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Festival of Croquet – June 2008

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Bowdon win NW Fed Club Championship at Southport (29/06/08) by Tony Thomas.

 

Over 100 competitors in twenty three teams took part in this annual NW Fed Croquet tournament. This is the only Croquet tournament in the UK where players and clubs come together to contest Croquet in all disciplines.

The organisation, management and catering were excellent. The South Lawns playing really well and the North Lawns providing their greatest challenge yet with a speed of minus something Plummers. Add to the mix the Southport weather of sun, rain, wind and more sun to provide a convivial croquet atmosphere.

Crake Valley won the Advanced section, Bowdon the Handicap and the Golf, Pendle the Short.  On aggregating all the points,  Bowdon were crowned 2008 Festival Champions.

Festival 2008AdvancedHandicapShortGolfPOINTS
Bowdon144716
Bury221510
Llanfairfechan03069
Southport31329
Fylde40239
Pendle00516
Crake50005
Culcheth00044

Press any image to view Slideshow:

Festival of Croquet – July 2007

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Bowdon NW Fed Champion Club for 2007 (02/07/07) by Peter Wilson

Fest07_SouthLawns_1227

Fest07_puddleBOWDON are the 2007 Championship winners! Southport & Birkdale runner up and Bury was placed 3rd.

Bowdon won both the Short Croquet and Golf Croquet shields (only losing one match – to Southport in the Short event). Fylde won the Handicap Shield being undefeated in this section. Bury, Chester, and Culcheth clubs were also represented. This year Pendle & Craven, Llanfairfechan and the I.O.M.did not enter.

As far as I know, there is nothing else like this event on the croquet calendar. Teams from clubs all over the area battle for five trophies in four disciplines over two days on six full and six half lawns.

Many clubs use the event to give their newer rising stars a first taste of competition and for those players the wonderful sight of Southport CC full to the brim is something they always remember. But the event also allows many of the established players to get together over a weekend and promotes a sense of unity amongst the clubs in the Northwest.

Nevertheless for each club it is not always easy to get teams together and so congratulations to Mike Steer and his teams from Bowdon for not only doing so but actually playing very well in the difficult conditions.

Did I mention the Weather?

Fest07_BrollyPrior to this weekend the whole country had been swamped by endless rain causing many towns to be flooded for days on end. Severe weather warnings were given for the Northwest but on Saturday the lawns were good and the tournament was on with over 30 games played..

Rain fell constantly and everyone needed their waterproofs on. This rather reduced the effect of having team colours for the first time but there were many special touches to be seen here and there. A special mention to Bowdon for their Orangeness and to Sylvia Steer for the shoelaces!

Only towards the end of Saturday did the lawns begin to puddle. During the night the rain just got worse and in the morning it was clear that play would not be possible. (A lucky escape for Dave Nick, scheduled to play Advanced Doubles in pink). Although the second day was abandoned, the schedule of play from Saturady enabled Keith Roberts, the tournament manager, to produce results in all events except the Advanced Doubles.

( The Advanced was scheduled as all play all over two days; 3 Saturday, 2 Sunday, unlike the Golf, Short and Handicap events which were all play all on each day. As Sunday’s play was cancelled it was not possible to determine a winner as some teams had only played one game relevant to the Championship (games vs Manager’s Select don’t count)).

 
Golf Pts
Short Pts
Hcap Pts
Total Points
Final Position
Bowdon
5
5
2
12
1
Southport
4
2
3
9
2
Bury
3
4
1
8
3
Fylde
1
3
4
8
4
Culcheth
2
0
0
2
5
Chester
0
1
0
1
6

With no play on the Sunday, trophies were left unpresented and will be formally awarded at the NW Fed Annual Meeting in November at Culcheth.

Fest07_Play_1194

 

Southport Win 06 Festival

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SOUTHPORT WIN NW FED CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP (3/7/06)

 

Under glorious blue skies and scorching heat, the NW fed organised a very successful club championship at Southport on 1st and 2nd July.

Eight clubs competed in the two day tournament, comprising Golf, Short, Handicap and Advanced competitions. The South Lawns played well despite the substantial treatments they are currently receiving, whilst the infamous North Lawns presented a challenging test on their spongy surface. This annual tournament requires substantial logistics with fourteen lawns to be set out daily and about 70 meals to be catered for on each day.

The tournament was managed by Barry Keen, assisted by Simon Wolf (Short) and Val Bailey (Golf). The Golf event involved five clubs playing 89 games resulting in Culcheth beating all other clubs to take the Golf Shield. Four clubs contested the Short event, playing 30 games with Southport eventually winning the Shield. The Handicap event was very closely contested by four clubs with three clubs being equal leaders after the first day, however, Southport won the knock-out event on the Sunday. Six teams played in the Advanced event with Bury remaining undefeated throughout the weekend to take the Advanced Shield.

The overall club championship is decided by allocating one point for each match victory and three clubs were very closely positioned with Fylde in third place, Bury in second place with Southport winning the overall event by one point.Fest06_Bury_Adv

 

Fest06_Southport_Hcp  

 

   Fest06_Culcheth_Golf

 

 

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