Author: David Guyton

Having somehow succeeded in beating a strong team from Bowdon in this year’s national golf croquet club championship competition (the first year that Chester had entered), Chester were then in line to play Hurlingham in the following round. If given the choice every member of the team would have been happy to give up home advantage for the chance to play the next round away at the best of all the croquet clubs in England. The team who travelled down was David Boyd, Tom Grievson, John Hampson and Mark Lloyd.

Hurlingham has about 10 pristine croquet lawns, along with many other sports and very nice facilities, and is an oasis in the middle of London. The only evidence of the noisy, outside world seems to be that every minute an aircraft passes low overhead on its approach to Heathrow.

This was an opportunity not to be missed, but the result of the match was disappointing. Tom Grievson managed a win in the morning giving a glimmer of hope for the afternoon session but nothing was added with the final result of Hurlingham 6 / Chester 1. David Boyd had the honour to play against their captain, Aston Wade, handicap -3, who had recently won the under 21’s European GC championship! It was enjoyable, but the outcome was always predictable – the way these players hit the ball is another way entirely!

On the following Sunday, 27 August, the re-arranged mid-week AC handicap match against Southport was played initially in cool drizzly conditions although it warmed up somewhat later in the day. Southport brought an experienced team together with a large bag of bisques – free shots – indeed, in total 67½ of them!

In the morning doubles David Guyton and Paul Watson were ahead and very nearly won but were caught in the final turn after time was called to lose by a single hoop. Brian Walton overcame 13 bisques for an 18-14 victory on time; while Robin Tasker was overwhelmed by a 16 handicap player who knew all about four ball breaks and peels to lose quickly 0-26.

The afternoon singles followed a similar pattern with Brian overcoming 11 bisques, and Paul 10 bisques for a Golden Hoop victory. The other two singles were lost in a blizzard of bisques and with them the match. The final score was a 4-3 win for Southport.

On Saturday, 2 September, Ealing travelled to Chester to play in the semi-final of the national Murphy Shield golf croquet level play competition. The team for this match was Kerry Dadson, Sarah Clements, Rick Davies and John Hampson. It was a great day weatherwise and the lawns were running well. Chester won 5-2, though some of the games were very closely fought. Chester now go forward to meet East Dorset in the final of the competition.

 

Short lawn competition – Monday, 9 October

The club’s annual short lawn open competition will now be held on Monday, 9 October, instead of Sunday, 9 September.  This is to allow at least three more people to play who couldn’t make the September date.

Please let me know if you can play by Monday, 9 October.

Thanks

Sally Slater
Mobile: 07711 374927

Short lawn competition – Saturday, 9 September

The club’s annual short lawn open competition will be held on Saturday, 9 September. This is a handicap competition and is open to everyone.

Start and finish times will depend on the number of entries, but the games will be shorter than usual, probably an hour.

Please let me know by Wednesday, 6 September, if you would like to play. It would be great if we could have a good turnout.

Thanks

Sally Slater
Mobile: 07711 374927

Fletton Trophy – Saturday, 23 September

On Saturday, 23 September, a one-day full-lawn AC Advanced tournament will take place for the Fletton Trophy. This competition will be based upon 14-point advanced AC play in accordance with Law 52.3, Lift Version but with a time limit (tbd but between 60-75 minutes) imposed on a game’s duration.

The format for the Tournament will be AMD but likely either to be an all-play-all or a Swiss depending upon numbers.

Scoring will be one point for a win with a bonus point available for a pegged out game; hoop points scored will be recorded. The winner will be the person with the most points scored. In the event of a tie at the end of the competition, the head-to-head result will determine the winner; and if that fails to elicit a winner, the tied player with the most hoop points scored will be the winner. Beyond that determination, a tie break at the manager’s discretion will be used.

If you wish to take part please let me know via e-mail . The closing date for entries will be Wednesday, 20 September.

Many thanks!

