On Saturday, 13 July, Chester Senators played at home against Ellesmere in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league. Chester’s team consisted of Jill Foley (captain), David Johnson, Christine Fryer and Rhia Taylor. We had one member with a handicap of 8 and three members with a handicap of 12 and found ourselves playing against opponents with much lower handicaps of 3, 5, 6 and 12. The morning started off rainy, then stopped later. We won one doubles game but also lost one. Highlight of the day for Christine Fryer was her first match jump shot. The final score was a win for Chester with 11 games against Ellesmere with 7 games. Overall, it was a good day enjoyed by everyone and play finished early at 2.45 pm.
On the following day, Sunday 14 July, a full lawn association croquet team played away against Bowdon in the NW Federation 26 point handicap league. On Bowdon’s beautiful lawns but under grey skies and intermittent drizzle the Chester team of Mark Lloyd, David Guyton, Sally Slater and Robin Tasker found themselves struggling to cope with both the number of bisques (free shots) held by the Bowdon players and the skilful manner of their use. Indeed, opportunities to get on the lawn proved to be seriously limited, and most singles games were done and dusted well within the 3 hour time limit. The doubles game in the morning was a tighter affair but a late burst of hoops from the Bowdon team as time was called sealed a close victory. The final singles game of the afternoon was all-square but, with many hoops still to run, it was mutually agreed to void the game to allow an early departure so that both teams could prepare and be suitably refreshed to watch England in the Euro final… Sadly for Chester, the points weren’t coming home and the same turned out to be the case for England’s football team. The final result was a 6 – 0 win for Bowdon and a 2 – 1 win for Spain.