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Croquet Raises Profile at National Show

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STOP PRESS: Spotted by John Dawson (Chester) – Croquet did make it onto TV at CountryfileLive for 15 seconds for BBC Oxford. Not the 15 minutes Andy Warhol promised but probably the first time for several years that croquet has been on UK TV

See for yourself – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsLHebayWTY

CROQUET MAKES ITS DEBUT AT “COUNTRYFILELIVE”

“CountryfileLive” is an annual show (spun off from BBC TV’s Countryfile) held over 4 days at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford in August and attended by over 120,000 people. This year the CA persuaded the organisers to allow a croquet lawn to be set up in the centre of the Show on which visitors could play under the tutelage of experienced CA players. Firstly Tony Newport and Pat Edgington from the Eynsham club had to make a lawn out of the parkland, then 50 players from neighbouring clubs in the South and South West Federations volunteered to man the lawn over nine hours on each of the four days

The result was hundreds of visitors received 15 minute slots to play croquet and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tens of thousands of visitors watched as they walked past the lawn and many stopped to chat to the CA volunteers in white to learn what croquet was about and pick up some leaflets. Many were local but some came from as far afield as Ireland, Spain, Australia and Canada. The players were of all ages and we even persuaded BBC Countryfile presenter, Anita Rani, “to give croquet a go”!  Afterwards she tweeted “Today I play croquet! I’m a bloomin natural”.

Over 80 people were sufficiently interested to leave their email and post code details for Dave Gunn, our Development Officer, to steer them towards clubs near their homes and a further 20 had serious chats with members of clubs local to the Show. How many will end up playing croquet we don’t know but it was clear the CA and modern croquet raised its public profile and made an impact on visitors to the Show.

Many thanks must go to the 50 volunteers who manned the lawn with great enthusiasm, to Tony and Pat for setting up the lawn, to the Eynsham club for providing the equipment, to Chris Roberts, Klim Seabright and Frances Colman, for recruiting the volunteers and to Liz Larsson and Dan Atiyah of the CA office for managing the complexities of the admin.

John Henderson Wins Fylde Croquet Again

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John Henderson – Fylde Handicap Winner

JOHN HENDERSON WON THE FYLDE CC JUBILEE HANDICAP TROPHY  (29/30 July 2017) 

 In the fifth and final round Betty Bates played Marjorie Eldon and Joe Lennon played John Henderson. If Joe could win a fifth game he would win outright but the other three were all in with a shout as the three way tie break would need invoking if he did not.  Marjorie was playing well and had been peeling yesterday. She  beat Betty who was also on great form. Her change of stance and grip has paid dividends. 

Things then became very tense and exciting for the spectators. John (Peg/Rover) had a chance to run Rover with a jump shot which failed. Joe (Peg/6) stepped on the lawn with only a couple of minutes to play and hit in. Then playing with his usual speed and efficiency which he had demonstrated through the preceding four rounds he got round to have a longish chance at running Rover himself. 

It would have been interesting to see how the golden point play would have panned out from there had he got through. Some suggested pegging oppo and self out leaving a two ball ending with both for Rover. Others said simply join up. The three way tie break was resolved using the sum of the beaten opponents scores. It was very close, John 11, Joe & Marjorie 10. 

Many returning players filled the tournament. Special mentions for Joe Lennon for being at every one since it started on 2012. Ken Jones for being ROT. John Henderson for returning to defend the trophy. Philip Bass our lawns man extraordinaire. Dave Williamson for his first visit. Eileens Rossiter and Gallagher and The Huddersfield Flight Crew  of Rena Souten, Denise Hoyle and Marjorie Eldon (They turn up together looking very smart wheeling small flight bags) for continuing to support our tournament. Not forgetting our club players Alan Morton and Betty Bates for their participation and the tidying up each day. 

Nathan Baker Keeps Trophy in North West

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Nathan Baker and Eugene Chang Win Southport B Tournaments (30 July 2017)

Nathan Blake with the Hawkins B Level Cup and Southport Chairman Don Williamson

They came from all parts of the UK to contest the Southport B Tournaments from Edinburgh to Sheffield to Nottingham, Surbiton and Cheltenham, plus local players from Crake, Fylde, Chester, Bowdon and of course Southport.  The tournament involved two events of eight players each – Super B (handicap range 0 to 2.5) and a B Level (handicap range 3 to 6).

The Southport lawns were immaculate, winning high praise from many competitors.  The weather was kind, catering wonderful and everyone enjoyed their croquet in the summer sunshine.  Eugene Chang (Sheffield) was in excellent form, winning the Super B Manor House trophy in style.  The B Level went to the last minute as a titanic battle to clinch the trophy between Barbara Haslam (Southport) and Nathan Baker (Fylde), either of whom could have taken victory.  However, with his last turn Nathan came from 3 down to go to peg securing the trophy and a handicap reduction.

 

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