2025 Social Events

Anyone for mini golf and a meet-up
before the new croquet season?

The weather is showing signs of Spring ! Anybody fancy meeting up for a game of mini golf and a coffee/lunch/chat at the GreenDay Cafe. Probably a Friday or a Monday outside the half term holiday, or maybe a Wednesday.

Email me direct on jaytay20ch@aol.com and let me know if you are interested and which day you would prefer.

Jayne Taylor

Update on film night at Chez Jules

Hello members

Twelve members have signed up for the film night at Chez Jules but we need a minimum of 20, and a maximum of 25 for the event to proceed. So it is now open for family and friends but please reply by Wednesday, 15 January.

Please note that if you sign up you are committing to pay the £27.50 meal cost.

Please reply to sandygrievson@btinternet.com

Many thanks
Sandy Grievson

Film night at Chez Jules on Monday, 10 February

Hello members

We are holding a film night at Chez Jules on Monday, 10 February 2025, starting at 6 pm.

The film is the romantic comedy “Midnight in Paris”, which is a delight even if you have seen it before.

The two course meal costs £27.50 and a maximum of 25 people can be accommodated so at this stage is open to members only.

If you would like to come please e-mail sandygrievson@btinternet.com .

This will be first come first served basis so please respond promptly.

Many thanks
Sandy Grievson

2025 AGM

The Agenda and papers will be posted in the Members only area as soon as available.

Wine and cheese at the AGM on Friday, 14 March 2025

You will have received a notification from Robin Tasker about the AGM coming up on Friday, 14 March.

We will be providing cheese and wine to help the evening along, so in order to help with catering please could you let me know if you are coming.

Please reply to me at springboard_sally@hotmail.com .

Many thanks

Sally Slater

AGM on Friday, 14 March 2025

I’m writing to give advance notification that the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Chester Croquet Club will take place on Friday 14 March commencing 7:30 pm at Westminster Park Community Centre.

I will circulate the Agenda and associated papers no later than Friday 28 February. If you wish to submit any Resolution to by considered by the meeting it needs to be with me no later than Friday 21 February duly supported by a Proposer and Seconder.

I look forward to seeing you there but please if you cannot attend can you send any apologies directly to me.

Thank you

Robin Tasker
Secretary, Chester Croquet Club

New Year Social and Planning Meeting

Planning Meeting still going ahead

Following a number of enquiries, tonight’s planning meeting is still going ahead as planned.

The room and the curry have been pre-booked and we are committed to paying for them.

Members should make their own decisions as to whether they feel safe to come or not, given the weather. -3 is forecast this evening.

Hope to see you there.

Sally Slater 

Sign up for the Planning Meeting on Friday, 10 January

Happy New Year everybody. Hope you had a lovely Christmas.

It’s January and we are looking forward to the new season with our planning meeting to be held on this Friday evening,  10 January, at 7.00 pm at Westminster Park Community Centre.

We will be having curry (chicken or vegetarian), rice and poppadoms with chutney for the bargain price of £5.00 per person (the club will pay the rest).

Please arrive promptly with £5 cash, we will start with the meal before the meeting.

If you haven’t signed up yet, there is still time to do so. I have 37 names so far. Please let me know if you would like me to add your name to the list.

Sally Slater 

New Year Social and Planning Meeting

Only 14 sleeps to Christmas therefore only a week longer to New Year!

I’m not wishing the days away, but please would you let me know if you intend to come to our New Year’s Day get together. No croquet I’m afraid, but there will be mulled wine and nibbles, and a quiz. 1.00 – 3.00.
Visitors are welcome.

I also need numbers for the catering at our planning meeting at 7.00 pm on Friday, 10 January,  at Westminster Park Community Centre. We have a delicious curry supper – only costing you £5 – and chat and share ideas about the upcoming season. Come and have your say and contribute to the running of your club. Please let me know if you can come.

Have a great Christmas!

