Author: David Guyton

After beating the well-established clubs of Bowdon and Nottingham in previous rounds, Chester played against Watford on Tuesday, 18 September, in the semi-finals of the national Mary Rose advanced, level play association croquet competition on neutral ground at Edgbaston mid-way between the two clubs. The Chester team of Jerry Guest (captain), David Boyd, David Guyton and Mark Lloyd found themselves facing stiff competition from a stronger side who won the trophy in 2017 – Watford’s handicap ratings of 0, 1, 1 and 2 were significantly lower than Chester’s at 0, 2, 5 and 5. The weather and playing conditions were good and both teams enjoyed a cordial day’s play. However, Watford gained the upper hand in the morning winning the doubles and two singles games and their lead continued in the afternoon winning three of the four singles games. The final result was a 6 – 1 win for Watford who now go forward to face High Wycombe in the national final.   Detailed results

Chester Croquet Club held their annual Christine Long handicap golf tournament on Saturday, 15 September. Eight members took part in a round robin format and enjoyed a full day’s competition.

There were many closely fought games with James Thomas emerging the outright winner with 6 wins out of a possible 7. Roger Haigh was runner up and Paul Taylor a close third. Taking part were, Mel Hagan, Pat Wheeler, Paul Taylor, James Thomas, Roger Haigh, Chris Thomas, Liz Subramanian, and Janet Jackson.

On the same day, Chester played away against Bury in the NW full lawn handicap league. The Chester team of David Boyd (captain), David Guyton, Brian Walton and Paul Watson faced a meteorologically and metaphorically damp start to the day losing the doubles and both singles matches in the morning resulting in the team being 0 – 3 behind by lunchtime. The weather and performance brightened in the afternoon with Chester winning three of the four singles games giving a final 4 – 3 win to Bury.

Two Chester members, John Dawson and Helen Brophy, took part in the regional final of the All England Association Croquet Handicap Competition at Fylde over the weekend of 1-2 September. Both won three out of five games but narrowly missed qualifying for the national final.  Adrian Apps of Bowdon and Phil Nittall of Bury both succeeded in going forward to the final.

Chester Croquet Club were pleased to welcome a return visit by the Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club of Dublin over the bank holiday weekend of 25-26 August.  The weather was more autumnal than summery but playing conditions on Saturday were agreeable with only brief rain in the morning followed by longish periods of sunshine in the afternoon.   A range of friendly singles and doubles association and golf croquet games were played during the day followed by a convivial supper at Moules a  Go-Go in the evening. However, the rain forecast for Sunday duly arrived which curtailed games planned for the second day allowing only two hasty rounds of golf croquet and one soggy game of association croquet.  A ferry cancellation brought proceedings to a premature end. The overall result of the friendly encounter was that Chester managed to retain the Anglo-Irish Cup.

Alan Looney, the Carrickmines President and captain, presented the cup to the Chester club secretary and team captain, John Dawson, and declared “It’s been a great weekend. No matter how the Brexit discussions conclude the Chester team will be welcome at Carrickmines in 2019” and he presented the Chester Chair , Sarah Andrew, with a signed copy of the Carrickmines Club Centenary book. That done the Carrickmines convoy aquaplaned out of Westminster Park in hot pursuit of the Holyhead ferry.

After strong wins earlier in the week, Chester finished a very busy week with two more less successful NW league matches over the weekend, 11 – 12 August.

In the NW Handicap Golf Croquet League the Chester team of Pauline Walters (captain), Roger Haigh, Brian Hayes and Ian Graham lost 5 – 13 playing at home against Southport on Saturday, 11 August. Many of the games were very close with several golden hoops being played.

On the following day, Chester played away against Bowdon Bears in the NW Short Lawn League. The whole match was accompanied by big band music from a dancing competition in an adjacent hall. The Chester team of Roger Edwards (captain), Hugh Bray, Maureen Corrigan and Barbara Jones seemed to catch the rhythm and tangoed around the hoops rather than running them and ended up losing the match 2 – 14. Despite the score, it was an enjoyable day playing against friendly hosts.

One of the Croquet Association’s national competitions for level play golf croquet was hosted by Chester Croquet Club over the weekend of 4th and 5th August. Fourteen top class players from all over the country, including Ripon, Watford, Cheltenham and Bakewell, contested the Maggie Cowman trophy over the two days of play. Five Chester players joined the competition, Trevor Farrell, Chris Thomas, Jayne Taylor, Garry Greenwood and Roger Edwards.

The final match for the trophy was between two Chester players Garry Greenwood and Trevor Farrell. After an extremely close match the winner at 10-9 was defending champion Garry Greenwood who received the Maggie Cowman Trophy and a personal medal. The Chester Bowl for second place was won by Ann Brookes from Colchester, and Steve Marsh from Bakewell  won the Telford Plate.

David Guyton presented the trophies to the winners and thanked everyone for making it such a successful event for the third year in a row. David Crawford was manager of the tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing in scorching weather at the English Seniors Championship at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, last week John Dawson of Chester Croquet Club gained the C class title by winning all his seven matches by an average of eleven hoops.

Chester played away against Bowdon in the second round of the national Longman Cup competition in gloriously sunny weather on Monday, 25 June. The Chester team of John Dawson (captain), David Guyton, Robin Tasker and Paul Taylor faced a strong team from Bowdon and took time to adjust to their dry and very fast lawns.   Chester lost the doubles and the two singles games in the morning but increasing familiarity with playing conditions resulted in better results in the afternoon with David Guyton and Paul Taylor winning their two of the four singles games. The overall result was a 5 – 2 win for Bowdon who now go foward to meet the winner of  Southport v Tyneside.

The North West Federation’s annual croquet festival at Southport enjoyed glorious sunshine over the weekend of 23-24 June.

For a weekend each year at the end of June the North West Federation festival of croquet is held at Southport. All the clubs in the North West eagerly look forward to this feast of croquet, meeting friends and old opponents from North Wales to the Lake District. Southport is the largest club in the North West, readying 17 lawns for this spectacular event. The weather was fantastic, as all matches were played in glorious sunshine with a gentle sea breeze.

Chester Croquet Club fielded three teams this year, in association handicap full lawn and short lawn, and a golf croquet team.

For Chester, the highlight of the event was the short lawn team of Jayne Taylor (captain), Roger Edwards, Val Sanders and Sally Slater emerging as winners of their group playing against six other clubs. At lunchtime on Sunday Chester were neck and neck with two other clubs – Bowdon and Westmorland – and needed to hold their nerve to win the final round against Southport, playing on their home turf. Skill and fortune prevailed and Chester succeeded in winning  all three of their matches in the afternoon to achieve the trophy.

The full lawn association team of John Dawson (captain), Paul Taylor, Robin Tasker and David Boyd also played well against the other five teams in their group, winning most of their matches and came second overall in their group by the end of the festival.

In the golf croquet event six players, in two teams of three, competed against eight other clubs. Janet Jackson, Mel Hagan, Roger Haigh, Chris Thomas, Brian Hayes and Jill Foley had some tough and very close matches, but played well.

Overall champions at the tournament were Westmorland and winners of the individual groups were as follows:

Advanced doubles      Fylde
Handicap                        Bury
Short lawn                    Chester
Golf                                  Crake