Robin Tasker

Fletton Trophy – Saturday, 23 September

The Club’s full lawn AC advanced tournament will take place on Saturday, 23 September, and will be run as a 14-point advanced singles competition for the Fletton Trophy.

I will circulate further information about this event later in August together with the invitation to enter this competition.

Please do though pencil the date into your diary.

Many thanks

Robin Tasker

Mason Cup – Monday, 7 August

The Club’s full lawn AC handicap competition for the Mason Cup will take place on Monday, 7 August, as a single day tournament starting at 10 am.

If you wish to take part please let me know by e-mail  no later than Friday, 4 August.

The precise format of the tournament will depend upon the number of entrants.

All games will be 14-point and time-limited to 1 hour with handicaps adjusted accordingly to take account of both the shorter game format and the limited time. Handicaps will be calculated as one third of the full-lawn AC handicap and where necessary rounded down to the nearest half or full bisque. Games will be played as full handicap matches.

Scoring will be one point for a win with a bonus point available for a pegged out game; hoop points scored will be recorded. The winner will be the person with the most points scored. In the event of a tie at the end of the competition, the head-to-head result will determine the winner; and if that fails to elicit a winner, the tied player with the most hoop points scored will be the winner. Beyond that determination, a tie break at the manager’s discretion will be used.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Robin Tasker

All of the teams in Chester Croquet Club have been in action in the past week, but sadly only managed one win and two draws.

On Thursday, 10 August, the Chester team of Mark Lloyd, David Guyton and Robin Tasker played the return fixture at home against Bowdon in the Advanced B Level association croquet league. In the morning David Guyton pulled off an excellent win against Bowdon’s top ranked player while the doubles game was lost by a single point to leave the match all square at lunch. The afternoon singles gamess were all lost although again by just a single point to leave the match score at 1-4 to Bowdon. And so while an apparently resounding defeat, the entire match turned on two hoop points across the day’s play. A frustrating day for the Chester team and the result means that Bowdon are the southern division winners for 2023.

On Sunday, 13 August, an association croquet weekend handicap match was played at home against Bury Peelers. The Chester team was David Guyton (captain), Helen Brophy, Robin Tasker and Brian Walton. Despite a forecast of no rain, the start of the match coincided with a heavy shower. This succeeded in slowing the pace of the lawns but fortunately the weather brightened later and a return of warm sunshine in the afternoon dried the lawns and increased their speed. The match turned out to be a 6 – 1 win for Bury but it was not as one-sided as the result implies. Robin Tasker and David Guyton, playing off handicaps of 4 and 4½ respectively, both lost by just one hoop to Bury’s lowest handicap player, who was playing off a handicap of 1. Three other games were lost by only 2, 3 and 4 hoops. The one success of the day was David Guyton’s 26 – nil win in an afternoon singles game.

The Centurions and Chariots level play golf croquet teams were both in contention on Wednesday, 16 August. The Chariots, captained by Rick Davies, had a great day at Southport with excellent weather and welcoming hosts. The morning session was really well contested with 4 matches going to the golden hoop and three matches at 7 to 5. The golden hoop matches could have gone either way but Southport managed to squeeze the wins. This left Chester struggling with a nine game deficit at lunch. Again in the afternoon three games went to the golden hoop and another two to 7-5. Chester managed to pull two wins out of the bag but alas suffered a resounding 16-2 defeat. Southport agreed that the final score did not reflect how close all the games finished.

The Centurions had a very enjoyable game at home against Bury. The weather was lovely, the lawns were running well and the games were well fought and close including several golden hoop games. The final score was 10-8 to Bury. Tom Grievson, John Hampson and Jayne Taylor made up the team.

Both golf croquet handicap teams were in action on the following Saturday, 19 August. The Chester Senators team of Jude Wise (captain), Jim Hughes, Liz and Edward Baskerville had a good day at Bowdon with a mixed start weatherwise, but sun shining in the afternoon. Chester won both doubles games and were 4 all with the singles up to lunch, but came back stronger in the afternoon and won 5 of the games, resulting in a final score of 11-7.

