Chester hosts successful Short Croquet Tournament (15 May 2016)

Eight enthusiastic players ( two each from Bowdon, Bury, Craig-y-Don and Chester Croquet Clubs) opted to compete for the Millennium Short trophy rather than run the Chester Half Marathon and were rewarded with glorious weather and closely contested matches on manicured Chester lawns. The Swiss format produced a steady first round but by lunch the field began to spread. Like so many Olympic 1500m finals, it was the third lap which proved decisive. Emulating Herb Elliott in Rome in 1960, Brian Walton of Chester ( fortified by his lunchtime chilli con carne) made the decisive break beating Anne Alvey of Bury to move into a clear lead.

Any hopes of Brian fading against the low handicapped Roger Edwards of Craig-y-don on the last lap, were quickly dispelled as he powered to a fourth successive win to take the trophy. Chris Alvey restored the family fortunes by winning his last match against Jayne Taylor of Chester in a ” dip finish” to snatch the silver.

All in all a very enjoyable day in which the winner and the runner up were rewarded with a bottle of the world famous Chester Sloping Lawn claret of which the 2016 vintage is especially prized amongst connoisseurs.

Many thanks to all for the friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.

NWFCC LEVEL PLAY GOLF CROQUET TOURNAMENT – 31^st MAY 2015 at CHESTER

Ten players from six clubs joined in the first Federation Level Play Golf Croquet Tournament. We gave a big welcome to our friends from Craig Y Don. As far as I know this is the first tournament the club has entered except for the Festival.

The day was fine but started very cold with a very unfriendly wind. The day brightened later but was only a little warmer.  The format was ‘All play All’, with no time limits. Handicaps varied from 10 to scratch but despite this variation the games were well fought with the results mostly not giving a true picture of the battles that took place, sometimes lasting several minutes at one hoop.

After round six there were three players each with five wins – Maureen Ivens, Garry Greenwood and Paul Rigge – leaving all to be played for in the last three rounds. Maureen beat Garry in round 7 but lost the last two. Garry won his last two and Paul won all his last 3 games. This meant that Paul was the winner with 8 out of 9 wins, Garry on his tail with 7 wins. Congratulations Paul on your success.

A big thank you to Chester club for hosting the event and special thanks go to the catering team. They did a marvellous job especially dealing extremely well with the various dietary problems amongst the players and managers.

Paul had changed out of his whites prior to the presentation of the trophy unfortunately but he had had an earlier problem concerning his whites and some jam!