THE English Women's Indoor BA Championships are returning to Loddon Vale.

When the Basingstoke club hosted the prestigious finals in 2003 and 2004 they were congratulated on the success of the championships. Now, after a two-year stint in Nottingham, the EWIBA have voted to return to Hampshire.

The eight-rink green will be the venue for the climax of all the major championships next season and in 2008 - much to the delight of club chairman Phil Spreadbury.

He said: "We are over the moon at being chosen again. We knew it went down well with the EWIBA, especially the second year we staged the championships because we thought it could not get much better than that.

"Everyone in the club rallied round to help with the organisation and I am sure they will do so again because it is such a privilege to be able to hold an event like this and we will be able to improve our presentation further as we will be a bit more geared up."

Besides the excellence of the catering, one major plus that helped sway the EWIBA's decision was Loddon Vale's £180,000 refurbishment programme this summer.

The club will have new wooden flooring for the bowls carpet, new ceiling, tiling, lighting and general carpeting. Electronic scoreboards and air conditioning are also to be installed for the first time.

When the nationals were held at Basingstoke in 2004 it was a happy occasion for club member Theresa Darnell-Langton who won the four-wood singles and retained the trophy at Nottingham last season.

Winners of the zone finals from Hampshire and Dorset are again heading for Nottingham later this month, so to be able to pop up the road to Basingstoke for the coming two seasons will be a bonus for the local qualifiers.

The news continued an excellent winter for Loddon Vale, whose men are enjoying their best season in the Hampshire League and look set to clinch promotion from Division 2 for the first time.

Their rink of Steve Shaw, Brian McCoombs, Trevor Morgan and John Merchant have reached the semi-final of the London and Southern Counties' single-rink Championship while Darnell-Langton is still in the hunt for a third successive national singles' crown and last month teenager Claire Spreadbury helped England retain the women's under-25 British Isles International Series title.