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Silver Celebration for Festival – 29/30 June 2019

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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

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.

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24th Croquet Festival Shines in the Sun

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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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Bury Win 2017 Croquet Federation Festival

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Bury Win 2017 Federation Festival for Sixth Time

Bury – 2017 Federation Festival Champions

Fylde 2017 Advanced Winners
Westmorland 2017 Handicap Winners
Bowdon 2017 Short Croquet Winners
Bury 2017 Golf Croquet Winners


Another successful Federation Festival of Croquet at Southport on 24/25 June 2017. With weather from drizzle to glorious sunshine, players clad in a spectrum of team colours, Riggy and Hawkins dressed by Matalan, the play ranged from spectacular to crazy. What a great weekend celebrating not just Croquet in the north west but sheer enjoyment in the company of about 150 croquet players of all abilities, from beginners to experts, from clubs around our region.

If a team was short of a player – no problem – a quick free transfer from another club saved the day with only minimum confusion.

The south lawns were pristine and the north lawns continue to improve – a great tribute to Don Williamson and Terry Dunbar who manage these lawns.  The Southport club were not only great hosts but early risers, setting out 13 lawns each day plus all the accompanying bits and pieces like gazebos, tables, chairs, etc.  As always the catering team rose to the occasion par excellence!  

Ivan Wheatley thanked the club for making this Festival a wonderful occasion.  He also paid tribute to tournament manager James Hawkins whose efficient management ensured everyone were in their right places at the right time, (well almost everyone!).

Results:

Individual successes resulted in some handicap changes:
Betty Bates (Fylde) from 14 to 12; Mike Steer (Bowdon) from 4 to 3.5; Chris Alvey (Bury) from 18 to 16; Ivan Wheatley (Westmorland) from 7 to 6; Sue Pritchard (Westmorland) from 18 to 16.

Advanced Croquet event – Fylde won again for the third year in succession.
Short Croquet event – Bowdon won for the second year running.
Handicap Croquet event – Westmorland.
Golf Croquet event – Bury.

When all the points were aggregated, Bury Croquet Club emerged as 2017 Festival champions for the sixth time since the event was established in 1994.

Congratulations to all our worthy winners.

Same time (?), same place, next year – see you there?

Peruse the 2017 Festival photos below.  The top is simply an automatic slideshow – let your mouse hover on image to see titles.  Below the slideshow is a thumbnail gallery of all the slides – press on any thumbnail to start a manual slideshow (i.e. use navigation arrows to change slide) from that point in the gallery.

 

 

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