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Arrangements for Mason Cup on Monday, 2 September

Just a reminder that the Mason Cup tournament will be held next Monday, 2 September, starting at 9.30 am, so please arrive by 9.15 am.

There are 8 entrants and the tournament will be run as a 5-round Swiss with the first round pre-drawn.

This is a 14-point full lawn handicap event where handicaps will be reduced as per Schedule 1, Schedule of Bisques from the Laws of Association Croquet, 7th edition; and further modified (reduced by 5/6th) to reflect that the time limit of matches is reduced from 90 minutes to 75 minutes. The matches will be full bisque games, that is played from a base of 0, and all four lawns will be used.

Please don’t forget your lunch!

Cheers

Robin Tasker
E-mail robin_tasker@btinternet.com

A reminder to sign up for the 2024 Mason Cup

Please, a reminder that if you haven’t already responded then I’d be delighted to hear from you if you intend to play in this year’s Mason Cup tournament.

Many thanks

Robin Tasker
E-mail robin_tasker@btinternet.com

2024 Mason Cup on Monday, 2 September

A 14-point AC full lawn handicap tournament will be held on Monday, 2 September, for the Mason Cup.

If you wish to enter please let me know no later than Monday, 26 August.

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

All games will be 14-point and time-limited with handicaps adjusted to take account of the shorter game format. Games will be played as full handicap matches (no base).

Scoring will be one point for a win; 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 tied player with the most hoop points scored will be the winner; if that fails to elicit a winner, the head-to-head results of the tied players will determine the winner; and if that fails to elicit a winner, a tie break at the manager’s discretion will be used.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Robin Tasker
E-mail robin_tasker@btinternet.com

Chester Croquet Club hosted the All England Golf Croquet A level competition over the weekend of the 3-4 August. 16 players from various parts of the country met and competed for the Maggie Cowman trophy. The weather and the lawns behaved well, though the rain on Sunday was not in the forecast. However that did not dampen the spirits of a lively and greatly enjoyed competition. The winner was Tony McCann from the Backworth Croquet Club in the North East, who narrowly beat Chester’s own Sarah Clements in the final. It was lovely to be able to welcome players from all over England to Chester, and for them to have a chance to see our City (some for the first time) during their evening stay.

A short lawn team of Derek Bell-Jones (captain), Nigel Worthington, Michael Fletcher and Sally Slater played Fylde at home on Sunday, 21 July, in the NW Federation short lawn league. Derek Bell-Jones was playing in his first match this season following surgery.

The lawns were beautiful to play on, absorbing the overnight rain, and the Chester team enjoyed playing in the sunshine and took the lead of 6-2 by lunchtime. Sally won all four of her games and Derek and Michael won three each and Nigel two, giving a final score of Chester 12 Fylde 4. Overall, it was a lovely day for croquet with a satisfying result.

Summer eventually arrived at Chester this week (and is forecast to last until Saturday when the rain returns). So on Thursday, 18 July, we were able to welcome Croquet Durham in the quarter final of the national Murphy Shield level play golf croquet competition with a gloriously sunny morning, a warm but overcast afternoon, and a small tornado that crossed the lawns making everyone hold onto their hats for a minute!

The morning saw the first two singles matches shared: Chester 1 Durham 1, but the doubles match had only got to one game all by lunchtime; and the captains were getting hungry, so decided to have lunch then play the remaining singles matches, hoping for a decisive win one way or the other without having to finish the deciding game of doubles. However, the players on both sides ‘conspired’ against this plan and shared the four singles matches two games all. So at Chester 3, Durham 3, the final doubles game became the decider. It was a tense final game with a large crowd (more than ten!) and quite a few missed shots in the early part of the game, but both teams settled down and in the end Chester just edged the final game by 7 hoops to 5 to win the match.

Many thanks to Durham for an enjoyable match which, despite the closeness of the games and the resulting tension in the match, was played through the whole (long) day in an open and friendly spirit. We hope to draw against Durham in next year’s competition and visit their lawns at Chester-le-Street.

And a special thanks to Tom and Sandy Grievson for providing a fabulous lunch which kept us all (and most of the crowd) fuelled up throughout the day.

Chester now go on to play in the semi-finals of the Murphy Shield against Watford.

On Saturday, 13 July, Chester Senators played at home against Ellesmere in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league.  Chester’s team consisted of Jill Foley (captain), David Johnson, Christine Fryer and Rhia Taylor. We had one member with a handicap of 8 and three members with a handicap of 12 and found ourselves playing against opponents with much lower handicaps of 3, 5, 6 and 12. The morning started off rainy, then stopped later. We won one doubles game but also lost one. Highlight of the day for Christine Fryer was her first match jump shot. The final score was a win for Chester with 11 games against Ellesmere with 7 games. Overall, it was a good day enjoyed by everyone and play finished early at 2.45 pm.

