Category: News

You can now watch quality live or recorded International Golf Croquet matches via the internet.
The current match, Golf Croquet Trans-Tasman between heated rivals Australia and New Zealand, will feature all of the four-days of action
Click on the link below to watch the match:
https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/8619338
The CA and various clubs (Sussex, Surbiton and Nottingham) are investing in comparable technologies so this will become a regular feature for both GC and AC over the summer.
It brightens up your morning muesli.
Give it a try!

On Saturday 13^th Chester croquet club held a taster day for people who were interested in learning and playing the sport. 19 people attended the day, supported by 10 coaches from the club, and they learnt all about the different types of game, how to hit the ball, different types of stroke, how to run hoops and some strategy too. It was a great day with lots of fun. Most people signed up for the beginner courses to be held in the next few weeks.

 

The first matches of the season got underway for Chester croquet club this weekend.
On a very cold but sunny Sunday, the Chester team of Chris Thomas (captain), Janet Jackson, Brian Hayes and Mel Hagan had an enjoyable match against Crake Valley, who had travelled down to Chester the night before. The result was Crake 10.5 Chester 7.5 giving Crake the win.
At Bowdon over the weekend the North West millennium advanced tournament was held and Jerry Guest and Mark Lloyd represented Chester.

One of the prizes at last autumn’s Eaton Park Charity Auction was an Afternoon of Croquet at Chester Croquet Club, with afternoon tea.
The winners will be experiencing this on the afternoon of Sunday 4^th August. Two full sized lawns will be required and use of the clubhouse for the afternoon tea.
We already have volunteers sorting out the food and giving croquet guidance, however if there’s anyone else who wants to lend a hand, that would be great.
Please be aware that there will therefore only be 2 lawns available that afternoon for member’s use?

After a successful day on Thursday, 21 March, setting out the lawns for the new season, the mop and mallet mob returned on Saturday, 23 March, and enjoyed some spring sunshine to finish the task and to spring clean the clubhouse.  Thanks to our volunteers, all the lawns are now ready for play and a clean and tidy clubhouse is now open for business. We wish all our members, old and new, an enjoyable and successful season.

Chester representatives received two NW Federation league awards at the Federation’s AGM at Culcheth on Saturday, 17 November.

Alan Clare received the trophy on behalf of the Chester Centurions team which won this year’s level play golf croquet league and David Boyd received the trophy on behalf of the Chester team which won the weekend association croquet handicap league.

 

 

Chester Croquet Club marked the end of another successful season with a supper and trophy presentation at Chez Jules on Wednesday evening, 14 November. 2018 saw Chester achieving a double victory in two North West Federation leagues, the Weekend Handicap League and the Level Play Golf Croquet League. Other successes during the year were winning the short lawn section of the Southport Croquet Festival in June and coming second in the full lawn handicap section.

This year’s winners of the the club’s internal leagues and competitions were presented with their awards by club chairman, Sarah Andrew.

Fletton Trophy	Jerry Guest
Mason Cup	Brian Walton
Christine Long Award	James Thomas
Hibiscus Trophy	James Thomas
Hasting Wang Golf Singles	Jayne Taylor
Hermitage Golf Doubles	Maureen Ivens & Sally Slater
Hasting Wang Short Lawn Bowl	Sally Slater
Peter Bingham Award	Brian Hayes
Most improved player – AC	Barbara Jones
Most improved player – GC	Brian Hayes

Individual successes during the year were:

• Jerry Guest was winner of the B section of the NWFCC Millennium advanced croquet tournament at Bowdon over the weekend of 14-15 April
• Jayne Taylor was winner of the NWFCC Millennium short lawn tournament at Chester on Saturday, 12 May
• John Dawson was winner of the C class title at the English Seniors Championship at Budleigh Salterton in July
• Garry Greenwood was winner of the Maggie Cowman trophy and Trevor Farrell was runner-up in the final of the National Level Play golf croquet tournament at Chester on 5 August

Many thanks to Sally and Chris Slater for the photographs.

 

 

 

LAWNS NOW CLOSED UNTIL NEXT SEASON

 

After many months of discussion with the Council about lawn maintenance, work finally started earlier today on Sunday, 4 November, when hollow tining was completed on all four lawns.

