THE two Hexham bowling clubs went head-to-head for a new piece of silverware – the Hexham Courant Vase.

The first of two legs, Hexham Elvaston take a marginal shots advantage of 93-89 into the second leg in September.

It was a close contest at Elvaston with Hexham House looking to make up the deficit when the teams meet in the reverse fixture.

Meanwhile, the teams had contrasting results as they opened their league campaigns.

House, who are playing in two leagues , were the surprise package in the Knight League as they thumped Gosforth Central 14-0.

However, the strong nines team went down 6-2 at Throckley, the only win coming from the pairs, although the triples were within sight of a win before the home skip got lucky with a wild shot to take not only the game but the overall bonus points.

In Division Two, Elvaston recovered from a slow start against North Shields West End to win two rinks and earn a 6-2 victory.

The West Tyne Cup started with Hexham House coming away from Prudhoe with a 2-1 win over the three rinks.

Meanwhile, Elvaston's 3-0 home win over Haltwhistle was a lot closer than the rink score might suggest – the aggregate shots difference was just 10.

The Elvaston ladies slipped to an opening defeat in the Collins and Shipley league. One rink of the three finished well up while another lost by almost exactly the same margin, which left the result, and the all-important bonus points for a shots win, hanging on the third rink. They ended in a 10-shot defeat, and it may take a little while to adjust to Division One.

Hexham House continued their fine start in Division Four of the Knight league with a 13-1 points win at Centurion Park (69-62 on sh