Sally Slater

New Year’s Day get together

A group of members gathered together on New Year’s Day for mulled wine and a quiz. In previous years they have been able to have a game of croquet, but this year the lawns were not only closed but waterlogged again.

Ian Graham, Judith Thompson and Doreen Curtis won the prizes for the quizzes, but really they were all joint efforts in groups.

A good time was had by all.

End of season dinner and awards

Chester Croquet Club held its annual end of season dinner and presentation evening at Chez Jules on Tuesday, 19 November, to celebrate successes of the season. About fifty members defied the early winter snow and turned out on a chilly evening to attend the event.

For the second year in succession Chester achieved a series of wins against clubs across the country to reach the final of the national Murphy Inter-Club competition for golf croquet but lost to Sussex County in the final match at Wrest Park. At a regional level, Chester came first in the NW Federation  Advanced B-Level association croquet league and second in the Level Play golf croquet league. In the more local North Wales and Cheshire competition for the Snowdonia Cup, Chester’s short lawn and golf handicap teams emerged as overall winner. At the annual Festival of Croquet at Southport attended by all clubs in the north west,  Chester fielded three teams, AC handicap, GC handicap and GC level play, and succeeded  in coming second in the GC handicap event.

As always, the club held a wide variety of internal club competitions during the year for all levels of association croquet and golf croquet. The club’s chair, Tom Grievson, commended all those who had taken part and presented trophies to the winning players.

Left to right, Robin Tasker receiving the NW Federation Advanced B-Level trophy and Jude Wise receiving the Snowdonia Cup on behalf of their teams, and Richard Smith receiving the club’s Fletton Trophy for advanced association croquet
Left to right, Jayne Taylor winner of the club’s short lawn open competion, Helen Brophy winner of the Hasting Wang Short Lawn Trophy, and Doreen Curtiss receiving the Mollie McBride RAT Trophy for golf croquet played throughout the season
Sue Kendall receiving the Christine Long Trophy for the end of season golf croquet competition, Mel Hagan receiving the new Level Play C-Level award, and Bob Thompson receiving this year’s Newbies award also for golf croquet. Jude Wise won the Level Play B-Level award and is shown above receiving the Snowdonia Cup.
Sarah Clements, left, receiving the most improved player award for association croquet and Gail Thomas, right, receiving the most improved player award for golf croquet which she shares with David Johnson who was unable to attend

Among individual successes during the year, Sarah Clements won the Pendle B Level Golf Croquet Tournament at Pendle on Saturday, 11 May, and qualified for a Croquet England Golf Croquet Silver Merit Award. Then later in the season she was runner-up in the All England Golf Croquet A level competition for the Maggie Cowman trophy hosted by Chester over the weekend of 3-4 August.

Edward Baskerville and Rick Davies achieved third and fourth place in the Chester B Level Golf Croquet Tournament held for the first time on Saturday, 1 June.

Roger Brooks won the Bowdon Short Croquet Trophy at the Bowdon short lawn open competition over Wednesday and Thursday, 24-25 July.

Richard Smith won the Claret Jug for the second year running at Shrewsbury over two days in September severely disrupted by rain in an advanced association croquet competition for the eight highest ranked players from the club. Also in September he won the Plate event in the Welsh Croquet Championships.

The dinner provided another enjoyable opportunity to recognise all these achievements during another successful year. A full list of results can be found in the Members only area.

Meanwhile, back at the lawns …

 

Autumn lawn maintenence

Update 13 November 2024

The Council has reaffirmed their decision to close all ‘fine turf’ facilities under their control to facilitate a ‘robust winter maintenance programme’  and allow time for the lawns to recover. So, sadly, all four lawns will remain closed until the end of March next year. Our winter gloom may however be slightly cheered by the prospect of the first class lawns which we shall be using next season.

