The NW golf croquet handicap match against Southport played on Sunday 24th 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 24th. 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.