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Festival of Croquet – July 2007

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Bowdon NW Fed Champion Club for 2007 (02/07/07) by Peter Wilson

Fest07_SouthLawns_1227

Fest07_puddleBOWDON are the 2007 Championship winners! Southport & Birkdale runner up and Bury was placed 3rd.

Bowdon won both the Short Croquet and Golf Croquet shields (only losing one match – to Southport in the Short event). Fylde won the Handicap Shield being undefeated in this section. Bury, Chester, and Culcheth clubs were also represented. This year Pendle & Craven, Llanfairfechan and the I.O.M.did not enter.

As far as I know, there is nothing else like this event on the croquet calendar. Teams from clubs all over the area battle for five trophies in four disciplines over two days on six full and six half lawns.

Many clubs use the event to give their newer rising stars a first taste of competition and for those players the wonderful sight of Southport CC full to the brim is something they always remember. But the event also allows many of the established players to get together over a weekend and promotes a sense of unity amongst the clubs in the Northwest.

Nevertheless for each club it is not always easy to get teams together and so congratulations to Mike Steer and his teams from Bowdon for not only doing so but actually playing very well in the difficult conditions.

Did I mention the Weather?

Fest07_BrollyPrior to this weekend the whole country had been swamped by endless rain causing many towns to be flooded for days on end. Severe weather warnings were given for the Northwest but on Saturday the lawns were good and the tournament was on with over 30 games played..

Rain fell constantly and everyone needed their waterproofs on. This rather reduced the effect of having team colours for the first time but there were many special touches to be seen here and there. A special mention to Bowdon for their Orangeness and to Sylvia Steer for the shoelaces!

Only towards the end of Saturday did the lawns begin to puddle. During the night the rain just got worse and in the morning it was clear that play would not be possible. (A lucky escape for Dave Nick, scheduled to play Advanced Doubles in pink). Although the second day was abandoned, the schedule of play from Saturady enabled Keith Roberts, the tournament manager, to produce results in all events except the Advanced Doubles.

( The Advanced was scheduled as all play all over two days; 3 Saturday, 2 Sunday, unlike the Golf, Short and Handicap events which were all play all on each day. As Sunday’s play was cancelled it was not possible to determine a winner as some teams had only played one game relevant to the Championship (games vs Manager’s Select don’t count)).

 
Golf Pts
Short Pts
Hcap Pts
Total Points
Final Position
Bowdon
5
5
2
12
1
Southport
4
2
3
9
2
Bury
3
4
1
8
3
Fylde
1
3
4
8
4
Culcheth
2
0
0
2
5
Chester
0
1
0
1
6

With no play on the Sunday, trophies were left unpresented and will be formally awarded at the NW Fed Annual Meeting in November at Culcheth.

Fest07_Play_1194

 

Pendle lose to Colchester in Mary Rose

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Mary Rose (26/9/06) – Colchester beat Pendle 5-2 by Jonathan Hills

Jonathan Hills (1) & Steve Woolnough (1) beat Roger Scofield (2.5) & Norman Hicks (3) +7;
Colin Hemming (3½) beat Peter Wilson (3) +6;
George Woolhouse (3½) lost to Liz Wilson (4) -9;
Steve Woolnough (1) beat Roger Scofield (2.5) +18;
Jonathan Hills (1) beat Norman Hicks (3) +4;
Colin Hemming (3½) lost to Liz Wilson (4) -13;
George Woolhouse (3½) beat Peter Wilson (4) +7.

A neutral venue was preferred due to the distances required to travel. Nottingham helpfully provided personnel to open up. Play commenced on lawns 2 and 3 but had to be delayed when it was noticed that William Gee was playing on lawn 1. Under the revised Nottingham protocol, a risk assessment was undertaken and play was transferred to lawns 4 and 5 to avoid injury.

The only other notable event in the morning’s play was that the doubles finished before the singles. The afternoon was a tense affair with only Woolnough showing some solid play to leave Colchester 3-1 up. However, the other 3 matches could have gone either way and it was with some relief that Woolhouse held his nerve to seal the match.

Liz Wilson was pleased to achieve her lowest handicap yet, being reduced from 4 to 3½, although she seemed uncertain on whether she could reduce it further and anyway, “B level is the far most interesting form of the game as you get more chances.”

Thanks again to the Nottingham contingent for hosting us.

North West Regional All England Final

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North-West All-England Area Final (17/9/06) by David Cotton

On September 2nd, 12 hopefuls from the North West’s croquet clubs arrived at Pendle & Craven Club for the first day of the qualifying finals for the All England Handicap competition. Bowdon fielded 5 players, Bury 2, Ashby 1, Huddersfield 1, Pendle & Craven 2 and Fylde 1. The competition was a 5 round Swiss event, full bisque, base 10. 3 people were to qualify for the finals in Nailsea on 16th and 17th September.

From the outset, the lowest handicappers in the competition – Liz Wilson (4) and Abdul Ahmad (4.5) – played with great gusto and a cheerful, if philosophical, approach which belied their feelings that in this competition the handicap odds may be stacked high against them! As the first round started the rain became heavier and heavier and, after 2 hours of play, even the strongest players struggled to roll a ball the width of a lawn. Water began to collect in deep puddles and the now horizontal rain began to impede vision. Apparently waterproof trousers became saturated and see-through, to the chagrin of their wearers. And yet…the 12 players struggled on against all odds to complete their games. At the end of round 1, it became obvious that play could not continue. Players enjoyed a wonderful lunch, whilst clothes steamed and the rain became more torrential. We renamed the game “Soaket.”By mutual agreement, play stopped for the day. To ensure the completion of 5 rounds, it was agreed to play 4 x 14 point rounds on the following day.

Sunday saw slightly brighter skies and a renewed high spirit. Leonard Ainsworth (Fylde) and David Cotton (Bowdon) had each won all their games in the first three rounds. Robin Delves (Pendle & Craven) had proved master of the Rover peel and spirits remained high. By round 4, Leonard was beginning to prove invincible. His methodical, steady approach and good use of bisques robbed David off his 4th game. Meanwhile, Paul Kenworthy of Bury beat Jenny Dennis of Bowdon to take his 3rd game of the competition and Liz Wilson (Pendle & Craven) joined Abdul Ahmad (Bowdon) and Malcolm Daines (Huddersfield) in winning her 2nd game.

By now, Leonard seemed to have it in the bag. Steadily working his way round he took the 5th round from Paul to win all 5 of his games and 1st place in the competition. Robin Delves won his 4th game to take 2nd place and no less than 5 people tied for 3rd place. The 5 way tie for third was resolved by a shootout at the peg as advertised before the start. The first 2 tiebreaker clauses had failed to produce a result. However, 3 of the 5 people tying for third place were unable to go to Nailsea, so time was saved by only having the 2 who were able to go take part in the shoot out. In a nail biting finish, Paul Kenworthy took 3rd place and Malcolm Daines was nominated as first reserve.

Many thanks to Peter Wilson for his great organisation of the competition and to Pendle & Craven for their splendid hospitality

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