On Saturday, 8 August, Chester Chariots welcomed a friendly Crake Valley team consisting of Chris Williamson, Paul Galley and John Bowes for a North West Federation level play golf croquet league match
Chester’s lawns were very brown with no grass on any of the four lawns. The day was hot, with a slight breeze and by lunchtime Chester had taken a 5 – 4 lead with multiple wins by Garry Greenwood (captain), Sarah Clements and Chris Thomas.
After lunch the games remained close with many games going to the golden hoop. Crake took the advantage by going 9 – 8 up with one game left to play but Sarah managed to beat Paul (resulting in six out of six wins for Sarah) and the overall score an amicable draw.
To be fair to Crake they played very well considering the condition of the lawns and the home advantage afforded to the Chester players.
On the following Wednesday, 12 August, Chester Senators played at Tattenhall in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league on one of the hottest days this summer. On arrival the temperature was already high and rapidly rising. The first half of play was very close, but then Chester put on a spurt and won 10-8. There were some exceptional shots from players on both teams and we were all glad when the match was over so we could relax in the shade. Despite the challenging conditions, excessive heat and parched lawns (just like ours!), we had a very enjoyable day. Tattenhall made us very welcome and at the end of the match we were served delicious homemade cake.
On Sunday, 23 August, Chester played at home against Bowdon Weekdayers in the NW Federation short lawn league.
For this match, Bowdon Weekdayers fielded their “A” team – a very strong team under the captaincy of Nigel Matthews (with a handicap challenge of 5 peels), Ken Cooper (with 3 peels) and Paul Harris (with 1 bisque or free shot).
The Chester team was Andy Wilson-Chalon (2 bisques), Sally Slater (3.5 bisques) and Sarah Clements (5 bisques).
The day started well for Bowdon winning the first round of games 3 to Chester 0. However things got a lot better after that, with Chester winning 5 of the next 6 games to take the final result to a 5 – 4 win for Chester.
