THE PODS ARE COMING

5 July 2014 by Chris Alvey

Join a Coaching Pod Now!

Free informal Advanced play coaching for A and B class players at North West Clubs

The North West Federation and the CA are setting up 2 “coaching pods” in the North West. These are relatively informal groups that will facilitate the sharing of knowledge, help establish informal mentoring arrangements and generally raise the standard of play of A and B class players.

Each pod session will be two to three hours long covering a particular topic e.g. lift leaves, openings, pegged-out endings and generally held on weekday evenings but might also sometimes be held at weekends.

Bury Croquet Club will host its first pod on the evening of Thursday 17th July.

Bowdon Croquet Club will host pods on the evenings of Tuesday 12th August, Tuesday 9th September and Tuesday 14th October (the second Tuesday of the month).

All North West players are invited to attend either or both venues at no charge.

If you are a CA member and wish to participate please register now.

Full details and registration at – www.croquet.org.uk

or Email Matt Holmes at Bury – themattholmes@aol.com

or Email Christine Irwin at Bowdon – christine.e.irwin@gmail.com

Another Croquet Win for the Bury Brewer

15 April 2014 by Chris Alvey

Matt Holmes Wins the Southport April Advanced Jubilee Tankard

Winner Matt Holmes receives Jubilee Tankard from Southport President Alan Pidcock

A very competitive field entered the Southport Advanced tournament, including international players James Hopgood and David Walters, renowned croquet author James Hawkins, mallet maker Alan Pidcock, international squad members Gabrielle Higgins and Matt Holmes. Despite a mixture of wind, sunshine and drizzly rain, an entertaining mix of croquet was served up, however, the local knowledge of the Southport guys, Brian Kerr, Ray Low and Alan Pidcock was not enough to get them onto the honours board, whilst the renowned Jerry Guest played his 750th different tournament opponent of his long croquet career.

The new catering arrangements at Southport worked well, especially with fortification from the new brew recently developed by Matt Holmes – the Southport Leave – a crisp golden ale with a touch of elderflower and refreshing taste.

The final was a tense affair between the Bury Brewer, Matt Holmes and the Quarryman, Dave Nick. In a match that gave winning opportunities to both players, Matt Holmes finally took advantage to claim the Jubilee Tankard. The plate was won by James Hawkins who also managed the event with efficiency and friendliness.

Knockout Results:

James Hopgood bt Liz Wilson +26TP; Mark Lloyd bt Alan Pidcock +22; Brian Storey bt Peter Wilson +1; Matt Holmes bt Brian Kerr +15; David Walters bt Derek Knight +21TP; James Hawkins bt Jerry Guest +18; Dave Nick bt Andy Brandwood +19; Gabrielle Higgins bt Ray Lowe +6;

Hopgood bt Lloyd +19; Holmes bt Storey +3; Walters bt Hawkins +4; Nick bt Higgins +14;

Holmes bt Hopgood -17 +17 +15; Nick bt Walters -11OTP +18 +4;

Holmes bt Nick +18;

Photo Gallery (Press any image to see slideshow):

James Hopgood Wins Lancashire International Golf Croquet Championship

8 April 2014 by Paul Rigge

Heaton Park 6th/7th April, 14th Lancashire International Open Golf Croquet Championship

Only 16 players this year faced Manchester’s iffy weather (sun/rain/sun/rain..) this early in the season, but what a sixteen! A World Champion, couple of Kiwi’s plus another couple of Internationals from Wales & Scotland, finally a CA Council member in the field. As is now traditional for this event, the players were split into two blocks (all play all) with the top four from each group qualifying for the Knock Out (Bo3) title run.

This year the block games were contested to 19 points with the Bo3 KO reverting to normal 13 point contest for the Sunday, this worked really well with all games finishing about an hour before twilight on the first day – although quite a few tired legs were admitted to on Sunday morning.

Seven of the seeds were true to form & broke out of the blocks, and then the top four achieved the Semis. Rachel (Ranked1) was the ony player to force her match into the third game in the KO, all other matches took two straight Games to maintain progress into the next round. The effort of being a finalist yet again must have taken it’s toll on Paddy, since James only needed two in the final to lift this year’s title but some of his shots in that final surpassed Egypt’s finest.

The tournament was hosted by Bury Croquet Club and managed by Paul Rigge, who also presented the Trophy to James Hopgood. The Consolation Singles title was won by Brian Storey & David Barrett presented him his prize.

Rachel Rowe(-1)	Rachel 7-2 7-4	Paddy 7-5 3-7 7-4	James 7-6 7-2
Jarrod Coutts(?)
Paddy Chapman(-1)	Paddy 7-4 7-3
Paul RIGGE(-1)
David WALTERS(-1)	David 7-5 7-1	James 7-3 7-6
Tim KING(0)
James Hopgood(-1)	James 7-5 7-5
Ray Mounfield(2)

All Matches: www.croquetscores.com