Tom Grievson

Update 3 November 2024

The lawns were closed to enable a significant autumn maintenance programme, which is now complete. Since then the council has said that the lawns should remain closed until the spring to allow them to ‘recover and rest’. We have replied that the top dressing is now absorbed, the lawns are in good condition and that our usual practice has been to play until the end of the year. We have assured them that we will always have proper regard for the weather and use the lawns far more lightly in the autumn months. We have asked that they review their position so as to allow play to continue as in past years.

I know this is unwelcome news but you can be assured that we will continue to seek a favourable resolution, but in the meantime all four lawns remain closed until further notice.

 Tom Grievson

Chester win the Snowdonia Cup

On Sunday, 6 October, Chester played away against Tattenhall in the club’s final match in this year’s Snowdon Cup competition.  This is a local regional inter-club competition for handicap golf croquet and short lawn association croquet between four Cheshire and North Wales clubs – Chester, Tattenhall, Craig-y-Don and Llanfairfechan. It started in 2019 with the aim of encouraging newcomers and less experienced players to take part in team events but has become increasingly competitive since then.

The Chester team for this final short lawn match against Tattenhall was Andy Wilson-Chalon, Val Sanders and Liz Rowley. Having beaten Llafairfechan and Craig-y-Don in previous short lawn matches, Chester unfortunately narrowly lost the match 4 – 5.

However, on the following day, Tattenhall beat Llanfairfechan. That coupled with Chester winning two of the three handicap golf croquet matches earlier in the season meant that Chester emerged at this year’s overall winner of the Snowdon Cup after previously winning it in 2023. Congratulations to Chester!

 

 

New members and Snowdonia Cup

There are some members of our local community who are really enjoying our unseasonably wet weather. They have ventured on to the croquet lawns for the first time this year and are enjoying the lush green turf. They will find it is an active club with the Newbies end of season competition in full swing and they will undoubtedly be attracting a lot of interest from the club’s frequent visitors of seagulls, magpies and blackbirds.

Photographs from Sally Slater who always welcomes new members and visitors

Later that morning on Saturday, 28 September, some hardy members from the beginners group turned up to play in the new members open competition .

The rain held off and the lawns were luckily playable after such a lot of rain. The games were hard fought and the end result was decided by one hoop. The winner was Bob Thompson.

Participants in this year’s open golf croquet competition for new members
… and the winner Bob Thompson receiving his trophy from competition organiser Sally Slater

On the same day a Chester team of Nigel Worthington, Andy Wilson-Chalon and Val Sanders played away against Craig-y-Don in the Snowdonia Cup short lawn league. Following an earlier 6 – 3 win against Llanfairfechan the team achieved another 6 – 3 win this time. This result  leaves just one further match against Tattenhall which will be played on Sunday, 6 October, at Tattenhall.

 

End of season supper and presentations

Last call for end of season presentation dinner

Last call for our presentation dinner at Chez Jules in Northgate Street on Tuesday, 19 November, at 6.30 pm.

Let me know if you would like to come as I need to give in numbers to the restaurant in the next few days.

If you have already signed up, please don’t tell me again!

If you have won a trophy this year and ARE coming to the dinner then please bring it with you so you can receive it again officially.

If you have won a trophy this year and ARE NOT coming to the dinner then keep it on the mantelpiece until next season.

Thanks

Sally Slater
E-mail: springboard_sally@hotmail.com

Book your place for the end of season supper

We have an amazing 130 members in our croquet club – the friendliest in the North West!

This does mean though that you can’t really know everyone and won’t have played everyone this season. So come along to our end of season presentation evening and meet other members, put names to faces and plan games for next year!

It is a lovely social event to finish our season. Sit where you like and with whom you like in the pleasant upstairs at Chez Jules. Choose what you want to eat and drink, have a go at a quiz if you would like to and applaud all our winners and strivers of the season.

There are trophies for all the competitions played and also for the most improved players. This could be you!

The date is Tuesday, 19 November, at 6.30 pm. It’s not a late finish and there is parking nearby at Delamere Street car park next to the Fountains building. Evening rate after 6.00 pm is £4.

