Category: News

On Thursday 18^th May the Chester Chariots team of Pat Clare (captain), David Boyd and Chris Thomas had an enjoyable day’s croquet in their level play away match against Bowdon Sinners. The lawns were good and the hoops were tight. Bowdon had a strong team and beat Chester 11 – 7.

On Saturday 27^th May the Golf Croquet Handicap team were in action against Fylde at home. After an exciting match Chester emerged the victors 10-8.  Pauline Walters captained the Chester team of Liz Subramanian, Mavis Sellers and Janet Jackson.

On Sunday 28^th May Chester played away against Bowdon in the NW Federation Advanced B League.  The day started rather grey and damp and the lawns were unusually slow but the Chester team of Jerry Guest (captain) playing singles and Elmyr Hughes and David Guyton playing doubles started well by winning both games in the morning.  The weather brightened during the day and Chester’s good fortune continued in the afternoon winning two of the three singles games.  The final result was a rewarding 4 – 1 win for Chester.

Chester hosted the North West Millennium Short Lawn Competition on Sunday, 14 May. Sally Slater represented the Chester club, playing in a highly competitive field against nine other players from clubs in the North West Federation. Sally won the trophy in a tense final, holding off the challenge by Gail Moores of Southport to remain undefeated in the four round competition and win her first major title.

Following a successful visit by Dublin-based Carrickmines Croquet Club to Chester last year, Chester were pleased to make a return visit to Ireland over the weekend of 6-7 May. A total of seventeen games were played over the two days in splendid spring weather. Both clubs thoroughly enjoyed the friendly competition, and Chester emerged with a comfortable 11 – 6 triumph, claiming the trophy for a second successive season.

On Saturday of the same weekend, 6 May, Chester played at home against Bury in the Advanced B League and was edged out 2 – 3 on a very grey and chilly day. Jerry Guest was the captain with David Guyton and David Boyd.

Ladies Day at Chester

Not at the racecourse but at Chester Croquet Club where ten players from Fylde, Bury, Bowdon, Southport, Craig-y-don and Chester gathered on a beautiful May morning. Five gentlemen and five ladies (handicaps 3-9) all set for the NW Millennium association croquet short lawn competition. The first two rounds were closely contested but by lunch the ladies were on top with Barbara Young (Bury), Gail Moors (Southport) and Sally Slater (Chester) all having won two matches.

After lunch in the first semi final Gail held her nerve in her concluding break to beat Barbara whilst Sally needed a Rover peel (her first ever) to beat Jack Pattenden in the other semi-final. The final was a bit scrappy with both players affected by tiredness or nerves. Gail used most of her bisques making a 5 hoop break with only 3 balls on the lawn. Sally responded by taking her first ball round using only 3 bisques and after some further skirmishing Sally took her second ball round to make a nervy but effective peg out to win the title. Barbara secured the third place to make it a clean sweep for the ladies.

Overall an excellent day with some very good play on the slick lawns. The benefits of the full bisque format (ie no base as in previous years) were evident in that two thirds of the games finished in peg outs.

Thanks go to David Boyd for managing the event and to Pat Clare and her catering team for providing an excellent lunch and tea.

 

Following a succesful visit by Carrickmines Croquet Club, near Dublin, to Chester last year, Chester were pleased to make a return visit last weekend, 6 – 7 May. A total of seventeen games were played over the two days in splendid spring weather. Both clubs thoroughly enjoyed the friendly competition and Chester emerged as recipients for the second time of the trophy first awarded last year by winning 11 games to 6.

 

 

Chester was successful in all three leagues contested during week commencing 24^th April.

On Monday 24^th April the team of Janet Jackson, Mel Hagan, Roger Haigh and Sally Slater(captain) travelled to Bowdon for the Golf croquet handicap league.  After an exciting neck and neck match they emerged the victors 9-8. Chester is top of this North West league at the moment.

On Wednesday 26^th April Chester Chariots and Chester Centurions met in the level play league.  This is the first season that Chester has entered two teams so there was much friendly rivalry during the day and many closely fought games.  The Centurions, David Crawford (captain), Mark Lloyd and Pauline Walters beat the Chariots, Maureen Ivens (captain), Rosemary Williams and Janet Jackson 13-5.  As the first match of the level play league it was good to start with a Chester derby against friends on a fine, albeit rather cold day.

The North West mid-week league for association croquet was played at home on Friday 28^th April against Southport.  The team of Robin Tasker (captain), John Dawson, Helen Brophy and Michael Miller won 6-1.

On Saturday 22^nd April, the Chester team of David Boyd (captain), Helen Brophy, Derek Bell-Jones and Robin Tasker travelled to the outer reaches of the region to play Pendle and Craven in the first weekend Association Handicap league match of the season. Weatherwise they were treated to a very pleasant, warm Spring day.

The morning session of one doubles and two singles resulted in a tally of two:one in favour of Pendle, so there was everything to play for in the afternoon’s four single games. The situation was looking good for Chester for a while having won two games but, despite one of the remaining games finishing with a golden hoop, the final score was Pendle 4 – Chester 3.

 

The first match in the golf croquet handicap league was played at home against Llanfairfechan. The Chester team of Chris Thomas (captain), Peter Fey, Mel Hagan and Pauline Walters won convincingly 11-6. The doubles in the morning resulted in one all, but the singles matches played afterwards went strongly in Chester’s favour. Peter Fey won all four of his games.
 Chester team and Llanfairfechan team on Saturday at home to Chester.

 

In the beautiful spring sunshine Chester Croquet Club began its season with a highly successful social Sunday. Over 35 members attended the event, bringing along friends and family to share a friendly game of croquet and to demonstrate the sport to newcomers.

Chester starts it’s more formal business at the weekend when a team takes part in the North West advanced tournament at Fylde. This is one of six leagues in which Chester is participating this season, sending teams playing golf and association croquet all over the North West.

Chester croquet club is finalising the calendar for the new season beginning on April 1^st. The club will be entering six of the seven North West Federation leagues and hope to improve their results overall. They will be fielding a second level play golf croquet team this year, having come second in the league last year with their first team.

One team is also looking forward to going to Dublin in May to play a return match against Carrickmines croquet club. Once again, the club will be hosting the all England Golf Croquet competition.

The club welcomes new members, whether novices or experienced players, and this year is holding its annual taster day on the croquet lawns at Westminster Park on Saturday April 8^th 10.00 – 1.00. Anyone interested should contact Sally Slater, the membership secretary, on 01244 677645.

We are always pleased to welcome new members from absolute beginners to more experienced players. In 2017 we are holding a taster session for newcomers to the game on Saturday, 8 April, from 10 am to 1 pm. Click here for more information or contact our Membership Secretary.

At the NW Federation AGM at Culcheth on Saturday, 19 November, David Boyd received the trophy on behalf of Chester’s winning team in the NW Federation full lawn weekend handicap league. He is pictured here with the recipients of the other trophies in the NW Federation leagues.