On the following day, Sunday 14 July, a full lawn association croquet team played away against Bowdon in the NW Federation 26 point handicap league. On Bowdon’s beautiful lawns but under grey skies and intermittent drizzle the Chester team of Mark Lloyd, David Guyton, Sally Slater and Robin Tasker found themselves struggling to cope with both the number of bisques (free shots) held by the Bowdon players and the skilful manner of their use. Indeed, opportunities to get on the lawn proved to be seriously limited, and most singles games were done and dusted well within the 3 hour time limit. The doubles game in the morning was a tighter affair but a late burst of hoops from the Bowdon team as time was called sealed a close victory. The final singles game of the afternoon was all-square but, with many hoops still to run, it was mutually agreed to void the game to allow an early departure so that both teams could prepare and be suitably refreshed to watch England in the Euro final… Sadly for Chester, the points weren’t coming home and the same turned out to be the case for England’s football team. The final result was a 6 – 0 win for Bowdon and a 2 – 1 win for Spain.

 

Chester Croquet Club hosted the CAMSOC group on Sunday, 7 July, on its annual get together on the croquet lawns. Members were soaked putting out the lawns in advance but amazingly, despite the forecast, the sun then came out and fun was had in the glorious sunny afternoon. A mixed group of 16 people attended and were put into 4 groups to play progressive doubles of golf croquet. Most had played before but members were on hand to organise the day, give advice if needed and make refreshments. Scores were counted at the end of the number of hoops ran and the winner with 20 was Daniel.

Chester sent three teams to the annual Southport Festival of Croquet over the weekend of 29 and 30 June.

Ten clubs from the North West Federation saw 80 competitors play in six different classes of croquet matches, in both association croquet and golf croquet, over the two days.

Poor weather dominated the festival, particularly on Saturday with very large puddles covering many of Southport’s twelve lawns.

Chester’s association croquet team of David Boyd, Robin Tasker and Andy Wilson-Chalon lost two of their three matches on Saturday in often driving rain but they managed to draw the third as conditions eased. On Sunday, Chester decisively defeated Pendle and drew against Bowdon in an exciting finale.

The golf croquet level play team of Sarah Clements and Rick Davies were in sparkling form despite the almost continuous rain and puddles, and they won all their Saturday matches in great style. Although Sunday was much drier, the cold and strong north easterly wind was unpleasant but the Chester pair won two of their three matches to finish an overall second in their class.

The Chester golf croquet handicap team was led by Sandy Grievson with newcomers Doreen Curtis and Christine Fryer who were having their first taste of this form of competitive croquet. Although they lost their four matches on Saturday, two were very close. On Sunday, they were soundly beaten by Fylde, the eventual winners of the class, but they came much closer in their remaining two matches.

 

 

The summer solstice, Thursday, 20 June 2024, was the day assigned for Chester Chariots to play Bury Sovereigns in the NW Federation golf croquet level play league. It did not disappoint, possibly being the warmest day of the year so far with little breeze in the morning. This was a home match of 18 games captained by Edward Baskerville, supported by Kerry Dadson and Jude Wise. The Sovereigns were led by Bernard Lord with Bury members, Vi Richards and David Parrott. The home team’s average handicap of 5.3 compared with the Sovereigns 6.3 indicating a close match might be anticipated. In the event Chester Chariots won by 14 games to 4 which did not truly reflect the pressure the Sovereigns imposed. The fact that the Sovereigns managed to run 111 hoops against the Chariots 117 gives, perhaps, a better reflection. Both captains won and lost against each other, 7-5, in games that lasted well over an hour. Jude closed the afternoon for Chester Chariots with an impressive 7-0 win, the only white wash of the day.

Another fine day two days later on Saturday, 22 June, with beautiful weather and two very evenly matched teams – Chester Senators playing at home against Bowdon Bounders in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league. Play started at 10.00 am prompt and finished at 3.00 pm. In between it was nip and tuck all the way. So evenly matched were the teams that we ended with a well-deserved draw of 9 games all. Maybe that shows the handicap system works well? What did work very well was the chemistry between the two teams with everyone able to thoroughly enjoy the match.

 

On Wednesday, 12 June, Chester was host to Southport in a NW Federation Association Short Lawn league match. Jayne Taylor (captain), Nigel Worthington, Sarah Clements and Val Sanders put up a strong fight against the more experienced visiting team and managed to hold them to a draw, 8 games each, with Sarah winning three of her four games.

The following day Chester sent a team of three north to the lovely venue of Levens Hall to play a Golf Croquet Level Play league match against Westmorland. Fortunately the rain held off until after lunch, and Sally Slater (captain), Jayne Taylor and Kerry Dadson managed to secure a draw against the home team on quite difficult lawns, with both teams winning 9 games. Three cheers were raised for Kerry who won 4 of his six games, including the last game of the day which secured the draw for Chester.

Two draws in two days!

 

On Saturday, 8 June, at Westminster Park the Chester Senators played Craggy Dons from Llandudno in an 18 game match in the NW Federation golf croquet handicap league. Chester, under captain Edward Baskerville ably supported by Christine Fryer, David Johnson and Rhia Taylor began well by winning both the doubles games. However, the Dons captained by Nick Challinor and supported by Beth McClelland, John Hannah and Linda Taylor began to fight back in the singles. The Dons, despite scoring 103 advantage points against the Senators 109 points, were held off by Chester Senators who won the match 11 games to 7. An excellent performance by David Johnson who finished the afternoon winning all four of his games in glorious sunshine, albeit with a rather chilly wind.