Croquet in the North West

North West Federation of Croquet Clubs - for everything Croquet in the north west

You are here: Home / Archives for Croquet Association

Lancashire Lasses Score at Croquet Inter-Counties

by

Lancashire Top Division 2  at the Inter Counties Croquet

2015_Lancashire_Team

North West Players Matt Holmes, James Hawkins and Liz Wilson travelled to The South Coast to compete in this tournament.  They were joined by Lancashire born Ailsa Lines, Annabel McDiarmid and David Openshaw to form the first ever team of six comprising of three women and three men.  Paul Rigge travelled down to play for one day whilst Captain David Openshaw went AWOL to watch Burnley’s last football match in the Premier League.  Having been relegated last year the Lancashire team were keen to gain promotion and this they did in some style only narrowly losing in two of the ten matches and finishing top of Division two.  The format was advanced doubles with each match consisting of three games.  The pairings did vary but mainly Pair one was David Openshaw (ex MacRob Captain) and Matt Holmes (who is currently being mentored by David for the GB Squad), pair two Ailsa Lines and Annabel McDiarmid (not a pleasant experience for most being beaten by two “girls”) and pair three James Hawkins and Mrs Wilson.  Much bemusement at team swapping when Liz was always named as Mrs Wilson (an in joke relating to her on line poker name!)  The pairings were strong and no pairing lost more than one game – only 5 games were lost in all out of 30 played.
DIVISION 2 Played Wins Games
Lancashire 10 8 25
Channel Island 10 7 18
Essex 10 7 18
Oxfordshire 10 7 15
Hampshire 10 5 16
Dorset 10 4 14
Yorkshire 10 4 13
Kent 10 4 13
Wiltshire 10 4 12
Warwickshire 10 3 10
Bedfordshire 10 2 11

Bury Brewer Wins Croquet Tankard and Place in GB Squad

by

Matt Holmes Retains the Southport Advanced Jubilee Tankard

Matt Holmes (Bury) being presented with the Southport Advanced Jubilee Tankard by Southport President Prof. Alan Pidcock.
Matt Holmes (Bury) being presented with the Southport Advanced Jubilee Tankard by Southport President Prof. Alan Pidcock.

Entrants from Middlesborough, Manchester, Chester, Hull and Cheltenham plus a few local players entered the first Southport Open Croquet competition of 2015 in Victoria Park last weekend. The lawns looked resplendent for this stage of the season and played very well despite the efforts of the wind and rain to disturb players concentration. Sun cream was required on both days – to protect against the sun on Saturday and to waterproof the skin against the rain on Sunday.

Local players Carol Lewis, Alan Pidcock and Brian Kerr fared well but could not match the sublime skills of the brewer from Bury – Matt Holmes. Matt won this trophy last year and has continued his development, now being a member of the Great Britain development squad.

In an exciting final, Matt defeated Phil Scarr from Middslesborough. Matt thanked the club for organising a superb tournament with excellent management and catering.  As always Southports pricing offers wonderful value – £7.50 per day inclusive of two course meal, afternoon tea and coffee/tea/biscuits all day.

Following this success at Southport, Matt Holmes has now reached a satisfactory grade as an International Player Development Squad Graduate to now be admitted to the GB training squad.  In order to retain this place over the next few years Matt must keep improving until holding a World class grade.

Croquet Update from Headquarters

by

Highlights of the Croquet Association Council Meeting:

I attended the Council meeting on the afternoon of 28th March. There was a sombre start as Council reflected on the sad news from Bowdon and the immense contributions to Croquet made by Christine Irwin and John Saxby.

The meeting followed the CA Special General Meeting, where all the motions regarding the constitutional changes were passed.  There will be an article in the June Gazette to keep people informed as to what is happening next.

Council set up and appointed the Membership Changes Implementation Group (MCIG) which will report to the Management Committee on a regular basis until such time as its purpose is fulfilled.  It is a group of five and after a certain amount of encouragement, I became a member of it.  The purpose of the group, following the constitutional changes, is firstly to serve all members at all levels in pursuing the objectives of the CA. Specific areas the MCIG will consider are establishing requirements for an on-line membership system and the ways that the distribution of the Gazette may be achieved.

In due course clubs will become responsible for passing on the details of their members to the CA so that they can be recorded as CA members. The MCIG will also consider how this may be achieved. Please contact me if your club has Juniors playing, or an existing Junior membership structure.

Other bullet points from the meeting were:

  • Lawn hire will increase from £30 to £31 in 2016.
  • All federations agreed to join the CA.
  • The East Anglia Fed is trialling a new GC handicap system this season.
  • Tournament Regulations have been changed, bring your card to tournaments!
  • There is a new Lawn Care Manual being prepared for the CA website.
  • A National Croquet Day to be investigated tied into other existing countries.

Lastly our patron sent her good wishes for the Womans AC Worlds taking place in Nottingham 25/7 – 1/8.  It has been framed and will be available to see during the tournament.

 

 

Find a Category

Webmaster – Chris Alvey (webmaster@croquetnw.co.uk)