Author: David Guyton

The team of Derek Bell-Jones, Nigel Worthington, Robert Jones and Jayne Taylor finally played their postponed play-off final against Westmorland in the North West Federation short lawn league.

The match was supposed to be played last season, but was called off due to bad weather, not a problem on Tuesday, 26 April, when the weather was sunny and dry giving perfect playing conditions at the neutral venue of Southport.

It was a tight match, each team keeping pace with the other. The first round ended 2-2, the second round was 1-3, third round 3-1 then final round was 2-2, giving the final score of 8 all. Then the team with the most hoops is the winner. The hoops were nervously totalled up. Westmorland ran 139 hoops and Chester ran 158 hoops, giving Chester the championship.

The  new season got underway on Saturday, 23 April, in glorious sunshine with a local Derby between the two Chester teams in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league. Chester Tribunes were led by Jude Wise with David Johnson, Brian Lussey and Keith Dixon. Chester Senators captain Edward Baskerville led Liz Baskerville, Ian Shaw and Kerry Dadson.  Despite an understandable hesitant start due to the long winter lay-off the Senators gradually drew ahead and were comfortably in front by lunchtime with Kerry Dadson showing good form. This trend continued in the afternoon with both Kerry and Edward shining for the Senators. The clash of the captains came in the final game where Jude reclaimed some Tribune pride by convincingly beating Edward. However Senators emerged as sound victors with 11 points to Tribunes 5 and two draws. Senator Kerry Dadson claims the laurel wreath as the only unbeaten player of the day.

On the following Sunday, 24 April, again with lovely weather, 24 aspiring croquet players came to the club to have a go at croquet. In a three hour session with coaches they learnt all about the skills needed for the sport and finished by playing a game of one ball, which was enjoyed by all. Anyone interested in croquet is always welcome to get in touch with the club and come and have a go.

Calling more players for this year’s Early Bird Competition!

The Early Bird Doubles Competition is due to be held on Saturday, 21 May.  This is a GC doubles competition for high handicaps (11’s and above) .  So far we only have seven people signed up for this.   We need a few more !

Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to join in.  You do not need to sign up as a pair.  These are selected randomly on the day.  It would be a shame to cancel it.

Jayne Taylor

14 May 2022

This year’s Early Bird Golf Doubles Competition

Calling all golf croquet players with high handicaps (ie 11 and above).  This year’s Early Bird Golf Doubles Competition will be held on Saturday, 21 May.  Partners will be allocated on the day, so you can sign up singly.  The length of the competition will depend on the number of entrants.  There is a maximum limit of 16 participants and we need to have at least 8 entrants for the competition to take place.

Please let me know if you wish to take part or sign up on the form which is displayed on the GC noticeboard in the pavilion and provides some further information.

This is an ideal competition for the new members who joined last year to take part in , alongside established members with a high handicap.

It’s just a bit of fun really !

Jayne Taylor

24 April 2022

Chester Croquet Club held its first social funday of the season on Sunday, 10 April, when over 25 members played various games of croquet in the sunshine. Fundays are held every month when members bring along friends and family to have a go at croquet. The season commences in earnest in the next couple of weeks as league matches start in the North West Federation when Chester have to defend titles won last year.

The season has begun.  You will have noticed that the lawn booking system is up and running and includes information on the roll up sessions and the various activities and events (league matches, taster sessions, beginners courses etc etc ) that might be taking place on the lawns each week.  Similarly the web site is a font of all knowledge about what is happening both at the club and on the croquet scene generally.  It is worth a regular visit.

I thought I would just give a gentle reminder that when you book the lawns, you should stick to 1½ hour or 3 hour slots, starting at the following times…..10am 11.30am 1pm 2.30pm 4pm and 5.30 pm…..during the day.   Also please could you identify, where possible, all the players who are due to play on the lawn.  If this is not possible when you book, please ensure that you identify if the lawn is going to be occupied by 2 people  or 4 , and then add the names of the players later. For those of you yet to use the system please remember that you will need a ID reference and a password to enter the system. Contact myself or one of the other administrators who will set one up for you. And after playing, don’t forget enter all the names in the attendance register on the shelf in the storeroom.

As I am sure you will all appreciate, there will be times when the lawns are more heavily used than others, and in order to ensure that they are used to full capacity, it will sometimes be necessary to double bank games.  This is a normal, recognised and acceptable practice, and indeed  occurs regularly in the regional league matches and in tournaments.  We would encourage people playing to be prepared to share their lawn to enable two games to be played at the same time if there are no other lawns available.  If there is another lawn available then of course it should be used.  If you book a lawn for two people to play singles, please be aware that you might get a request from other players to double bank for a game if there are no other lawns free.  I am sure you will all be helpful in this respect.

We are also hoping to reintroduce  a number of internal competitions that have been missing during the recent past.   The first of these is the Early Bird Doubles which will be held Saturday 22nd May.  This is a doubles GC competition for players with high handicaps (usually 11 or above).  So perfect for beginners !  I will send round information shortly and there will be a notice in the pavilion for you to sign on if you wish to play.   Watch your emails for details of other competitions during the season.

I hope you enjoy the 2022 Season.

Jayne Taylor

The new Rules of Golf Croquet 6th Edition issued by the World Croquet Federation have been approved by the Croquet Association and come into effect from Sunday, 27 March 2022.

Rules of Golf Croquet 6th Edition
Commentary and additional guidance

Copies of the new rules booklet are available for a modest £5 from Jayne Taylor.

Chester’s elite hoop-setting squad were in action on a gloriously sunny and warm spring morning last Thursday, 24 March, measuring out and installing hoops for the new season. They were back in action completing the task on a similar gloriously  sunny and warm spring morning the following Saturday, 26 March. Meanwhile, a dedicated housekeeping squad were hard at work doing an annual spring clean of the clubhouse. With both tasks accomplished, clocks going forward an hour on Sunday, 27 March, and mallets at the ready, the club is now all set for another busy year.

Three North West Federation league matches are scheduled during the coming month and on Sunday, 24 April, the club will be holding its annual taster day for newcomers who are interested in trying their hand at croquet.

 

 

Chester Croquet Club has reason to be grateful to former Lord Mayor of Chester, Richard Short, who died on 22 March 2022 aged 88. As local Councillor for Westminster Park and portfolio holder for culture and recreation in the newly formed Cheshire West and Chester Council in 2009, he supported and gained approval for the clubhouse now occupied by the croquet and bowls clubs in Westminster Park. The new clubhouse was opened in 2011 and replaced a dilapidated ‘temporary’ portacabin which had been installed fifteen years earlier after the original wooden clubhouse next to the bowling greens was destroyed by arson in 1996.

Dear Members,

Every five years the CA undertakes a survey of all its members so that it can be better informed on the composition of its membership, its needs and wishes, and hence be better informed on the decisions it takes over the following five years.   The email below from the CA explains this further, and contains the links to the survey on the website, and another links which will provide you with further information.  I listened in to a seminar on this on Sunday morning, and hopefully will be able to give further guidance if you need any.  The survey is being undertaken between the 22nd March and the 22nd April,  so you can do it as soon as you like during this month.  The information is treated confidentially, all answers are treated anonymously, and there is no cross referencing to individual clubs. The analysis of responses is limited to Federation level and nationwide.  There is a very strong preference for the survey to be completed on line, for ease of analysis, but hard copies are available on request if you prefer to do it that way (along with a stamped envelope for return !)

The survey is also extended to other people who do not belong to the club, but play croquet on an occasional or regular basis.  So if you know of other players, please feel free to share this email with them.

The majority of our members will be standard members of the CA, because that comes with the affiliation of our club to the CA.  However, some will be individual members of the CA, and may also receive this email directly.  That is not a mistake, it is a way of ensuring all are included.

And as a bonus there is a chance to win a £150 voucher for the CA shop!

Please do try to complete this survey. I dislike doing this sort of thing myself, but it does not seem to be too onerous,  and it is really important for the CA to understand its membership to better inform its decisions.

Let me know if you have any problems with it, and I will try to help.

Thank you

Jayne Taylor
07810892311

Frequently Asked Questions

A link to the ‘2022 Survey of Croquet Players’
is in the Members only area

The Club held its 2022 AGM at Westminster Park Community Centre on Friday, 11 March.

The Chairman, Jayne Taylor, had already circulated her annual report. The club remains keen to widen participation and improve continuity in managing the club’s activities and there is an open invitation to all club members to help as volunteers and to contribute their skills and experience by joining the committee.  She re-iterated the club’s interest in encouraging recent members who been enjoying golf croquet to try their hand at association croquet. There is also continuing interest in options for levelling or flattening the croquet lawns and a working group is being re-constituted to evaluate possibilities. Overall, the club is looking forward to another busy season. There is a significant increase in the number of NW Federation league matches in the calendar and the club is preparing to take part in two more national competitions, one for level play golf croquet and possibly one for short lawn association croquet, in addition to the club’s established participation in an advanced association croquet and two handicap association croquet competitions.

The Treasurer, Trevor Farrell, reported that the club’s finances remained in sound condition. The club’s reserves are enabling it to upgrade its stock of mallets and other equipment and, as the Chairman mentioned, to reconsider possibilities for levelling or flattening the croquet lawns and other improvements. It was proposed that subscription rates remain unchanged at last year’s levels. This was agreed by the meeting and cheques for the new season are now payable. Payments can also be made by on-line bank transfer. For security reasons, bank details are not being publicised but can be obtained from the Treasurer.

The club’s officers – Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer – and other members of the committee were willing to continue in their roles and were re-elected. In order to sustain the club’s vitality and openness to new ideas, and to make the various roles more attractive to newcomers,  there was broad agreement that it is desirable to limit periods in office though without prescribing specific time limits.

Weekly playing arrangements for the coming season were discussed. The aim is to maintain a reasonable balance between playing times for both forms of  the game and between roll-up sessions, when there is flexibility to turn up and play a particular form of the game, and personally arranged games of any form which can be booked using the lawn booking system. In the light of these considerations, some modifications and additions to weekly playing arrangements are being introduced this year and will continue to be kept under review by the committee.

The club is in continual contact with the Council over regular lawn maintenance, the upgrading of the lawn watering system to improve availability and reliability during periods of dry weather, and revarnishing the external wooden cladding of the clubhouse which was ten years old last year.

The lawns are due to be marked out and the hoops installed in week commencing Monday, 21 March, ready for the start of the new season and play to commence from Sunday, 27 March.