The Chester Tribunes played at Llanfairfechan against the Pioneers. The Tribunes were captained by Kerry Dadson with Doreen Curtis, Chris Thomas and David Johnson. The weather was kind, the hosts welcoming and the final result was a 9-9 draw.

Meanwhile at Chester on the same afternoon the club hosted an annual visit by the North Wales Masons in another enjoyable event run by Dennis Holman.

On Sunday, 20 August, the local Snowdonia Cup for short lawn association croquet was played against Craig-y-Don in gorgeous sunshine at Chester. Helen Brophy (captain), Pat Wheeler and Paul Taylor put in a solid performance and the end result was 4-4 draw.

Here’s another report on the national golf croquet A Level tournament for the Maggie Cowman Cup held at Chester over the weekend of 4 – 5 August:

The twelve players who entered the Chester A tournament on 5th and 6th August were hoping for sunshine but were faced with continuous heavy rain throughout Saturday. Three of Chester’s lawns were ‘squelchy’ but lawn four was completely unplayable.

Undaunted, the fully kitted competitors from Durham and Tyneside in the North, Watford in the South and NorthWest Wales launched into spirited combat. Saturday was played in two blocks of six and early results saw the emerging dominance of the ranking players in both blocks. By the end of the day Roger Edwards, Andrew Carpenter and Giles Pepperell  with Martyn Seal, we’re leading the field.

Very heavy overnight rain delayed the start of play on Sunday with the three playable lawns still fairly soggy. It was decided to continue with all-play-all block playing again with the new top six competing for the Trophy and the Bowl and the second six playing for the Plate. The rain abated, the hats came off and the vapour trails behind the balls subsided. Once again the ranking players soon dominated the Trophy six with Giles Pepperell and Martyn Seal sitting firmly at the top of the leader board. In the Plate group Sandra Cornes who had a middling Saturday found her form and was soon showing strongly.

By mid afternoon the stage was set for a showdown between Pepperell and Seal both of whom had lost only one game each. It was an exciting finish which delighted the watching crowd. Seal took an early lead with two spectacular hoops but Pepperell ground on with his particular and distinctive style to a 7 to 6 victory.

The Maggie Cowman Trophy for Giles, the Chester Bowl for Martyn and the Telford plate for a victorious Sandra Cornes.

It was soggy and cold to start with, very soggy in the middle but warm and dry by the end of the Chester A Tournament.

To see an earlier report and photographs, click here.

A Chester team of Val Sanders (captain), Robin Tasker, Robert Jones and Derek Bell Jones met Westmorland in the North West short lawn league on Wednesday, 2 August. Luckily the gloomy weather forecast failed to materialise and it was great day for croquet, with umbrellas coming out only once. There were some close games played in a friendly atmosphere, but the strong, low-handicapped Westmorland side beat Chester 11-5.

On the following day, Thursday, 3 August, there was a narrow defeat for Chester’s away match against Southport in the association croquet weekend handicap league. Due to a shortage of players, the clubs decided to field teams of 3 rather than 4 and to start with a score of one each. David Boyd (captain), David Guyton and Paul Watson had a pleasant day at Southport but had an uphill task struggling against their 42 extra turns due to the difference in team handicaps. The final score was Southport 4, Chester 3.

A national competition in golf croquet, the Maggie Cowman Trophy, was hosted by Chester Croquet Club at the weekend, 5-6 August. There were 12 entries from all over the country, including Durham, Tyneside, Watford, Grange over Sands, Eynsham and North Wales. An unseasonally wet and cold preliminary play day on Saturday was compensated by a fine sunny day on Sunday with hard fought performances by the competitors culminating in an exciting finale with Giles Pepperell and Sam Seal battling neck and neck in front of a crowd of clapping spectators. On the golden hoop Giles won the match and the trophy with a spectacular long range stroke. The winner of the Maggie Cowman Trophy was Giles Pepperell from Llanfairfechan. The runner-up bowl was awarded to Sam Seal also from Llanfairfechan, and the Telford Plate to Sandra Cornes from Crake Valley, Cumbria.

