Author: David Guyton

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

On Wednesday, 30 May, Chester played against Bury in the first round of the national full lawn association croquet handicap knock-out competition for the Longman Cup.  The morning proved a clean sweep for Chester with David Guyton and Paul Watson winning their doubles game against Ken Anderton and Phil Nuttall, and John Dawson and Paul Taylor winning their singles games by narrow margins against Margaret Eccles and Margaret Anderton. Rain forecast for the afternoon arrived early at lunchtime and play became more variable in the four singles games after the lunch break. John Dawson achieved an early win against Ken Anderton but the other three games went to full time. David Guyton gained a comfortable win against Margaret Anderton but Paul Watson lost to Phil Nuttall, last year’s All England association croquet handicap champion who hit another golden streak, and  Paul Taylor lost to Margaret Eccles. The overall result was a satisfying 5 – 2 win for Chester who now go forward to face Bowdon in the next round of the competition.

On the same day on adjacent lawns,  Chester Chariots faced Southport in the North West Federation level play golf croquet league.  Despite the rain in the afternoon, the Chester team of Pat Clare (captain), Roger Edwards and Chris Thomas enjoyed a good day’s croquet but the result was a 7 – 11 loss for Chester.

 

 

On Wednesday, 30 May, Chester played at home against Bury in the first round of the national full lawn association croquet handicap knock-out competition for the Longman Cup.  The morning proved a clean sweep for Chester with David Guyton and Paul Watson winning their doubles game against Ken Anderton and Phil Nuttall, and John Dawson and Paul Taylor winning their singles games by narrow margins against Margaret Eccles and Margaret Anderton. Rain forecast for the afternoon arrived early at lunchtime and play became more variable in the four singles games after the lunch break. John Dawson achieved an early win against Ken Anderton but the other three games went to full time. David Guyton gained a comfortable win against Margaret Anderton but Paul Watson lost to Phil Nuttall, last year’s All England association croquet handicap champion who hit another golden streak, and  Paul Taylor lost to Margaret Eccles. The overall result was a satisfying 5 -2 win for Chester who now go forward to face Bowdon in the next round of the competition.

Chester Croquet Club played two more North West Federation league matches during the week.

In gloriously sunny weather on Tuesday, 22 May, Chester played away against Pendle & Craven in the Advanced B Level league. The Chester team of Jerry Guest (captain), John Dawson and David Guyton won the singles game but narrowly lost the doubles game in the morning after being marginally ahead when time was called. In the final turn the home team managed to catch up and win the game by a single hoop. Chester won another singles game in the afternoon but lost the other two, one of which was at the golden hoop after the game was drawn when time was called. The overall result was a 3 – 2 win for Pendle with narrow wins in two of the games which could easily have gone the other way.

On the following Thursday, 24 May, with the weather becoming warmer and stickier, Chester Centurions played at home against Culcheth in the level play golf croquet league. Chester won the match 15 – 3 but the result was somewhat flattering as there were several close games. The Chester team comprised David Crawford and David Boyd, who both won all six of their six games, and Alan Clare who won three of his six games.

A third league match was scheduled on Sunday, 27 May, also against Culcheth in the handicap golf croquet league, but was cancelled due to forecast thunderstorms which duly arrived and swamped the lawns in the afternoon.

Chester members were enjoying the sunshine at our monthly social gathering last Sunday when there was a fly past by a spectacular plane, an Airbus Beluga.  We would like to think that the pilot and crew were merely flying over to watch croquet in action on National Croquet Day but in reality they were on a routine flight from near- by Broughton.

Perhaps we should explain:  Airbus makes large commercial planes, notably the A320 and A380 series. The wings are made in Broughton but the final planes are assembled in Toulouse or Hamburg. Can’t stick the wings in the post so what do you do? The answer is an ingenious modification of an A 300 into the Airbus Beluga which can transport the wings in its “belly”.

So if you see an unusually large plane fly over your croquet club, you’ll now know what it is.

PS: An even bigger Beluga is under development to transport a pair of A 350 wings in one go. The wings of the A380, which are too large for even the Beluga XL, have to go by sea.

Our thanks to Airbus for providing the superb image and the accurate technical data.

Late entrant snatches victory

Jayne Taylor of Chester ( who only entered to cover the absence through illness of another competitor) took the North West Federation AC short lawn Millennium title at the annual tournament hosted by Chester on Saturday, 12 May.  But it was no easy ride!

Eight experienced players ( two each from Fylde, Chester and Bowdon and one each from Bury and Southport ) assembled on Chester’s verdant lawns on a cool but sunny day.  As is normal with a Swiss format the two morning rounds spread the field. By lunchtime last year’s winner, Sally Slater of Chester, and Fylde’s low handicapper, Liz Wilson, found themselves at the bottom of the pack  ( ” Past performance is no indicator of future success ” as the financial pundits tell us) while Jayne and Barbara Young of Bury registered two wins apiece to lead the field.

An excellent lunch provided by Pat Clare and her team led to some changes in fortunes. Barbara lost both of her afternoon games to go down the field while Sally registered two victories ( but was too far back to make an impact).  Peter Wilson and Sylvia Steer played themselves into contention with narrow wins over Margaret Moss and Gail Moors respectively while Jayne extended her lead with a further win. The final key matches had the manager on tenterhooks. A win for Jayne would make life easy for him whilst a victory for Peter would lead to a three way tie with the manager frantically brushing up his tie break knowledge.

The match between Jayne and Peter was full of tension. Peter’s low handicap meant he had to make two mandatory peels and although Jayne had 6 bisques she knew that that the slightest slip would let the Fylde sharp shooter into the game. Furthermore it was by no means clear what was the best way to defend against the compulsory peels. Two thirds through the game Jane had a moderate lead but only one bisque left. Peter then carefully left his peelee in the jaws of hoop 3 with his other ball inches behind, threatening not just a peel at hoop 3 but a massive rush to 4 for the second peel. Jayne gritted her teeth and using her last bisque cleared both of Peter’s balls away from hoop 3. After a few more defensive manoeuvres Jayne secured a narrow win to take the title. Alas for Peter there was no consolation as Sylvia logged her second win of the afternoon to take the runner’s up spot.

Jayne took home not just the trophy but a bottle of the “world famous” Chester Sloping Lawn “vintage” wine ( to compensate for her handicap reduction to 5) while Sylvia opted for a Chester Club mug ( and the runner’s up trophy) as a memento. In short an enjoyable day with much excellent croquet played by all.

Two Chester members, Jerry Guest and John Dawson, took part in the North West Millennium Advanced croquet tournament at Bowdon over the weekend.  Jerry secured the B section trophy by winning all of his five games. Former Chester player, James Hawkins, took second place in the A section.

Following heavy rain earlier in the week and cancellation of the first North West league match of the season on Saturday, the weather perked up for the annual taster session for newcomers to the game which was held on Sunday, 8 April. The weather on the day was calm and dry with even a little sunshine showing through at times.  The session started with an overview of the game, introduction to mallet and swing, followed by a demonstration and a game of golf croquet. Lunch was provided and was much appreciated. The afternoon was devoted to the shots, demonstration and game of association croquet.

Sixteen visitors attended the event of whom five signed up for the association croquet beginners course starting later in the month and seven for golf croquet.

A further taster session for the University of Chester is being held on Tuesday, 17 April.

 

After the snowdrops, more snow . . . but don’t worry, the new season is only a month away . . . and don’t forget the AGM at 7.30 pm on Friday, 2 March, with your cheque book in hand . . .