On Tuesday, 21 June, Chester Chariots played a level play golf croquet match away against Southport. The weather was lovely, the company friendly and the lawns very good and fast running. The Chester team of Jayne Taylor, Tom Grievson and Chris Thomas faced some tough opposition, and sadly lost 12 games to Southport whilst winning just 6. However, many of the games were very close fought, with four being taken to the ‘golden hoop’ before Southport won.
Over 25 guides, rangers and leaders attended a social fun introduction to croquet at the club on Wednesday, 22 June. They were from the 4th Chester St Mary’s Guides. Everyone was given a mallet, split into groups to learn the basic shots, then had a game. Some of the games were very competitive, going by the whoops of excitement! All enjoyed the evening and maybe we have potential croquet players for the future?
Visitors from Tattenhall Croquet Club were welcomed on Thursday, 30 June, for a golf croquet match in the Snowdonia Cup competition and Chester were anticipating a close game. The team consisted of Brian Lussey (captain), Sarah Clements, Ian Shaw and Jude Wise. There was mixed weather through the day with a sunny morning and following a heavy shower, when lunch was taken, the games were completed in full sunshine. Chester were victorious with a score of 11-5.
Chester took three teams to the Southport Festival this year over the weekend of 25 -26 June 25 playing in the Level Play GC, the Handicap GC and the Short Lawn AC competitions. In all there were 9 clubs represented from across the North West, and over the weekend 226 games of croquet were played.
Southport CC looked a splendid sight with 12 lawns laid out ready for play. The weather provided the entire spectrum of the traditional English summer. And while an intense short burst of rain led to the suspension of play on the South lawns, those more hardy souls playing on the North lawns just went with the (considerable) flow. They breed them tough up North!
The Handicap GC team Sandy Grievson, Sarah Clements, Arnie Bamford, Rick Davies and Brian Hussey enjoyed the greater success of our GC teams winning six and drawing four of their fourteen games over the weekend.
The Level Play GC team of Jayne Taylor, Tom Grievson, Rick Davies and Brian Hussey were less successful; while winning six games, they fell to seven defeats. The winning team from Bowdon won thirteen of their fourteen games and provided some exhibition play along the way!
The Short Lawn AC team of Val Sanders, Robert Jones, Nigel Worthington and Robin Tasker turned out to be the draw specialists of the competition losing only to Bowdon and Fylde and in both cases with just seconds left on the clock..
And so no trophies for Chester but a weekend of great fun and entertaining croquet, strengthening existing friendships and making new ones.
Finally, on Friday, 1 July, a Chester association croquet handicap team played in the first round of the national Longman Cup competition against Bowdon. Following rain, the lawns were much better and Chester fought hard to win 5-2. We wait to see where the next round will be played.