The photographs show the start of work on Lawn 4, the solid tining and soil core collector machines, the tining holes which have now been drilled across the whole site, and four piles of soil cores amounting to over eight tons awaiting removal.

Later this week or early next week, depending on the weather, the plan is to apply about 10 tons of top dressing and autumn fertiliser. This level of treatment is recommended every two or three years but has not been done for some years. It will complete the planned autumn maintenance work and the lawns will then be allowed to rest to avoid compaction and to enable the maximum penetration and absorbtion of moisture down to the roots of the turf which became dehydrated during the summer drought.

The annual programme includes further work in the spring at the start of the season followed by regular maintenance throughout the summer playing period. A key objective now is to ensure that the park’s watering system is repaired and made properly operational for next year so as to avoid the lawns drying out in the event of another spell of warm, dry weather. Hopefully this will mean that we can all look forward to the lawns being in a much improved condition next season.

LAWNS NOW CLOSED UNTIL NEXT SEASON

Contributions by two Chester Croquet Club members were recognised at the recent Croquet Association AGM and Council meetings on Saturday, 20 October.

Club secretary John Dawson, who is the NW Federation’s representative on the CA Council, was elected as Vice-Chairman of the CA Council and Chairman of the CA Mangement Committee.

Former club chairman David Guyton was awarded a CA Diploma for services to croquet. David was Chairman of Chester Croquet Club from 2004 to 2015. During this time he oversaw major changes in the club, the lawns and the public park in which the club is situated. David has been an outstanding leading member of the club over many years. His notable achievements are:

• • • Bringing a comprehensive management system to the club during a period of major expansion. Not only were roles managed to meet the needs of the club but he established a culture of willingness amongst members to do “their bit for the club”. As well as chairing the Committee for 11 years with all the normal duties that requires he initiated an annual planning evening where all members can raise issues and put forward ideas for the future of the club in a highly democratic manner. He continues to publish and manage a comprehensive annual calendar of matches and events.
    • New club house and 25-year lease. In 2008/09 we had a new clubhouse which made a huge difference to all the members and potential members. David was instrumental in persuading the outgoing Chester City Council to provide this clubhouse. He then painstakingly negotiated the long-term lease to secure tenure for the club.
    • Liaising with the local authority, a role he still performs for the club. This is probably the most thankless and frustrating task a club member can undertake. David has sent hundreds of emails to relevant council officials not just ensuring that the council fulfils its obligations to the club in lawn maintenance but driving officials to install a lengthy new fence. David tracks down the correct officials and councillors, organises meetings, explains the issues, and forces them into action by never giving up pestering. A prime example this year has been lawn watering. The lawns have been in grave danger from the drought without a sprinkler system. Over months officials have been stalling, giving excuses and doing nothing. David cut through all their objections, organised members to provide a working party to help the grounds-people and finally achieved daily watering of our lawns.
    • Club website. David taught himself the skills required to build a new website for the club. He has completely authored the club website and is still a major contributor to regular updates. This required many dozens, if not hundreds, of hours dedicated to the single task.
    • Contribution to the North West Federation and the CA. David has ensured that the club has played a full regional role. Under his encouragement the club hosts NW and National tournaments each year. David produced a new data protection policy for the club which was then taken up by others in the North West. He co-authored the note on roles within the CA to stimulate a more thorough approach to effective governance.

In their final North West weekend handicap league match of the 2018 season Chester ‘lost the battle but won the war’.

Representing Chester, David Boyd (captain),  Robin Tasker, Brian Walton and Paul Watson played an away match against Crake Valley,  Cumberland, last Monday, 1 October.  The morning session of a doubles and two singles games saw Chester gain a lead of 2 games to 1, but Crake came back with a vengeance in the afternoon winning all four singles games to give them a 5 – 2 win for the day.  However, by adding the two games won in the morning, Chester edged enough ahead  in the league to beat second placed Bury Peelers to give Chester the league championship by a margin of just a single game.

Following an earlier victory in the North West level play golf croquet league, this latest result  gives Chester two championships out of the North West Federation’s six leagues in 2018 – a brilliant success for the club.