A home derby was held at Chester Croquet Club on Thursday, 27 July, when Chester Centurions played Chester Chariots in the North West level play golf croquet league. The Centurions were Mark Lloyd (captain), David Boyd and John Hampson against the Chariots Jude Wise (captain), Pat Clare and Chris Thomas.

The result of 17-1 to Centurions belied the closeness of a lot of the games as a number of them went to the golden hoop at 6 all. Chris did win one game to save the Chariots blushes, but a very good day was had by all which started off very wet but brightened to be a lovely day for playing croquet.

On Saturday, 29 July, a great day’s golf croquet was had under blue skies at Southport, albeit rather breezy at times.  7 out of the 18 games went to 7-6 so very closely run, but Southport came out well deserved winners taking 13 games including both the doubles, winning 13-5. Although a disappointing day for the Senators, Liz Baskerville (captain), Gail Thomas, Sandy Grievson and Edward Baskerville, the last four games of the afternoon were all won by Chester thereby avoiding what might almost have been a white wash! There were some remarkable hoops run by both sides but perhaps the successful 45° jump shot from 3 yards out by Gail Thomas in the first doubles game would take some beating.

Chester were convincingly beaten 5-0 by a strong Bowdon side in the away fixture of the AC Advanced B-level League on Sunday, 30 July. The Chester team of Robin Tasker (captain) David Boyd and David Guyton played good croquet through the day but were undone by the quality of their opponents playing on familiar (and excellent) lawns.

In the morning in both the singles and doubles games Chester achieved early leads but were unable to hold on as their opponents put together significant breaks to close out the games. The afternoon session was more of the same with the Chester team again playing some solid croquet but just unable to maintain their quality and as a consequence were defeated by their more consistent opponents.

While reporting on a heavy defeat, the games were nonetheless enjoyable, for the most part competitive, and played in a great spirit. And the forecast rain in the afternoon kindly deferred its arrival until after the final game. Thanks are due to the Bowdon team for their hospitality; and for the cream cakes they provided as a lunchtime treat that made the journey worthwhile!

Over the weekend, the Club hosted two community groups. 10 members of Saughall Rotary Club came on Saturday afternoon for a fun croquet session, and over 16 people came with MENSA on Sunday for the day. They played mostly association croquet in the morning and golf croquet in the afternoon, ending with tea. The days were led by Dennis Holman and everyone who attended had a great time. Some of the MENSA group had come from as far afield as Ireland and Yorkshire for this regular get together and are already looking forward to next year.

Sarah Clements, who has not been playing croquet for very long, brilliantly won the C series golf croquet competition held at Bury on Wednesday, 19 July. She won the semi-final on the golden hoop after fighting back from 4-6 down, and then won the final easily at 7-1.

On the following day, two close and exciting matches were held on Thursday, 2o July.

In an association croquet midweek handicap league match at home, the Chester team of Brian Walton (captain), David Boyd, David Guyton, and Paul Watson welcomed a strong and experienced team from Bury. The morning started with a couple of light rain showers but fortunately they had stopped by the time the games started though the grass surface was initially wet and slow. In the morning session, Chester won the doubles game but unfortunately lost both single games, so at lunch Chester were 1-2 down and all to play for in the afternoon. After lunch the sun shone and a brisk breeze enabled the lawns to dry our and play faster. From the four singles games played a rejuvenated Chester won three, one by just a single hoop on time, and lost the other one by a relatively small margin. The final score was Chester 4 Bury 3.

Chester Croquet Club is still in the Murphy’s Shield national competition for level play golf croquet. The quarter final against Branston near Lincoln was played on the same Thursday,  on neutral ground at the lovely Nottingham croquet lawns. The team was Tom Grievson (captain), Rick Davies, Sally Slater and Chris Thomas. The doubles was won in the morning after a very close rubber, and the singles rubbers went one each, leaving Chester 2-1 up at the lunch break. In the afternoon, two singles were lost and one won, putting the score at 3 all, leaving the last game to be the decider. This went to 6 hoops each leaving the whole match dependent on just one hoop. Rick Davies played a fantastic shot to take the golden hoop, giving Chester the win 4-3. Chester now goes forward to meet Ealing in the semi final.

