REIGNING West Tyne League champions Haltwhistle opened their account with a 7-0 win against Alston, 89-35 on shots.

They promptly followed it up with an 84-42 win against Allen Valley, who did win one rink for a 1-6 scoreline.

Haltwhistle maintained their strong start by beating Hexham House B 7-0 (86-40 on shots).

Alston, who play all their opening matches on away greens, also lost 0-7 to Elvaston (31-87), but the Hexham club's match against Hexham House A could hardly have been tighter.

Despite winning just one of the four rinks, with one drawn, House snatched a 61-59 shots win, thus earning three bonus points to secure a 4.5-2.5 win on points.

Elvaston are in second spot after defeating Allen Valley 6-1 (76-56).

Elvaston Ladies opened the season with a heavy points defeat against Burradon but, with such stiff opposition, there was plenty of cause for encouragement as several rinks came very close.

They then lost at home (2-10) to Whitley and Monkseaton, albeit with close results, while in the Nines league the men lost 2-6 to Ponteland despite scoring more shots on the night.

In fact, Ponteland won the triples only by 21-19, so the overall result could easily have been reversed.

In the Jubilee Cup, Elvaston finished as runners-up in their group on shots difference, so go no further this year. Here too, Ponteland had an edge, winning their own group despite having a negative shots score.

In the inaugural year of the County Senior Fours, one of Elvaston's two teams beat a Hexham House rink 25-20 after a very exciting match. Their reward is a game against the second House squad!