North West Federation of Croquet Clubs - for everything Croquet in the north west
16 croquet players with handicaps ranging from -1 to 16 entered the three day Bowdon Handicap Tournament held over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Twelve Bowdon players were joined by players from Canterbury, Surbiton and East Dorset. The event was managed by Lorna Frost and all Bowdon lawns were utilised for the event.
Eventual winner was Peter Taylor (-1) who beat Chris Evans (11) in the final to win the Reed Cup.
You can read further details here, courtesy of the Bowdon CC website
Easter Celebrations at Pendle (John Beech Memorial Tournament 14-17 April 2017)
Pendle at Easter – It really doesn’t matter when this Croquet event falls, the Earby weather always helps to test croquet players in varied conditions: cold, warm, wet or windy, pick your day and/or combination. Only 13 entries this year dipped in and out of the four day event, even the manager was part time this year!
Because of the low numbers entered, it was a huge treat to play all croquet rounds across the five superb courts as single banked – no mucking about with markers required.
Catering of course was well up to this club’s very high standards (although this reporter was upset to miss out on Fridays home made Hot Cross Buns).
OK, back to the croquet, by Monday we had winners for all the various trophies available:
John Beech Handicap Trophy – Roger Staples
Peter Dowdall Cup (adv) – defended by David Walters.
Under 10 Handicap Trophy – Andy Brandwood
10 & Over Handicap Trophy – Joe Lennon
Fastest Game – Betty Bates (54mins Vs R Essler)
Thanks to David Walters for publishing the games on Croquetscores (https://croquetscores.com/2017/ac/john-beech-memorial).
North West Federation Millennium Association Advanced – 8/9 April 2017 at Fylde
Six B class and eight A Class players assembled at Fylde for this event
The B Class was played as all-play-all (5 games over two days) with players from Keswick (Ian Hall and Jim Wilson), Bury (David Barrett), Southport (Alan Pidcock), Fylde (Nathan Baker) and Bowdon (Charles Harding). The 5th game on Sunday afternoon turned out to be the final between Ian Hall and Alan Pidcock with Ian Hall winning and thus winning the B Class Event. A special mention to Jim Wilson playing in his first ever Advanced Match and only forgetting one lift!
The A class had players from Pendle (Peter Wilson and Robert Essler), Bury (Paul Kenworthy), Liverpool (Paul Rigge and James Hawkins), Crake (Dave Nick), Bowdon (David Walters) and Fylde (Lee Hartley) who again played all-play-all (7 games over two days). Players triple banked on one of the lawns which seemed to cause few problems and much delight. Going in to the last round it looked like it might be a three way tie with 3 players on 5 wins all of whom had beaten each other. David Walters had beaten Lee Hartley who had beaten Paul Rigge who had beaten David Walters! However in the final round the A Class Manager (Paul) lost which resolved the dilemma. Lee Hartley and David Walters finished on 6 wins each and David won as he had beaten Lee.
The event was held in glorious sunshine and raised £70 for the Federation. Thank you everyone for coming to Fylde and supporting the club and the Federation.
Take a look at the drone footage: