Author: Hugh Bray

You can now watch quality live or recorded International Golf Croquet matches via the internet.
The current match, Golf Croquet Trans-Tasman between heated rivals Australia and New Zealand, will feature all of the four-days of action
Click on the link below to watch the match:
https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/8619338
The CA and various clubs (Sussex, Surbiton and Nottingham) are investing in comparable technologies so this will become a regular feature for both GC and AC over the summer.
It brightens up your morning muesli.
Give it a try!

On Saturday 13^th Chester croquet club held a taster day for people who were interested in learning and playing the sport. 19 people attended the day, supported by 10 coaches from the club, and they learnt all about the different types of game, how to hit the ball, different types of stroke, how to run hoops and some strategy too. It was a great day with lots of fun. Most people signed up for the beginner courses to be held in the next few weeks.

 

The first matches of the season got underway for Chester croquet club this weekend.
On a very cold but sunny Sunday, the Chester team of Chris Thomas (captain), Janet Jackson, Brian Hayes and Mel Hagan had an enjoyable match against Crake Valley, who had travelled down to Chester the night before. The result was Crake 10.5 Chester 7.5 giving Crake the win.
At Bowdon over the weekend the North West millennium advanced tournament was held and Jerry Guest and Mark Lloyd represented Chester.

One of the prizes at last autumn’s Eaton Park Charity Auction was an Afternoon of Croquet at Chester Croquet Club, with afternoon tea.
The winners will be experiencing this on the afternoon of Sunday 4^th August. Two full sized lawns will be required and use of the clubhouse for the afternoon tea.
We already have volunteers sorting out the food and giving croquet guidance, however if there’s anyone else who wants to lend a hand, that would be great.
Please be aware that there will therefore only be 2 lawns available that afternoon for member’s use?

Chester Croquet Club members Helen Brophy and John Dawson competed in the All England Association handicap regional final held at Fylde over the weekend of 2^nd and 3^rd September. Both scored 3 wins out of 5 matches and narrowly missed qualifying for the national final.

Chester Centurions Level Play Golf croquet team were denied a clean sweep in the NW Federation’s 2018 LPG league. Having won all 5 of their previous encounters, the Centurions, represented by David Crawford, Trevor Farrell and David Boyd (captain), lost their final match of the season on Thursday 6^th September away at Pendle, by 11 games to 6. However, despite this loss, the Centurions finished as the 2018 LPG league winners, which was helped partly by Chester’s other team the Chariots beating Bowdon, the rival team for the top spot, leaving Pendle in second place behind the Centurions.

On Friday 7^th September, the finals of the Hermitage golf doubles took place. The internal competition took a different format this year with names being drawn out a hat each round. The final four were Maureen Ivens, Patti Evans, Sally Slater and competition organiser Pete Fey. Maureen and Sally were drawn together and played Pete and Patti in a best of three games. The first game was very close at 7-5 and the second game went to time with a win of 6-5 to Sally and Maureen giving them the overall title.

On a very wet day on Saturday 8^th September, the short lawn team of Sally Slater (captain), Val Sanders, Barbara Jones and Roger Edwards played at home against Southport. By lunchtime the lawns were under a lot of water and the captains agreed to abandon the match. Southport conceded the match to Chester who were winning 6-2.

Chester croquet club often hosts community groups who want to try their hand at croquet and it was a MENSA group who came on Saturday 1^st September. Dennis Holman, one of the club’s coaches, organised and led the day. The participants came from all over the country and two came over from Ireland. In the morning 12 people learnt about and played association croquet, and in the afternoon 22 others played progressive golf croquet. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

The beautiful Levens Hall in the South Lakes was the venue for Chester’s NW Golf Croquet league match against Westmorland on Sunday 26^th August, unfortunately the weather was both very wet and very cold, with only a gazebo for shelter!! The team of Mel Hagan, Pat Wheeler, Liz Subramanian and Jayne Taylor (captain) were beaten 12-6 by Westmorland. Pat was playing her first match for the club and did well to win both a doubles and a singles game.

After winning the short lawn competition at the Southport festival, Chester was entered into the new national competition and met Bowdon in the first round. Bowdon had control of the match from the start, winning the first set of 4 games 3-1. This continued in the second and third rounds with two more 3-1 wins. In the final round of four, Chester found some better form to share the round 2-2. The final result was 11-5. However, all the matches were played in great spirit, and each of the Chester team recorded a win.

On Thursday 30^th August the Chester Chariots level play team of Paul Taylor (captain), Sally Slater and Chris Thomas played away at Bowdon in the NW level play league. It was a glorious day and the Chester team won convincingly 13-5.

Chester’s “Centurions” Level Play Golf Croquet team, represented by David Crawford, Trevor Farrell and David Boyd (Captain) played their away match against Southport on Wednesday 22^nd August to defend the team’s un-beaten record so far this season.

Chester’s success in the morning session, saw them with a commanding 8 games to 0 lead, although two of the games were just narrowly won (7/6) on the golden hoop. Retaliation from Southport during the afternoon did give them 4 wins but the final match result was a 13 games to 4 win for Chester Centurions, to retain their un-defeated position at the top of the N W Federation’s LPG league.

Chester croquet club took on a strong team from Pendle and Craven on Saturday 18^th August in the NW handicap league and won 5-2.
Chester’s team comprised Elmyr Hughes, David Boyd, Alan Clare (captain) and Brian Walton.
The lawns were slow as they had not been recently cut and the bald patches made judging pace a bit tricky! In the morning the wind was blustery, however the afternoon was hot and sunny.