Category: News

Congratulations to the mid-week association croquet team who have won the North West Federation league title in 2017. At the start of the week Chester had won 5 out of 5 games with an impressive 24-11 cumulative points difference but with one more game to play against Westmorland. The campaign then ended with a damp squib as Tuesday’s game against Westmorland was called off as the lawns at Levens Hall were waterlogged.

The final result was Chester in first position followed by Westmorland in second position and Bowdon Earls in third position.

Well done to all the team.

The NW golf croquet handicap match against Southport played on Sunday 24^th was a crucial one, as it determined the overall winner of the league. The Chester team of Chris Slater (captain), Sally Slater, Chris Thomas and Janet Jackson fought hard against a strong Southport team, but the final score was 10-7 to Southport. At least six of the games went to the golden hoop, and an excellent days croquet was had by all.

Although the top honours for the weekend handicap league this year had already gone to Bury Peelers, Chester still had an outstanding away match to play against Bowdon Firs last on Sunday 24^th. Chester was represented by John Dawson (Captain), Paul Taylor, Brian Walton and David Boyd. The morning doubles and two singles saw Chester sneaking a lead of 2 games to 1 with individual score differences of no more than 2 points. John Dawson was first to complete his afternoon singles match by storming a 26 :0 win so just one more win to seal the result, which did take the full 3.25 hrs. but finally gave Chester a victory of 4 games : 3. This result should secure fourth place in the league (of 9) for Chester.

Chester Croquet Club held its annual end-of-season Hibiscus Tournament on Saturday, 23 September, for players with relatively high handicaps. Six members competed for the trophy in an all-play-all format with each playing three one-hour games in the morning and two one-hour games in the afternoon assisted by a full complement of bisques. Playing conditions were good and the weather oscillated between grey with hints of drizzle and brief periods of autumnal sunshine.  All the players made good use of their bisques – free shots – and several managed to reach peg before time was called. Overall winner of the competition was Doreen Leece, who ran 68 hoops. In second place was Sarah Andrew with 61 hoops followed by Liz Rowley in third place with 45 hoops.

The Christine Long trophy competition was played on Saturday 16^th, when 10 golf croquet players had an excellent days croquet in the sunshine. Organised by last year’s winner Roger Haigh, they split into two groups and played each other, with the top two of each group meeting to play the semi-final and the final at the end of the day. The winner was Sandy Finchett-Maddock and the runner-up was Doreen Leece.

On Friday 15 ^th September when the early rain cleared and the sun shone, Chester enjoyed a 13 – 5 win against three higher ranking players from Culcheth in their level play match. The Chester team was Pat Clare (captain), Janet Jackson and Chris Thomas. It was a good day of croquet and a fitting end to the first season for Chester Chariots.

On 17^th and 18^th September John Dawson and Jerry Guest took part in the Bowden B-Level Advanced Tournament. John made it to the final but lost to Dennis Scarr of Middlesbrough.

 

As the croquet season draws to a close Chester have a few matches left in order to establish good positions in the north west leagues.
On Saturday 2^nd September the Chester team of John Dawson, Helen Brophy, Mike Miller and David Guyton played Bowdon St Mary’s in the weekend association handicap league and won narrowly by 4 games to 3. There is one remaining game at the end of the month.

CHESTER CRASH OUT OF NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Having reached the semi-final in the national Secretary’s Shield knock-out competition, Chester, representing the North West, had to play Sheffield for a place in the final. Despite having the advantage of playing on their home turf, the Chester team of David Boyd (Captain), Mark Lloyd, John Dawson and Robin Tasker were 3 / 0 down by lunchtime as the strong team from Sheffield soon got to grips with the Chester lawns. Chester fared little better in the afternoon losing 3 of the 4 singles games giving a final score line of Sheffield 6 : Chester 1.

In beautiful weather one of our Association Croquet teams suffered a defeat to a team from Bury. The Chester team of Sarah Andrew, Alan Clare, David Guyton and Paul Watson met an on-form team from Bury and only won 2 of their 7 games. The winners were David Guyton and Paul Watson. The Chester lawns have suffered from some neglect this year making conditions difficult even for the home team.

Chester moved to the top of the North West midweek league following a close win over Bowdon Griffins on Monday 13^th August. The team of Helen Brophy, Paul Watson, Michael Miller and John Dawson were 2-1 up going into lunch. The afternoon singles were split 2-2 as Chester secured the win 4-3.

This win was consolidated on Friday after the team of Robin Tasker, John Dawson, Michael Miller and Paul Taylor beat Bowdon Earls 4-3. The match was all square until the last game when Robin Tasker secured the win with a golden hoop after time had gone.

Chester croquet club are also leading the golf handicap league, with two matches left to play in the season.

A group of people from Mensa, pictured below, had their annual croquet day at the club at the weekend. They had a wonderful time and were very grateful for all the help they received. Even the weather was kind, with the first drops appearing as the deck chairs were being put away.

 

James Hawkins, a leading AC player and author of Complete Croquet, is to be congratulated on getting croquet on to the Chris Evans Radio 2 show. He initially phoned in to “put Chris right” on the history of croquet at Wimbledon a few weeks ago and was promptly “rewarded” with a live interview with Chris within days. A brave man! And whilst James in the interview may not have revealed anything new to croquet aficionados he did get croquet into the public arena. Not many of us create the opportunity to talk to 9 million people in the UK about croquet and to get on to the Chris Evans IPlayer site for more listeners (along with a photo of AC World Champion, Stephen Mulliner lining up a hoop 1 peel).

Listen in at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058x6kh

Well done, James

John Dawson

On Wednesday 9^th August, the Chester team of David Guyton (captain), Paul Taylor, David Boyd and Michael Miller played against Crake Valley in a rescheduled match in the NW association croquet handicap league. Under patchy skies and on equally patchy lawns the Chester team won the doubles and the two singles games in the morning giving a 3 – 0 lead by lunchtime. However, the Crake team were stronger than implied by the half-time score and, fortified by lunch and increasing familiarity with Chester’s lawns, showed their truer metal in the afternoon with Crake and Chester both winning two of the four singles games. The final result was a useful 5 – 2 win for Chester.

On Saturday 12^th the Chester NW golf croquet league team comprising Roger Haigh (captain), Janet Jackson, Chris Thomas and Jill Foley beat Bury South by 10.5 points to 7.5 points, with one match drawn, in a good spirited match on the Chester lawns. Special mention should be made of Jill’s performance in her first match for the club. She played well and the experience will set her in good stead for future club matches.