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Before Wimbledon there was …..

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THERE WAS A NEWS FLASH !

Before Wimbledon there was ….  Listen to James Hawkins talking to Chris Evans about Croquet on Radio 1 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058x6kh

THEN AN OLD CODGER GOT UPSET !

Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir

I was so disappointed to learn that the Editor of the NW Fed website was stuck in a pre millennium time warp. Even the most uneducated of his readers will know that Chris Evans has matured over the years and moved from Radio 1 to take over the early morning Radio 2 slot once occupied by ( some would say) the late/ great Terry Wogan!

As my daughters say to me so regularly ” Keep up , you old …..”. I trust the error will be quickly rectified ( even if the balls are not returned their previous position)

Yours

Old Codger of Chester

THE EDITOR REPLIES ! 

Ah those pre-millennium days – when I had a high croquet handicap and could win most of my Croquet games, Wogan and the TOG’s gave us a few laughs on Radio 2 whilst a young whippersnapper called Evans excited younger listeners on Radio 1.  This fellow Evans does not look a day older so still looks like a Radio 1 personality, far too young for Radio 2!  When did that transfer happen?  Apologies to all Radio 1 / 2 fans.

JOHN DAWSON PUTS IT IN PERSPECTIVE ! 

James Hawkins, a leading AC player and author of Complete Croquet, is to be congratulated on getting Croquet on to the Chris Evans Radio 2 show. He initially phoned in to ” put Chris right” on the history of croquet at Wimbledon a few weeks ago and was promptly ” rewarded ” with a live interview with Chris within days. A brave man!! And whilst James in the interview may not have revealed anything new to croquet aficionados he did get croquet into the public arena. Not many of us create the opportunity to talk to 9 million people in the UK about croquet and to get on to the Chris Evans IPlayer site for more listeners ( along with a photo of AC World Champion, Stephen Mulliner lining up a hoop1 peel).

Well done , James .

John Dawson

Croquet Raises Profile at National Show

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STOP PRESS: Spotted by John Dawson (Chester) – Croquet did make it onto TV at CountryfileLive for 15 seconds for BBC Oxford. Not the 15 minutes Andy Warhol promised but probably the first time for several years that croquet has been on UK TV

See for yourself – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsLHebayWTY

CROQUET MAKES ITS DEBUT AT “COUNTRYFILELIVE”

“CountryfileLive” is an annual show (spun off from BBC TV’s Countryfile) held over 4 days at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford in August and attended by over 120,000 people. This year the CA persuaded the organisers to allow a croquet lawn to be set up in the centre of the Show on which visitors could play under the tutelage of experienced CA players. Firstly Tony Newport and Pat Edgington from the Eynsham club had to make a lawn out of the parkland, then 50 players from neighbouring clubs in the South and South West Federations volunteered to man the lawn over nine hours on each of the four days

The result was hundreds of visitors received 15 minute slots to play croquet and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tens of thousands of visitors watched as they walked past the lawn and many stopped to chat to the CA volunteers in white to learn what croquet was about and pick up some leaflets. Many were local but some came from as far afield as Ireland, Spain, Australia and Canada. The players were of all ages and we even persuaded BBC Countryfile presenter, Anita Rani, “to give croquet a go”!  Afterwards she tweeted “Today I play croquet! I’m a bloomin natural”.

Over 80 people were sufficiently interested to leave their email and post code details for Dave Gunn, our Development Officer, to steer them towards clubs near their homes and a further 20 had serious chats with members of clubs local to the Show. How many will end up playing croquet we don’t know but it was clear the CA and modern croquet raised its public profile and made an impact on visitors to the Show.

Many thanks must go to the 50 volunteers who manned the lawn with great enthusiasm, to Tony and Pat for setting up the lawn, to the Eynsham club for providing the equipment, to Chris Roberts, Klim Seabright and Frances Colman, for recruiting the volunteers and to Liz Larsson and Dan Atiyah of the CA office for managing the complexities of the admin.

John Henderson Wins Fylde Croquet Again

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John Henderson – Fylde Handicap Winner

JOHN HENDERSON WON THE FYLDE CC JUBILEE HANDICAP TROPHY  (29/30 July 2017) 

 In the fifth and final round Betty Bates played Marjorie Eldon and Joe Lennon played John Henderson. If Joe could win a fifth game he would win outright but the other three were all in with a shout as the three way tie break would need invoking if he did not.  Marjorie was playing well and had been peeling yesterday. She  beat Betty who was also on great form. Her change of stance and grip has paid dividends. 

Things then became very tense and exciting for the spectators. John (Peg/Rover) had a chance to run Rover with a jump shot which failed. Joe (Peg/6) stepped on the lawn with only a couple of minutes to play and hit in. Then playing with his usual speed and efficiency which he had demonstrated through the preceding four rounds he got round to have a longish chance at running Rover himself. 

It would have been interesting to see how the golden point play would have panned out from there had he got through. Some suggested pegging oppo and self out leaving a two ball ending with both for Rover. Others said simply join up. The three way tie break was resolved using the sum of the beaten opponents scores. It was very close, John 11, Joe & Marjorie 10. 

Many returning players filled the tournament. Special mentions for Joe Lennon for being at every one since it started on 2012. Ken Jones for being ROT. John Henderson for returning to defend the trophy. Philip Bass our lawns man extraordinaire. Dave Williamson for his first visit. Eileens Rossiter and Gallagher and The Huddersfield Flight Crew  of Rena Souten, Denise Hoyle and Marjorie Eldon (They turn up together looking very smart wheeling small flight bags) for continuing to support our tournament. Not forgetting our club players Alan Morton and Betty Bates for their participation and the tidying up each day. 

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