Basildon-based Sanguine Short Mat Bowls Club finished 1999 on a real high - and this year is looking just as good for the bowlers.

Club members took league honours, enjoyed county success and were named club of the year by Basildon Sports Council in 1999.

And Sanguine have started the new year where they left off - sitting in the top two spots in the South East Essex League First Division.

But one of the club's two captains, Don Pammant, is not counting his chickens just yet.

"Hopefully we will repeat our success," he said. "But it is like a football team, you go in phases.

"There are lots of good teams out there and its just a question of teams having to work their way up through the divisions. When you get there, you have to stay there."

Keeping with Don's football analogy, Sanguine could well be compared to Manchester United.

The Sanguine first team have been the best squad in the First Division for the past two seasons and are currently topping the league again.

Sanguine's seconds won promotion from the Second Division as champions last season and are holding second place at the moment.

The club only has 26 members, but they are among the best in the county, with five representatives in the Essex Premier side and a further ten in the Essex B squad.

Last year Sanguine provided five of the 16 Essex teams who contested the National Short Mat Bowls Championships in Kettering, Northants.

Each year teams throughout the county contest the Essex Championships in singles, pairs, triples and fours, with the four semi-finalists representing the county in the nationals.

Michelle Howe, Mark Castle and Roy Gavin won the county triples championships and were among the two fours, two triples and one singles players in action in Northampton-shire.

There was further success for Michelle when she won the Shirley Bessell Memorial Trophy - an open cup for Essex teams - with Theresa Kidd and Pauline Pammant.

Contact Don on 01268 413335 for more information.

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