Then on Saturday, 22 July, the weekend association croquet handicap league was contested at Chester against Bowdon. The Chester team were David Boyd (captain), Helen Brophy, Mark Lloyd and Sally Slater. There were some heavy showers and quite a lot of drizzle most of the day, but the match was played in good spirits. Bowdon were 2-1 up at lunch, leaving all to play for, and the afternoon games were closely fought, but Chester only managed to win one of the singles, with the final score going 5-2 to Bowdon.

On Sunday, 9 July, the Chester association croquet handicap team of Brian Walton (captain), Richard Smith, Helen Brophy and David Boyd arrived at Crake Valley croquet club in Greenodd, Cumbria, to find a sunny but a cloudy morning with the lawn looking in good condition after the recent rain. However it turned out to play slowly and did not improve as the day progressed.

The morning doubles match was a closely fought battle with Chester unable to make a break until late in the game but too late to affect the outcome. Honours were shared in the two morning single games leaving Chester with a 1- 2 deficit at lunch.

In the afternoon Richard Smith and Brian Walton won their games, David Boyd lost by just 2 hoops and Helen Brophy, up against 10 bisques, made some positive breaks but was unable to secure a win. The final score was Crake Valley 4, Chester 3.

Both of the level play golf croquet teams were in action in North West league matches on Wednesday, 12 July.

The Chester Chariots team of Rick Davies, Sarah Clements and Pat Clare (captain) travelled to Bury’s Whitehead Park with serious concerns about the weather. Their lawns were very wet with flooding in the corner of lawn 3. Chester started slowly but got used to the wet conditions. Heavy rain called for an early lunch break but a second lunch break was agreed to miss even heavier rain. Chester went on to win 13 – 5. Seven of the games went to the Golden Hoop -used when both players reach 6 all, so it was a more evenly matched match than the scores suggest.

On the same day, the Chester Centurions team played at home against Southport.

Thirty people attended the ever popular social funday on Sunday, 16 July, where members are encouraged to bring along friends and family of all ages to enjoy an afternoon of fun croquet with a bubbly afternoon tea.

We are sad to report the death of John Dawson on 8 July 2023 a few weeks before his 78th birthday.

He was one of probably quite a large cohort of people who took up croquet after retiring having been an active sportsman in his earlier years.

He joined Chester Croquet Club in 2002, was elected to the committee in 2004 and served as secretary from November 2013 until stepping down due to ill health in 2022.

While secretary of Chester Croquet Club he was elected by the North West Federation as the regional representative on the CA Council in November 2016 becoming Chairman of the Publishing Committee and a member of the Marketing and Tournament Committees in 2017. He became Chairman of the CA Management Committee in 2018 and was appointed Vice-Chairman of the CA Council in May 2019. In these roles he was deeply involved in the CA’s working groups on organisation and governance which resulted in the recent reorganisation and current changes in charitable legal status. He led the CA’s participation in the very successful CountryFile Live events at Blenheim in 2018 and Castle Howard in 2019. More recently during 2020 and 2021 he took a leading role in developing and promulgating the CA’s policies on child safeguarding. After five very busy years, he relinquished his role as NW Federation representative in November 2021.

In between all these activities John took part in many NW Federation league matches and competitions, inter-counties competitions and national tournaments for association croquet and succeeded in reducing his AC handicap to 3.

He also enjoyed international croquet hospitality and played casual games at several Melbourne clubs during his many visits to Australia. In 2020 he enjoyed watching an English croquet team at a tournament at Cairnlea, Victoria.

