Southport Win Croquet Festival 2013

1 July 2013 by Keith Roberts

North West Federation of Croquet Clubs 2013 Championship

Welcome back - Isle of Man — Welcome back – Isle of Man

Well that’s its posh name, we call it our Festival of Croquet as it is an event designed to bring players in the North West together to celebrate Croquet in each of its disciplines, at the Southport & Birkdale Club. This year, in what we believe to be the Festival’s nineteenth year, the Isle of Man returned after an absence of far too long and we also welcomed, for the first time, Ellesmere.

Each of the four disciplines was managed by an ‘Event Manager’, the key job in the running of the tournament. Brian Lewis (his name will appear later on as well) ensured that the ‘Short’ players knew what they were doing and collected all of the 90 results – no mean feat – but dwarfed by the size of the task given to Sue Hardman who had to deal with 27 Golf players (plus substitutes) of 108 games which were not scheduled in ‘blocks’ but more of a conveyor belt. Sue made it look easy – excellent! The Advanced was managed by Liz Wilson who dealt with all of the issues arising in this, largely A Class group. Keith Roberts, the Championship Manager, also got away with running the Handicap competition!

The Advanced Championship Shield was won by Crake Valley who won 4 of 6. Runner-up was Bowdon who also won 4 games but were beaten by the Champions. 15 games of Doubles were played producing two Triple Peels both by Colin Irwin … one on the South Lawns and one on the North!

The Handicap Championship Shield went to Southport. The 28 matches were played as a Singles and a Doubles (56 games), and Southport was only beaten in 3 of their 14 games. Runner up was Chester with 9/14.

The Short Croquet Champions, Bury, won 16 of their games but, importantly, 7 of 10 matches as Runner up Southport won 19 games but were only winners of 6 matches. In total there were 90 games played.The Golf Croquet Championship Shield was won narrowly by Bury who were winners in 6 of their 8 matches. Southport and Culcheth also managed a 75% success but the Shield went to Bury as its team beat both. 108 games were played!

The big shield, for the 2013 North West Club Champions, went to Southport with 25 of a possible 29 championship points. Second was Bury (18) and there was a three way tie for third involving Westmorland, Bowdon and Fylde, each with 13 points.

Full Results follow these notes!

That’s 269 games played on 9 full and 7-half lawns (12½ fle) in two days with a minimum of 81 participants in all matches requiring 28 sets of balls/clips etc. and 16 sets of hoops. The World’s biggest single venue Croquet Event? Maybe?

About this size ............. — About this size ………….

All of which brings us back to Brian Lewis, Chairman of the Southport Club, Team Leader, Event Manager and general factotum. Brian, together with the Committee and Members of Southport and Birkdale, was responsible for the organisation and the facilities which enabled the Championship to be the huge success that most agree it was.

Tournament Referee Peter Wilson said he had very little to do and the writer was only called to look at two potential wiring lifts in Short games.

Liz Wilson, the Federation Chairman, commented on the markedly improved quality of Southport’s North Lawns and noted that it was really appreciated by everybody. The hard work and investment by Southport together with the support and commitment of the Federation will ensure that the festival continues for many years to come.

Liz also praised the lunch and tea-time catering provided by Margaret Flemington and her team of helpers … and quite rightly too, it was excellent!

Oh, and the weather was quite decent.

“ … a most enjoyable couple of days” said one Club Captain.

Crake - Winners of Advanced Event — Crake – Winners of Advanced Event

Bury - Winners of Festival Golf Event — Bury – Winners of Festival Golf Event

Southport - Winners of Handicap Event — Southport – Winners of Handicap Event

Bury - Winners of Festival Short Event — Bury – Winners of Festival Short Event

Gallery – below is a random arrangement of images – click on any image to go to slideshow format:

Spectators enjoying ……………..

Some of the Festival players

Pink ball goes through pink hoop by pink player

Croquet the spectator sport

The Prestigious Festival Trophies

Southport North Lawns

Meeting old friends

Welcome back Ellesmere, its been a long time

Packed north lawns

Southport South Lawns

Busy time on the South lawns

And the Winners are ………..

