A series of matches involving singles, pairs, triples and fours games have been battled out since October in search of the gold.

As things stand prospects of either Darlington teams qualifying seem bleak. The Quakers B team beat their A team last week with Barry Cooper once again proving more than a match for Darlington star bowler Andrew Kirtland in the singles battle. The A team have had to recover from poor results and a series of team changes.

A star studded Stanley team remained unbeaten and are well clear at the top of the group.

Much depends on the outcome of the Park game. The Tynesiders have yet to meet and need to beat Darlington B Team to secure a final play off place.