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Liz Wilson talks Croquet to Lancashire

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It’s All Happening in Lytham

Lytham has a fast improving reputation for great Festivals and other Summer Events.  Liz Wilson who lives on the Fylde coast has an excellent viewpoint on the many activities taking place on Lytham Green and recently invited BBC Radio Lancashire into her home for a chat.

The Graham Liver Breakfast Show was broadcast live from the Royal Lytham Golf Club on 2nd August where the first round of the Women’s British Open was taking place.  Their reporter Alison Butterworth did a piece with Liz who is now in the top 15 UK players.

You can listen to the broadcast here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06dg4qj

Liz appears 1 hour 55 minutes into the programme.  The podcast remains available until 29 August.

BBC Radio Lancashire is broadcast on 95.5FM, 10-3.9FM and digital.

Richard Leach Going to National GC Final

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National C Level GC Tournament at Bury 25 July 2018

Scorching HOT sunshine and a very fast playing surface welcomed players to Bury Croquet Club for this inaugural ‘C’ level Golf Tournament. The majority of the players present were playing in their first ever CA scheduled Tournament and it soon became evident that each one of them had arrived with every intention of winning and attaining automatic entry into the National final which is to be held in Nottingham during September.

David Cornes from Crake Valley, celebrated his recent appointment as a qualified Tournament Referee by overseeing play throughout the day. His presence proved invaluable to the players and Tournament Managers alike with his helpful and constant attention whenever required.

The fast lawns enabled long clearances and hoop shots. It soon became apparent that Izzy Poyntz from Bishop Monkton was using her prowess and strong hitting to successfully remove her opponents balls to the side lines whilst she herself scored a succession of good hoops.  Meanwhile steady, but slower, progress was being made by Richard Leach, Gill Freely and Roger Harper from Bury, as they each tried to challenge the high number of wins being achieved by Izzy.

When all the rounds had finished, however it became abundantly clear that Izzy had won all her games, including beating her nearest challengers and she therefore stormed into the Semi-Finals.  At this point, the extreme heat of the day must have had a different effect on the four semi- finalists because two players improved their concentration immensely and also improved their play, whilst the other two wilted in the sun.

The number of wins had brought Izzy against Gil and Richard against Roger for the semi’s. From these games , it was Gil and Richard who then progressed into the Final.  The final itself proved to be an extremely hard fought match with lots of excitement for the spectators with several wonderful shots that brought cheers from the crowd. In the end it was won by Richard Leach 7-4.

National Golf Croquet Final for Crakes Sandra

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CROQUET ASSOCIATION GOLF CROQUET “C” LEVEL TOURNAMENT
at Middlesbrough 14thJuly 2018

Sandra Cornes receives her prize from Manager Derek Johnson 
Sandra Cornes receives her prize from Manager Derek Johnson

This tournament formed part of the newly initiated C Level series of tournaments for players with handicaps of 7 or more.  The initial entry was 6 but that was reduced further when Crake Valley’s David Cornes brought his handicap down to 6 just before the allocation date for the tournament.  David kindly offered to test his newly acquired referee credentials on the tournament instead (and he had cajoled his wife Sandra to enter anyway, so was travelling to sunny Teesside nevertheless)

Another casualty was Tournament Manager Roger Staples who was called away for some CA business in Cheltenham on the day.  Derek Johnson stepped into the breach and was able to recruit a further 7 players from his two clubs Belsay Hall and Tyneside.

The twelve entrants had been drawn into two American blocks of six by Roger with placings in the blocks playing a final play-off against their counterparts from the other block.

Block A finished in a three way tie at the top with John Fitzpatrick, Marcia Henderson and Brenda Johnson all finishing with 6 points from their 5 matches with Marcia beating John, John beating Brenda and Brenda beating Marcia.  John Fitzpatrick emerged as the winner, Marcia second and Brenda third, not on alphabetical order(!) but on net points.

Block B was a simpler affair, just a two way tie. Sandra Cornes’ 7-5 win over Dave Okell in the last round of matches was enough to pull her level with Dave on points and, of course, sent her through on the who-beat-whom first tiebreaker.

 BLOCK A P W D L F A Total
John Fitzpatrick (Middlesbrough) 5 3 0 2 31 27 6
Marcia Henderson (Auckland) 5 2 2 1 28 26 6
Brenda Johnson (Belsay Hall & Tyneside) 5 3 0 2 28 27 6
Sara MacPherson (Bishop Monkton) 5 2 1 2 25 27 5
Izzy Poyntz (Bishop Monkton) 5 2 0 3 28 26 4
May Hall (Tyneside) 5 1 1 3 20 27 3

 

 BLOCK B P W D L F A Total
Sandra Cornes (Crake Valley) 5 3 1 1 31 24 7
Dave Okell (Tyneside) 5 3 1 1 31 23 7
Sue Caygill (Belsay Hall & Tyneside) 5 3 0 2 31 27 6
Colin Chun (Belsay Hall) 5 2 1 2 26 29 5
Alison Okell (Tyneside) 5 1 2 2 23 28 4
Jean Thompson (Belsay Hall) 5 0 1 4 21 32 3

The play-offs saw Sandra Cornes take full advantage of her last gasp qualification at the top of Block B by overcoming a 3 point handicap difference in experience to beat John Fitzpatrick 7-5.  She now progresses to the national final in Nottingham at the end of September.

Third place in the tournament went to Dave  Okell who has only been playing for two months who beat Marcia Henderson, and another 3 point handicap difference, 7-2.  Brenda Johnson claimed 5thspot in winning 7-2 against Sue Caygill.  7thwas Sara MacPherson who just squeezed home 6-5 against Colin Chun.  Izzy Poyntz took 9thwith a 7-3 win over another novice, Alison Okell, and May Hall beat Jean Thompson 7-4.

Satisfyingly everybody said they had enjoyed what was, for most, a first foray into tournament play and the whole experience doesn’t seem to have put anybody off for life!

There are still two excellent regional opportunities for other NW Fed Golf Croquet players to qualify for the National finals – Bury on Wednesday 25th July (contact Paul Kenworthy) and Southport on Friday 10th August (contact Don Williamson).

2018 C Golf Players at Middlesbrough – From left to right: Sandra Cornes, Dave Okell, Alison Okell, John Fitzpatrick, Izzy Poyntz, May Hall, Marcia Henderson Colin Chun, Brenda Johnson, Jean Thompson, Derek Johnson, Sue Caygill and Sara MacPherson.

 

 

 

 
 
 

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