Saturday, 1 June, saw Chester host its first ever nationwide “B” series tournament for Level Play Golf Croquet, drawing players ( and Bertie the dog) from all over the country, in a competition for players with a 3 handicap or above, playing in at least 7 games each. The winner Chris Higgins from Bishops Monkton triumphed over Robert Purcell from Ludlow Castle, in a close fought final, with Edwin Bone from Eynsham winning a close battle with Jill Brent (and Bertie the dog) to win the plate competition ( which happened to be a bottle of champagne !). Local Chester members, Edward Baskerville and Rick Davies battled it out for third and fourth place in the main competition, with Edward wining the cup (or rather the tankard). This was a well fought and sociable competition on a lovely day; enjoyed by participants, helpers and those watching. We look forward to another one next year !
On the following day, Sunday, 2 June, David Guyton, David Boyd, Mark Lloyd and Andy Wilson-Chalon played for Chester at home against Crake Valley in the NW Federation Association Croquet 26 point handicap league. For a change the weather was sunny if a little chilly, and the lawns benefitted from being cut for the golf croquet tournament on the previous day. They were dry and fast, prompting more overshoots approaching the hoops and at the boundary than players might have wished. Fortunes varied during the day, with Crake Valley forging ahead in the morning, but Chester regaining the upper hand in the afternoon leading to a 4-3 win by the Chester team.
At the same time, the Chester Senators Golf Croquet team travelled to Southport to play a Golf Croquet handicap league match, and also benefitted from the dry and windy weather which had helped to dry out some of the Southport lawns that had been waterlogged earlier in the week. Gail Thomas (capt), Sandy Grievson, Doreen Curtis and Mel Hagan had a long but enjoyable day, and succeeded in holding the home team to a very close result, losing by only 10 – 8.
On Tuesday, 4 June, Chester Chariots faced a much more experienced Golf Croquet team from Crake Valley in a NW Federation Level Play league match. Not surprisingly the low handicap players of Crake (at levels 1 and 2) soundly beat the Chester team of Jayne Taylor, Edward Baskerville and Kerry Dadson ( all on level 5) but the games were well fought with Edward and Jayne prevailing in two of them, which eased the pain. Unfortunately the already wet lawns became waterlogged under a downpour in the afternoon and the last four games of the match had to be abandoned, leaving the score at 12 games to 2.
In contrast on Thursday, 6 June, Chester Centurions, with Mark Lloyd, Garry Greenwood and David Boyd (all on level 1 handicap) faced a team from Westmorland (on handicaps 6, 10 and 10), and produced an equally convincing result, winning 17 games to 1 in a Level Play golf croquet league match. Fortunately the weather was somewhat kinder !
It’s a busy season !