Please let me know if you can come so I can let the restaurant have numbers. You don’t need to contact me again if you have already done so.

See you there!

Sally Slater
E-mail: springboard_sally@hotmail.com

End of season supper, 19 November 2024

Although we still have a few weeks of the season to run (hopefully), I am sending out this date for your diary.

We are holding our social and presentation end of season evening at Chez Jules, Northgate Street, Chester on Tuesday, 19 November, at 6.30 pm.

For those who haven’t been before it is a very convivial evening with good food, our own bar, presentation of trophies and a quiz. A great end to the season.

Unfortunately due to numbers restrictions we cannot invite partners, but hope that you will come along and sit with friends.

In order to get an idea of numbers please let me know if you would like to come.

See you there!

Sally Slater
E-mail: springboard_sally@hotmail.com

Mid-September events

Chester Croquet Club played host to 51 young guides and rangers from the 1st Huntingdon troup on a sunny Tuesday evening, 10 September. The youngsters came for a fun game of croquet and after a brief introduction to the sport, enthusiastically joined in organised games with their friends. Many members of the club helped the girls play croquet during the session and afterwards with drinks and snacks. The evening was enjoyed by all.

On Saturday, 14 September, the Bowdon Blanks short lawn team visited Chester for their North West Federation league match. Bowdon fielded a very strong team of low handicap players, but the Chester team of Derek Bell-Jones, Jayne Taylor, Sally Slater and Andy Wilson-Chalon fought hard to give the visitors a good match. At lunch Bowdon were leading 5-3, but ran away with the match in the afternoon and the final score was 11-5. The weather was glorious and the match was played in very good humour.

A few days later on Tuesday, 17 September, a Chester team of Sally Slater (captain), Sarah Clements, Jayne Taylor and Helen Brophy travelled to Bowdon to play their other short lawn team, the Bowdon Bullets.

This turned out to be an equally challenging match, though at lunch all was square with 4 games each. In the afternoon the Bullets played very well and despite some very close games, including two going to a golden hoop, the final result was another win for Bowdon 11-5.

In the late summer sunshine after the short lawn match against Bowdon Bullets

In another short lawn match on Wednesday, 18 September, Chester played away against Llanfairfechan, this being our first match in the Snowdonia Cup this year.

On a wonderful sunny day by the sea Chester’s team of Nigel Worthington, Andy Wilson-Chalon and Liz Rowley triumphed 6-3. We are now looking forward to our next match against Craig-y -Don on Saturday, 28 September.

The next day, Thursday, 19 September, saw the last  match of the season for Chester Centurions in the North West Federation level play golf croquet league and the long awaited arrival of summer – sunshine all day in the beautiful Crake Valley. It was a key game for both sides, where a win for either would secure second place in the league, but a loss would mean fourth place.

The Chester team of Mark Lloyd, John Hampson and David Boyd set off strongly winning their first round of three games and managed to maintain that lead throughout the day, despite some strong push backs from David Cornes, Neil Adams and Steve Skelton of Crake Valley throughout the day.

All the games were close and so we didn’t finish playing until after 5:30 pm, but the final result was Chester Centurions 11, Crake Valley 7. And then we stayed another half an hour as Crake treated us to a celebratory beer (non-alcoholic, of course), before a long drive home.

Thanks to Crake for a very pleasant and hospitable end to the league season.

Beautiful scenery, late summer sunshine, long shadows and a rewarding win for Chester Centurions at Crake Valley

This win for Chester results in the club achieving second place behind Bowdon Bombers in this year’s North West Federation level play golf croquet league.

In a separate match not involving Chester, Bowdon lost 1 – 4 to Bury in the North West Federation Advanced B Level association croquet league. This outcome means that Chester has emerged as overall winner in this league ahead of Crake Valley in second place and Bowdon Angels in third place.

Chester can therefore celebrate one victory and one second place in this year’s league matches. Hurrah!