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Another Chester Croquet Club player was successful in a national competition over the weekend of 28-29 September. James Thomas competed at the Open Short Lawn Tournament at York, which consisted of 24 entrants from all over the country ranging from handicaps of 10 to 2 peels. The weather held off, leaving the lawns running fast. There was a good spirit of friendly co-operative rivalry which made for a relaxed and enjoyable weekend. James took the trophy, winning 9 out of his 10 games and scoring 114 hoops.

Many of the internal competitions at Chester croquet club have had to be postponed or rescheduled due to poor weather, so finally the Hibiscus AC competition was played on Saturday 28th September. This is a tournament open to those with a handicap of 8-10 (‘high bisquers’) and there were 6 hopeful participants who entered the competition on a surprisingly warm morning. The format of the day was initially a 4 round Swiss but as everyone was so enthusiastic it ended up being a round robin where everyone plays each other. With two participants in joint first place the final round saw Sarah Andrew up against Peter Fey. In a closely thought out game and a flurry of bisques, Peter Fey, a beginner to the game, won the game and the tournament.  Runner-up in the competition was Elaine Walton.

Chester croquet club held two of its internal competition finals on Wednesday 2nd October in warm sunshine. The Hermitage GC doubles is a handicap knock out competition where new partners are drawn every round. The eventual winners of the three way final were Liz Baskerville and Pat Wheeler, beating James Thomas and Janet Jackson by 6 hoops to 3.

The Hastings Wang GC singles competition was held on the same day, with the three finalists, Pauline Walters, James Thomas and Sally Slater playing each other. All matches were closely fought, but James Thomas beat Sally Slater 7-5 in the final game to take the trophy.

On a day that started with drizzle and ended with bright sunshine, Chester hosted Tattenhall in the North Wales & Cheshire Tournament Short Croquet competition on Sunday, 17 September. The Chester team of Robert Jones, Doreen Leece and Pat Wheeler (captain) won 3 games but Tattenhall won overall by 6 games to 3.

On the following Sunday, 22 September, Chester played an Advanced B league match away at Bowdon. The team of David Boyd, Brian Walton and Robin Tasker struggled against a strong Bowdon side who played some excellent croquet. The morning doubles match was hard fought but Bowdon pulled away at the end while in the singles Robin Tasker lost a scrappy game. The afternoon singles were all lost decisively although the Chester players all contributed fully and showed good form on Bowdon’s excellent lawns.

Then on Wednesday, 25 September, a Chester team of Jerry Guest (captain), John Dawson and James Thomas beat Pendle 4-1 in a further Advanced B league match.  The match was played at Chester in excellent conditions after the lawns were mowed by the Council that morning.

Chester Croquet Club member Richard Smith was a semi-finalist at the South of England Croquet Championship at Eastbourne over the weekend of 20-22 September. Before the event, despite having an Association Croquet handicap of -1, he was ranked 20 out of the 22 entrants. The event was a seeded knock-out, with each match best of three games. After winning his first round match, Richard went on to beat Great Britain internationals in the next two rounds to progress to the semi-final. Here his opponent was another international and previous open champion, Mark Avery. In the semi-final, Mark beat Richard, and then went on to win the event in the final. As a result of this success, Richard’s world ranking has improved from 160 to 125.

On Wednesday 22^nd August the Chester association croquet mid-week league team won against Bury 4-3 at home. The team of John Dawson (captain), Helen Brophy, Michael Miller and Paul Watson won the doubles and one singles in the morning and two singles in the afternoon.