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Croquet in the North West

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

You are here: Home / Archives for Festivals

Pendle Retain Festival Cup in Record Breaking Event

18 August 2021 by Tony Thomas

Covid prevented it in 2020, delayed it in 2021, but it finally happened … the Great North West Annual Festival of Croquet made a very welcome return at Southport last weekend for the 26th time.  Was it worth the wait? Well record numbers provide the answer – 41 teams played in the five competitions and it is estimated over 107 people attended each day, supporting the claim this event is the largest gathering of Croquet players in the UK (some claim the world!). It started in sunshine, finished in sunshine, between we had wind and rain, but this could not deter the wonderful ‘great to be back’ atmosphere at Southport & Birkdale Croquet Club.

Teams clad in different colours, the mix of beginners and experts, contesting five different croquet competitions, produce an unrivalled spectacle of excitement and enjoyment making this the premier event in the north west croquet calendar.

The Southport club presented 16 lawns in excellent condition, a tribute to the many weeks of preparation led by the Grounds Manager Don Williamson and over the weekend the club members who arrived early to set out all equipment needed and kept refreshments flowing throughout the event.

The number of games required to be played put pressure on the lawn availability and gave a logistical headache to Manager Ivan Wheatley, who managed the event superbly. As always, the Federation was willing to try new ideas – Triple Banking was used again in the Level Play AC event, the strange colours not causing too much hassle, whilst Doubles teams were controversionally utilised in the Short AC event without causing any major problems – another first for the Federation.

As always, some excellent croquet was played, with rounds of applause from watching spectators in abundance, of course not forgetting cries of anguish from players who fluffed their shots.  The standard of play was high with many close contests in all sections.  Tales of games ‘given away’could be heard all over the weekend.  The most outstanding performance was produced by the two youngest players – Jack Good and Will Mellor representing Bowdon, who won every match they played and securing the Level Play Golf Croquet shield for their club.

Jack Good and Will Mellor
Pendle 2021 Festival Champions
Back Row: Sharon deMaine, Paul Dowdall, David Carpenter, Garry Wilson, Gediminas Smolskas, Andrew Webb, Bob Burnett, Paul Rigge.
Front Row: Karen Bamforth, Libby Dixon, Gabiji Smolskiene.

And the Winners Were:
Level Play AC Winners – Pendle.
Full Lawn Handicap AC Winners – Westmorland.
Short Lawn Handicap AC Winners – Fylde.
Level Play Golf Croquet Winners – Bowdon.
Handicap Golf Croquet Winners – Pendle.
The overall Festival Champions – Pendle (who also won in 2019).

Bowdon Level GC Winners Fylde Short AC Winners Pendle Festival Champions Best Dressed Player - Brian Storey Federation Chair Paul Rigge thanks everyone Pendle Handicap GC Winners Pendle Level AC Winners Westmorland Handicap AC Winners

Paul Rigge, Federation Chairman summed it all up in his closing remarks – “Isn’t it great to be back, what a wonderful weekend, thank you everyone for making this Festival such an incredible event”.

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2021, Federation, Festivals, News, Southport

Silver Celebration for Festival – 29/30 June 2019

2 July 2019 by Tony Thomas

2019 Festival Champions – Pendle & Craven

Whilst the rest of Europe were celebrating record summer temperatures, our Federation had its own record to celebrate – the 25th year of the North West Festival of Croquet – record number of competitors, new competition with Level Play Golf introduced, Southport lawns best ever, we even hired portable toilets for the first time!

Manager Ivan Wheatley produced a strict schedule of matches to fit everything in and for the first time, games were ended as soon as the ball stopped moving when the timer ‘pinged’, much to the chagrin of the croquet heroes who like to come from behind to snatch a win with their last turn.

The Southport micro climate gave us a mixture of blue skies, dazzling sunshine, bracing sea breezes, grey skies and the odd shower – all adding to the colourful spectacle as up to 100 people filled the lawns with a kaleidoscope of club team colours. Margaret Flemington and her team produced another catering triumph enabling everyone to indulge in a fabulous lunch, afternoon tea and copious light refreshments. Players mingled and renewed friendships and rivalries – it seemed as though everyone knew everyone producing a wonderful atmosphere, so typical of our Federation.

After two days of competitive croquet Pendle set another record by winning the Advanced and the Handicap trophies for the first time, Chester retained the Short Croquet shield, Llanfairfechan won the Golf Croquet event and Southport became the first winners of the new Level Play Golf Croquet trophy. When all the points were calculated, Pendle were declared Festival Champions for 2019.

2019 Festival Placings

2019 FESTIVAL PLACINGSADVANCED ACHANDICAP ACSHORT ACLEVEL PLAY GCHANDICAP GC
1stPendle & CravenPendle & CravenChesterSouthportLlanfairfechan
2ndBuryFyldeSouthportCrake ValleyCrake Valley
3rdBowdonBowdonWestmorlandPendle & CravenCulcheth
2019 Festival Champions - Pendle & Craven 2019 Short AC Winners Chester 2019 Handicap AC Winners Pendle 2019 Advanced AC winners - Pendle 2019 Festival LPG Winners - Southport 2019 Hcp GC Winners - Llanfairfechan

Federation Chairman Paul Rigge closed the Festival with a presentation of all trophies, acknowledged the enormous work of Southport for their organisation and of course everyone who participated in a great weekend.

Press on any of the following images to convert the mosaic into a filmstrip slideshow with navigation controls:

2019, Federation, Festivals, Southport

24th Croquet Festival Shines in the Sun

25 June 2018 by Tony Thomas

Westmorland are Crowned 2018 Festival Champions (North West Federation Festival of Croquet 23/24 June 2018)

2018 Festival Westmorland Festival Champions

A wonderful croquet weekend under blue skies, but despite a cooling breeze,  sun cream was still the order of the day for players as the 24th North West Federation Festival of Croquet took place in sunny Southport over the weekend of 23/24 June 2018.  Displaying a kaleidoscope of colours, about 100 players attended on each day, representing ten clubs from all over the North West – especially welcome were the team from Stonyhurst College, making their debut at this unique tournament.

The lawns were in excellent condition thanks to the weeks of work by Don Williamson and Terry Dunbar who prepared 17 beautiful Courts.  The infamous North Lawns played well and are now even envied by some clubs.  The catering team, led by Margaret Flemington once again excelled.  Early each morning, Southport members turned out in force, to ensure hoops, chairs, balls, pegs, coffee, etc. were all ready for the visitors.  Thank you Southport.

The Festival needs a fair bit of complex planning to ensure we have two days of croquet action – thanks to Liz Wilson for all the administration and a big thank you to Abdul Ahmad, who made a welcome return to Southport to manage the Festival with great efficiency.

The tournament enabled players of all abilities to participate and standard of play ranged from sheer brilliance to the ‘must practice more’ standard, but played in a great sporting atmosphere where advice and help was freely given but fierce competition was still evident.

In the Advanced Doubles, Fylde Croquet Club, once again took the title beating Bowdon in a final knock out match.

In the 18 Point Handicap, Bury emerged as the victors winning four of their six matches, closely followed by Westmorland and Chester.

The Short Croquet honours went to Chester winning five of their six matches and just edging ahead of Bowdon by a few games.

In the Golf Croquet event, Crake Valley were clear winners being victorious in eight of their nine matches, followed by Llanfairfechan and Westmorland.

The final twist to an excellent competition came when all the scores were suitably weighted and compared, the overall champions by a very slim margin were declared as Westmorland.

So we look forward to 2019 when this wonderful event will celebrate its Silver Jubilee – yes next year will be the 25th Festival – a very special event where all players will be requested to wear something Silver intertwined with their normal Festival colours.  See you back at Southport in June 2019?

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2018, Bury, Chester, Crake Valley, Federation, Festivals, Fylde, News, Westmorland

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