VIDEO: Pensioners bring bowls skills to Bognor Regis

Chelsea Pensioners wore their distinctive uniforms when they paid their latest visit to Bognor Regis.

They donned their scarlet tunics to resume their friendly rivalry at bowls with the town's RAFA branch.

This was the third visit they had made to the Waterloo Square club '“ and they were convincingly defeated as they had been in previous years.

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The result of the match, however, mattered less than the socialising throughout the day.

RAFA spokesman David Batcock said: "It's glorious having the Chelsea Pensioners here. They are such a friendly and lovely group of people."

Eighteen of the former servicemen made the trip to the seaside from the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

Of those, 16 took to the bowling green outside the RAFA club.

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Fred Butterfield (81) was making this his third time to play bowls in Bognor. "I enjoy coming here to see the sea. You can taste the ozone," he enthused.

"They look after us well here and are very hospitable."

He has been a Chelsea Pensioner for just over 12 years on the basis of his 22 years in the Royal Artillery in 1944. Service in Italy, Greece, Egypt, Palestine and Germany followed in his lenghty Army career. He returned to his native Hartlepool to become a fisherman.

Colonel Nigel Gilbert, the pensioners' bowls club president, said the matches between the sides began in 2004. They have since alternated on a home and away basis.

"Half of the team have not been here before. We have not beaten the RAFA club yet," he stated. "But that may change."

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