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The Burridge Charity Croquet Tour in the North West

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You can still support this excellent cause – just go to – www.justgiving.com/croquettour

Croquet at 21 clubs – raises thousands for Leukemia and Lymphona Research

Ian Burridge and his son, Euan, are raising funds in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma research by touring croquet at 21 clubs in five days – clubs selected were those who have hosted CA Selection ‘Eights’ events.

No single player has ever played at all 21 previous host venues before, but Ian & Euan intend to tick them all off within Five Days!  The full list of croquet clubs being; Hunstanton, Colchester, Hurlingham, Roehampton, Surbiton, Ramsgate Compton, Southwick, Jersey, Hamptworth, Ryde, Parkstone, Budleigh, Sidmouth, Nailsea, Cheltenham, Bowdon, Heaton Park, Southport, Pendle & Craven and lastly Nottingham.

So far over £4800 has been raised.

Play at Bury (Heaton Park) 2 June:

For the record, Paul Rigge (0) played Ian (0) and Harry Anderton (10) played Euan (10), with both Bury Club members winning their games against the visitors but the real winner on the day was of course the LLR charity with the tour so far raising a sum in excess of £4800.

Play at Bowdon (1st June):


             Ian Burridge (photo by Samir Patel)

Following the first day’s play of the June Advanced Weekend on Saturday (1/6/13), Nottingham members Ian Burridge and his son Euan visited Bowdon as part of their plan to play a game of Golf Croquet at 21 clubs in 5 days in aid of the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research charity.   To support this worthy cause there was a fish supper at the club with profits going to the charity.

Play at Pendle:

Ian Burridge and his son Euan travelled to Earby as part of their 22 club challenge to raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma research. They have almost reached their £5000 target and pendle & Craven were their 20th club visited in the 5 days, with one more before their home club of Nottingham.

Ian is the current Treasurer of the World croquet Federation and a member of Great Britain’s test team. He plays off scratch so had to give home player Geoff Whitaker 7 bisques. Geoff put up a good effort but Ian beat him 7 -4. Maureen Whitaker played on level terms with Euan (11) but managed to beat him 7-1. Euan had won 8 games previously which is a splendid effort for such a young player.

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You can still support this excellent cause – just go to – www.justgiving.com/croquettour

 

Walters and Essler succeed at Fed Croquet Premier Advanced event.

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North West Federation’s Premier Seasonal Advanced Tournament – Neil Williams Millennium Cup at HeatonPark 20/21st April

Neil Williams Millennium Cup – David Walters (Bowdon)
Woodlands Trophy – Robert Essler (Pendle & Craven)

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David Walters (Bowdon) again displayed total dominance in the top croquet event, retaining his title for the second year with a very clean sheet and Robert Essler (Pendle & Craven) winning the Trophy for the first time.  So Bowdon and Pendle clubs both retain the Federation’s silverware for this year.

David Walters being presented with the Neil Williams Trophy by Bury Chairman Paul Kenworthy
David Walters being presented with the Neil Williams Trophy by Bury Chairman Paul Kenworthy

The weather forecast for the weekend was wall to wall blue sky on Saturday, and after a bright start, light rain followed by sunshine to end on Sunday, and that’s what we got (if you re-define the word “light”).  We had a full field of sixteen players in the contest this year but with some clubs unable to fill their two available slots and ot

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hers requesting “flexibility” into how a place could be filled and two contestants both with colour blindness issues requesting Primes only, the manager was having ‘fun’ long before a ball had been struck to fill the field. This was further compounded with a late withdrawal Friday evening, necessitating an extra player being found and the entire draw being redone overnight.

Saturday dawned, and play started bang on time for only fifteen players, one had forgotten his entry. So after a quick “scramble” phone call to his home, we had all sixteen available by round two.  After four rounds the overnight leaders with clean sheets were last year’s winners but into Sunday only David kept his control to retain the Cup.  Robert Essler became stronger the deeper into the weekend he went, shaking of his winter rust and lack of practice time, claiming the trophy for the best “B” player at the event.

Robert Essler being presented with the Woodlands Trophy by Bury Chairman Paul Kenworthy
Robert Essler being presented with the Woodlands Trophy by Bury Chairman Paul Kenworthy

Thanks are due to Bury Croquet Club, who hosted the event and all the hard work undertaken by their volunteers. Bury CC Club Chairman Paul Kenworthy presented the Trophies to the winners David Walters and Robert Essler.  The event was successfully managed by Federation Secretary Paul Rigge.

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Rigge Rules in the Snow

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Pendle John Beech Easter  Croquet Tournament 2013 by Barbara Dutton

Some could say the joke was on us. A hardy bunch of volunteers spent Maundy Thursday clearing snow drifts from the croquet lawns in order for play to start on the Friday. An equally hardy bunch of players turned up on the Friday to compete for the various honors on offer. Paul Rigge from Bury, another club founded by John Beech, managed the tournament which featured both handicap and advanced play. With sunshine but stiff breezes some shots may have been hampered by clothing and the warm pavilion and hot food kept frostbite away. Three players from Pendle and Craven: Roger Schofield, Paul Dowdall and Garry Wilson battled the other 12 players who travelled from croquet clubs as far away as Glasgow and Middlesbrough to compete.

John Beech 2013 LR2The manager, Paul Rigge, took the overall trophy, the John Beech cup.
Lee Hartley from Fylde took the Advanced trophy
Paul Dowdall from Pendle & Craven took the High handicap trophy
Joe Lennon from Glasgow took the Low Handicap trophy
The Fastest Croquet game went to Lee Hartley in 52 minutes (not beating the 42 minutes set by Alice Fleck previous year)
The most games of Croquet played was a three way tie between Paul Rigge, Betty Bates and Matt Holmes.

The picture shows Lee hartley, Betty Bates and Paul Rigge L to R with remaining snow

And from the Bury Website:

Pendle & Craven, 29th March -1st April, John Beech Easter Tournament

Bury member Paul Rigge regains the JB Easter title for the first time in a decade and also achieves a reduction in handicap to -1 (also shares most games played award with Matt Holmes & Betty Bates of Fylde)
It’s not very often that Croquet shares a venue with winter activities but with children enjoying the Bank Holiday sledging on the slope at the back, we played Croquet in the bright sunshine at Earby.
The weather stayed as forecast, dry and bright but with a bitterly cold easterly wind blowing, only the in-player went outside to brave it. Easter Sunday was the coldest on record with overnight temperatures hitting -7C.
Playing a mixture of advanced & handicap games, Paul only dropped a single game on his way to the title over the four days of competition, overcoming anything up to 20.5 Bisques multiple times.
Over the four days, various players floated into contention only to fall back into the pack. Last year’s winner and club mate, Andy Brandwood had a good campaign and finished in third place behind Joe Lennon (Glasgow).

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