Re-produced from the April 2015 edition of the Croquet Gazette:
North West Federation of Croquet Clubs - for everything Croquet in the north west
by Chris Alvey
Bowdon and Southport Raise £630 in a few hours
Two north west clubs took part in the national CA One Ball Charity Challenge this year. The designated charity for 2015 was Bowel Cancer UK, since their house colour is purple, competitors were asked to wear something purple. Entrants usually donate £5 and with other initiatives such as a raffle, a substantial sum of money can be raised in a few hours of enjoyable croquet.
Bowdon and Southport held events on Easter Monday and coincidentally both attracted 34 players and raised similar sums of money (£250 and £254). Consequently, each club is entitled to send five players to the national finals in Surbiton.
At Bowdon, Graham Good won their charity one-ball event by winning all his four games 14-7, 14-11, 14-7 and 14-5. Second placed was John Haworth. John and Graham were the only two players to win all their matches.
Over at Southport, the far end of the lawns kept disappearing intermittently as a sea mist rolled in from the Irish Sea. Nevertheless, we believe all players returned to the clubhouse with their sanity intact for a presentation to Ken Allen for the fastest game; Chris Sweeney for ‘Hoop of the Day’; Don Williamson for ‘Shot of the Day’ and the overall winner, Derek Lunt, for most games won.
A total sum of £504 was raised between the two clubs. With Gift Aid, this raises the donation to Bowel Cancer UK to £630, a wonderful achievement, well done to both clubs.
by Chris Alvey
We are sad to report that John Saxby, Secretary of Bowdon Croquet Club, passed away last Saturday (21st April) after a short illness with pancreatic cancer. John was well known throughout our Federation and always made succinct and relevant contributions to our Federation meetings. Many players will have enjoyed playing Croquet with him, especially in the Midweek League. He was very popular and will be greatly missed by his colleagues at Bowdon and many friends throughout the region. There will be a requiem mass on Wednesday 1st April at 10.00am at St Vincents Church, Bentinck Road, Altrincham. There is a request for no flowers but donations to Marie Curie Nurses would be appreciated. On behalf of everyone in the Federation, we send our condolences to John’s family at this sad and difficult time.