Just time for a cuppa at the start

Green is the colour

No end to his talents – can drink on the move

2013 Festival Final Placings

	Advanced	Handicap	Short	Golf	POINTS WON	PLACE
Southport	4	8	5	8	25	1
Bury	2	1	6	9	18	2
Bowdon	5	4	2	2	13	3
Fylde	1	5	4	3	13	3
Westmorland	-	6	1	6	13	3
Chester	-	7	-	4	11	6
Pendle	3	3	-	5	11	6
Crake	6	-	3	-	9	8
Culcheth	-	-	-	7	7	9
Isle of Man	-	2	-	-	2	10
Ellesmere	-	-	-	1	1	11

2013 Festival Advanced Event

	Bow	Bury	Crak	Fyl	Pen	Sou	WINS	POINTS	PLACE
Crake	W	L	-	W	W	W	4	6	1
Bowdon	-	W	L	W	W	W	4	5	2
Southport	L	W	L	L	W	-	2	4	3
Pendle	L	W	L	W	-	L	2	3	4
Bury	L	-	W	W	L	L	2	2	5
Fylde	L	L	L	-	L	W	1	1	6

Games won score one point each.
In case of a tie for any place the head to head result will decide.

2013 Festival Golf Event

	Bowdon	Bury	Chester	Culcheth	Ellesmere	Fylde	Pendle	Southport	Westmorland	MATCHES WON	PLACE	POINTS
Bowdon	xxx	1-2	1-2	1-2	3-0	1-2	1-2	1-2	1-2	1	8	2
Bury	2-1	xxx	2-1	2-1	3-0	2-1	1-2	2-1	1-2	6	1	9
Chester	2-1	1-2	xxx	1-2	2-1	3-0	1-2	1-2	3-0	4	6	4
Culcheth	2-1	1-2	2-1	xxx	2-1	2-1	2-1	1-2	2-1	6	3	7
Ellesmere	0-3	0-3	1-2	1-2	xxx	0-3	2-1	0-3	0-3	1	9	1
Fylde	2-1	1-2	0-3	1-2	3-0	xxx	1-2	1-2	1-2	2	7	3
Pendle	2-1	2-1	2-1	1-2	1-2	2-1	xxx	3-0	1-2	5	5	5
Southport	2-1	1-2	2-1	2-1	3-0	2-1	0-3	xxx	2-1	6	2	8
Westmorland	2-1	2-1	0-3	1-2	3-0	2-1	2-1	1-2	xxx	5	4	6

In case of a tie for any place the head to head result decides

2013 Festival Short Event

	Bowdon	Bury	Crake	Fylde	Southport	Westmorland	MATCHES WON	POINTS	PLACE
Bury	2-1 & 1-2	xxx	2-1 & 2-1	0-3 & 2-1	2-1 & 1-2	2-1 & 2-1	7 (16)	6	1
Southport	1-2 & 2-1	1-2 & 2-1	1-2 & 3-0	1-2 & 3-0	xxx	2-1 & 3-0	6 (19)	5	2
Fylde	2-1 & 3-0	3-0 & 1-2	1-2 & 2-1	xxx	2-1 & 3-0	2-1 & 1-2	6 (17)	4	3
Crake	2-1 & 2-1	1-2 & 1-2	xxx	2-1 & 1-2	2-1 & 3-0	0-3 & 0-3	4 (11)	3	4
Bowdon	xxx	1-2 & 2-1	1-2 & 1-2	1-2 & 0-3	2-1 & 1-2	2-1 & 3-0	4 (14)	2	5
Westmorland	1-2 & 0-3	1-2 & 1-2	3-0 & 3-0	1-2 & 2-1	1-2 & 3-0	xxx	3 (13)	1	6

Matches won decides the Championship winner.
In case of a tie for any place the head to head result decides, failing that, the total games won scored at one point each.

2013 Festival Handicap Event

	Bow S D	Bury S D	Ches S D	Fyl S D	IoM S D	Pen S D	Sou S D	Wes S D	GAMES WON	POINTS	PLACE
Southport	W W	W W	W L	L W	W W	W W	xxx	L W	11	8	1
Chester	L W	W W	xxx	L W	W L	W L	L W	W W	9	7	2
Westmorland	W L	W L	L L	W W	W L	W W	W L	xxx	8	6	3
Fylde	W W	W L	W L	xxx	W L	W L	W L	L L	7	5	4
Bowdon	xxx	W W	W L	L L	W W	L W	L L	L W	7	4	5
Pendle	W L	L W	L W	W L	W L	xxx	L L	L L	5	3	6
Isle of Man	L L	W L	L W	L W	xxx	L W	L L	L W	5	2	7
Bury	L L	xxx	L L	L W	L W	W L	L L	L W	4	1	1

S = Singles; D = Doubles.
Games won score one point each.
In case of a tie for any place the head to head result will decide, failing that, result of the Singles head to head will decide.

Steve Lewis R.I.P.

23 June 2013 by Bowdon Web Site

Some Personal Memories:

From Martin Granger Brown:

Bowdon has lost a star player, a staunch member and a most loyal supporter in Steve, one of the keenest competitive players I have ever met, and always an agreeable and magnanimous opponent. His warm demeanour and fortitude throughout a long illness were exemplary. A lasting legacy from Steve to the Club is worth recording, and may bring a smile to many who are unaware of it. In his earliest and keenest days as a player, he realised that shooting practice was the key to early improvement and used to drop in on his way to work for an hour or so! The sound of the hard-hit balls banging against the stops as early as 7.00am must have awoken one of our neighbours who wrote to the Committee seeking respite. As a result the Club rules were amended so that playing hours are now “09.00 to dusk” rather than “during daylight hours”, and we can all sleep soundly in our beds, without feeling guilty that we are wasting valuable time for practice with the larks!

From Barry Keen:

I first met Steve when he started playing Croquet after joining the nuclear design company at Radbroke Hall near Knutsford in 1971. He also played his first games at Bowdon that year when I organised a weekend tournament jointly between the Knutsford club and Bowdon. The Knutsford club ceased to exist in 1972 and Steve drifted away from the game until the late 70’s when he became a Bowdon member. He rapidly improved in the eighties, winning the Silver Box twice, and played in the Open Championships and the first World Championship. He then gave up croquet to spend time with his family having achieved a handicap of -1.
He took up croquet again when he rejoined Bowdon in 2003 and was soon playing at his old handicap of -1. Steve was a keen supporter of the Wednesday competition, winning the season competition three times. As his illness progressed his attendance on Wednesday dropped off until his last visits a year ago. Steve will always be remembered for his unique swinging style which allowed him to hit the ball probably harder than any other player. Woe betide anyone who put themselves in line with one of his shots. He had an intense will to win but belied it with a generous spirit towards his opponents. In all the years I have known him, I have never heard a cross word or negative comment from him, and when he lost a game, he always said, most sincerely, “well done”. The club has lost a fine player and a gentleman.

From John Saxby:

Dear Judith,

I write to you on behalf of myself, the committee and all our club members to offer our heartfelt condolence for your loss of Steve.

We will never appreciate how much suffering you and Steve endured in these last few years but we all witnessed Steve’s stoicism as he continued to join us every Wednesday despite being in such distress.

I must also thank you for allowing us to join you at his funeral last week it was a very moving experience and your floral tribute brought tears to our eyes.

Steve was a formidable competitor but his patience on a Wednesday when sharing a lawn or playing against fairly disorganized beginners was exemplary. He was unfailingly polite and usually managed to win even when deprived of his fair time on the lawn. I think all the Wednesday players would agree he was our favourite player, we loved him dearly and sorely miss him!

Our thoughts and prayers will be with you for some time to come.

Best Wishes

John Saxby (Hon. Secretary)

Trans Pennine Croquet Cup Stuck in North East

23 June 2013 by Paul Rigge

North East Triumph Again in Pennine Cup

Paul Rigge reports from Earby 23 June 2013

Failure for the Lancashire croquet squad at Pendle croquet club again!!

Member Paul Rigge, as Manager and this year, Captain of the NW Federation team, took control and led this year’s squad out at Pendle (after setting the hoops in the only rain we had all day). This match is the last remaining fixture from the old Confederation of Northern Clubs (under Mike Evans), and as such, is always played in great spirit and this year wasn’t an exception – good fun was had.

The North East team, lead by Charles Waterfield carried the day 6-3 and retained the trophy for the fourth successive time, despite Lancashire being marginally stronger on paper. By lunch we were 1-2 down after the 3hr morning doubles, and Pendle’s fayre failed to reverse our fortunes in the single matches after the break.

Worth noting this year – for the first time ever, nearly all the games were played (bar one) under advanced rules and only Bury members won games.

Photo (L-R): NW Fed; Betty Bates(10), Rob Essler(1.5), Terry Vernazza(5), Peter Wilson(1.5), Andy Branwood(6) & Paul Rigge (-1) NE Fed; Charles Waterfield(.5), Dennis Scarr(6), Malcolm Daines(6), Derek Knight(3), Derek Watts(2) & David Turner (7)

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