John was born in Newcastle under Lyme in 1945, attended a local grammar school, graduated in classics at Cambridge and went on to take a post graduate course at Oxford. After graduation he joined ICI and spent the whole of his career in personnel management at Billingham, Severnside, Northern Ireland and in Hong Kong and latterly at Runcorn when he and his family came to live in Chester. Following diagnosis of prostate cancer he took early retirement in 2001 but treatment over 20 years proved remarkably effective before fading over the past eighteen months.

Throughout his retirement he was continually involved in a wide range of activities. He served as a JP for several years and with his wife, Ann, he was a part-time assistant warden at Youth Holiday Association hostels where he enjoyed leading country walks. In addition to croquet, he was a keen bridge player and bird watcher, also a frequent concert and theatre goer, and continued to be a keen follower of cricket which was his earlier sport. He was well travelled, always curious and well informed, and always ready to debate anything with anybody.

His wife, Ann, died in 2012, and they had two daughters, Alice a solicitor in London who is married with two sons, and Clare in Melbourne, Australia, also married with two sons.

Chester Croquet Club is sad to lose such a keen and active member who will be remembered widely for his energy, enthusiasm and good humour. And our sympathies go to all his family and friends.

A short mention of John Dawson’s death appeared in the obituary section of The Times on Saturday, 22 July. The Latin phrase ‘Clarior e tenebris’ – ‘More brightly from out of darkness’ or ‘Brighter from obscurity’ – is the motto of his old school.

Funeral arrangements

10.40 am Friday, 28 July 2023
Blacon Crematorium, Blacon Avenue, Chester CH1 5BB
and afterwards at John Dawson’s house
The Cottage, 2 Westminster Avenue, Chester CH4 8JB

To assist with catering, please notify Robin Tasker by Sunday, 23 July,
if you plan to attend the funeral and the gathering afterwards.

Chester’s association croquet team were in action on home turf on Wednesday, 5 July, against a much stronger team from Nottingham with both clubs competing for a place in the semi-final of the national inter-club advanced competition for the Mary Rose trophy. Chester was represented by David Boyd (captain), Elmyr Hughes, Mark Lloyd and Brian Walton. The format was for level play without the benefit of handicap differences so, despite some advantage from local knowledge of the lawns, it was bound be a challenging day for Chester with their combined handicaps totalling 12.5 compared with Nottingham’s much lower total of 4.

Following the morning session of a doubles and two singles games, Nottingham gained a lead of 2 games to 1 by winning the two singles games, so there was still everything to play for in the four afternoon singles games. As the afternoon results came in, Nottingham managed to maintain their lead to the end of the match with the final score of Nottingham 4 Chester 3 with both sides winning two singles games. A defeat for Chester but no disgrace either as it really was a ‘knife-edge’ result with one hoop point difference out of 26 in one of the morning singles results which, if reversed, would have given Chester the match victory. There was no usual time limit to the games and play eventually finished after 8.00 pm leaving the Nottingham team with a late drive back home.

Then on Thursday, 6 July, Chester played a short lawn match against Fylde which proved to be an honourable draw. Each round of 4 games ended in a 2 all draw, with the final score being Chester 8 – Fylde 8. There were some nail biting finishes as the Chester team of Sally Slater (captain), Nigel Worthington, Val Sanders and Robert Jones faced three higher handicapped players with the very last game of the match going to a golden hoop. The expected rain stayed off so the lawns were dry and fast and a lovely day was had by all.

On the following Sunday, 9 July, the Chester Senators team got off to a good start against a visiting Llanfairfechan Dragons team in a handicap golf croquet match at Westminster Park. Chester’s captain, Edward Baskerville, who won all of his singles games, was supported by Jill Foley, Mel Hagen and Elaine Smith and the team soon opened a 5 to 1 lead in the warm , humid weather. The visiting team fought back to even the score but the Chester team re-established its pace to pull away to lead 11 games to 6. With the final game at five hoops each, a darkening sky suddenly thundered the arrival of rain. The players ran for cover and for tea and declared that game a draw. The final result was Chester Senators 11, Llanfairfechan Dragons 6 and 1 draw.