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New Croquet Flags and 900 Visitors

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More Than 900 Try Croquet at Countryfile Live

Tim King keeps Sandy Finchett-Maddock cool in the sun.
Tim King keeps Sandy Finchett-Maddock cool in the sun.

After last year’s successful debut the CA team returned to Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace, Oxford. The four days (2 to 5 August) were baking hot, but that did not deter the visitors; most of the 120,000 plus visitors wandered past the lawn in the very centre of the show. Our counts show that over 900 people picked up a mallet and tried croquet (up from 800 last year); over 85 people left their contact details for Dave Gunn our Development Officer, to steer them towards clubs near their homes- (up from 65 last year) and others made direct contact with a CA volunteer who came from their local club.

Croquet at Countryfile Live (Photo: Alison Jones)
Croquet at Countryfile Live (Photo: Alison Jones)

We don’t think that we were on television this year, but Carol Kirkwood gave croquet a go and both she and Anita Rani gave a plug for croquet during the Q & A sessions in the Big Barn. The volunteers also did a great job passing out leaflets and chatting to passers-by: up-dating their knowledge of croquet and dispelling a few myths.It is always difficult to assess impact, but undoubtedly the public profile of croquet was raised and interest stimulated, which we hope will convert into people taking up croquet.

Eynsham club members waving the flag for the CA
Eynsham club members waving the flag for the CA

This year we trialled four new Sail Flags with the CA emblem on them to catch the attention of passers by and they were very useful. The flags are kept at Cheltenham and if any club wants to borrow them for use at their events, they are most welcome – Surbiton used them at the Solomon this week.

Interestingly, Countryfile Live has decided to have two shows next year – one at Blenheim and a second at Castle Howard in Yorkshire so I’ll be talking to our Northern colleagues about any potential interest in the latter.

Finally a big “thank you” to all the volunteers who stuck to their tasks in such roasting conditions, to Tony and Pat from Eynsham who did a great job making the lawn out of parkland and managed the setting up and dismantling of the site, to the Eynsham club and Klim Seabright for the loan of equipment and to Frances Colman who recruited the volunteers and managed the admin processes.

A very slow Croquet player at Chastleton churchyard near where the Laws of Croquet were formulated.
A very slow Croquet player at Chastleton churchyard near where the Laws of Croquet were formulated.

 

Flying High at Chester Croquet on NCD

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 Chester Croquet Club gets a “fly by” on National Croquet Day – 13 May 2018

Beluga in Finkenwerder (photo courtesy of Airbus)

Chester members were enjoying the sunshine with a social last Sunday when we had a fly past by a spectacular plane – an Airbus Beluga. We would like to have thought the pilot and crew were merely flying over to watch croquet in action on National Croquet Day but in reality they were on a routine flight from near-by Broughton.

Perhaps I should explain: Airbus makes large commercial planes, notably the A380 plus series. The wings are made in Broughton but the final plane assembly is in Toulouse or Hamburg. Can’t stick the wings in the post so what do you do? The answer is an ingenious modification of an A300 into the Airbus Beluga which can take wings in its “belly”.

If you see an unusually large plane fly over your croquet club, you’ll now know what it is.

PS: an even bigger Beluga is under development to transport a pair of A350 wings in one go. The wings of the A380 which are too large for even the Beluga XL have to go by sea.

My thanks to Aeron Haworth of Airbus for providing the superb image and the accurate technical data”

John Dawson, Secretary, Chester Croquet Club.

Late Entrant Snatches Croquet Victory

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Federation Millennium Short AC Handicap at Chester 12 May 2018

Jayne Taylor of Chester ( who only entered to cover the absence through illness of another competitor) took the North West Federation AC short lawn Millennium title,  but it was no easy ride!

Chester Secretary John Dawson presents the Millennium Short AC trophy to Jayne Taylor of Chester (photo: Pat Clare)

Eight experienced players ( two each from Fylde, Chester and Bowdon and one each from Bury and Southport ) assembled on the Chester verdant lawns on a cool but sunny Saturday. As is normal with a Swiss format the two morning rounds spread the field. By lunchtime last year’s winner, Sally Slater of Chester, and Fylde’s low handicapper, Liz Wilson, found themselves at the bottom of the pack ( ” Past performance is no indicator of future success ” as the financial pundits tell us) while Jayne and Barbara Young of Bury registered two wins apiece to lead the field.

North west players at the Millennium Short AC tournament (photo: Pat Clare)

The excellent lunch provided by Pat Clare and her team led to some changes in fortunes. Barbara lost both of her afternoon games to go down the field while Sally registered two victories ( but was too far back to make an impact). Peter Wilson and Sylvia Steer played themselves into contention with narrow wins over Margaret Moss and Gail Moors respectively while Jayne extended her lead with a further win. The final key matches had the manager on tenterhooks. A win for Jayne would make life easy for him whilst a victory for Peter would lead to a three way tie with the manager frantically brushing up his tie break knowledge.

The match between Jayne and Peter was full of tension. Peter’s low handicap meant he had to make two mandatory peels and although Jayne had 6 bisques she knew that that the slightest slip would let the Fylde sharp shooter into the game. Furthermore it was by no means clear what was the best way to defend against the compulsory peels. Two thirds through the game Jane had a moderate lead but only one bisque left. Peter then carefully left his peelee in the jaws of hoop 3 with his other ball inches behind, threatening not just a peel at hoop 3 but a massive rush to 4 for the second peel. Jayne gritted her teeth and using her last bisque cleared both of Peter’s balls away from hoop 3. After a few more defensive manoeuvres Jayne secured a narrow win to take the title. Alas for Peter there was no consolation as Sylvia logged her second win of the afternoon to take the runner’s up spot.

Jayne took home not just the trophy but a bottle of the “world famous” Chester Sloping Lawn “vintage” wine ( to compensate for her handicap reduction to 5) while Sylvia opted for a Chester Club mug  ( and the runner’s up trophy) as a memento. In short an enjoyable day with much excellent croquet played by all.”  

Chester Secretary John Dawson presents the Millennium Short AC Runner Up prize to Sylvia Steer of Bowdon (photo: Pat Clare)

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