Croquet in the North West

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

You are here: Home / Archives for Pendle

Stuart Smith Wins Colourful Tournament at Pendle.

by

The Kate Jones Tournament 24/26th Aug at Pendle CC

Stuart Smith with the Kate Jones Trophy

August Bank Holiday, the CA’s GC Second Eight Tournament.
One local, two from the midlands and five from the ‘south’ met over the scorching long weekend at our club to contest the ‘Kate Jones’. Format was all play all, with each round being a best of three 13 point games.

After all Seven rounds were completed, the top four played in a KO, Bo3 Semi, and B03 Final. The four non qualifiers played in the Plate event – 19 point single game KO (by consensus with the involved players).

The club looked magnificent, with bunting draped along the hut gutters and along the rain shelters. Hanging flower baskets (supplied by Jan), also mounted on the hut & sheds. Lawn markers and bright white lines denoting the four full size courts (& a half size laid out for members use). The Friday mow was redone on Sunday evening after play (by one of the attending players, since a viable club member ran off when the mower was bought out – you know who you are!).

Many thanks are due to Abdul, Jan, Karen, Libby & Paul R for their work in hosting this Major Event, and Stephen Leonard for the Sunday mow.

Stuart M Smith beat Tim King for the title & Stephen Custance-Baker took the Plate.

Paul Rigge Champions Lancs Golf Croquet

by

A rather damp and drizzly morning greeting the 12 players to the 20th Lancashire Open GC on 20/21 July, with beautiful hillside all around, hinting of sun to come, which it did eventually.

The initial stage was formed of 2 blocks of 6, all play all twice, single 13 point games. Local players and those from much further afield enjoyed some spirited competition. In the end Guy Scurfield topped Block A with 8 wins from 10, and Paul Rigge the same for Block B.

The 1st day ended with glorious sunshine which continued into day 2.

The quarter finals, due to be BO3 13 pt games, were sensibly amended by manager Abdul Ahmed to single 19 pt games, due to likely time constraints. All matches were hard fought and very close. Paul Durkin taking out Guy Scurfield at hoop 19; Tim King winning 10-8 over David Lloyd; Steve Jackson of the USA beat Ted Flaxman 10-9, and Paul Rigge beat Stuart Smith 10-6.

Semi final 1 saw Paul Durkin take on Tim King. An enthralling game, back and forth, Tim took game 1, Paul game 2, and it went all the way to hoop 13 on game 3, where possibly a bit of inexperience / nerves got the better of Paul who had a few chances to close out the match, but in the end Tim prevailed.

Semi final 2 saw Paul Rigge take on Steve Jackson, a slightly more 1 sided event, with local favourite Paul taking out Steve in 2.

So a Paul Rigge vs Tim King final. Paul edged the first game at hoop 13. The 2nd game was a total change, with Tim dominating and winning 7-1. So all go for game 3. A cautious start, both players unwilling to take too many chances. Paul edged ahead and won 7-4, a worthy & popular winner.

Andrew Webb (Pendle) presents Paul Rigge with the 2019 Lancashire Open Golf Trophy.

In the plate, Jane Tewson won 2 of her 3 matches and took the title from Libby Dixon on net hoops. 

Andrew Webb of Pendle presents Jane Tewson with the Plate Trophy

A special mention to Will Drake, who those of us from Dulwich had not met before and were very surprised to realise he is 96 years old, something that clearly overwhelmed Peter Haydon, who lost 7-6 to him in the last game.

The four Ascot Cup qualifiers from Pendle are Paul Rigge, Tim King, Stephen Jackson and Paul Durkin.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend event, well run and hosted by Pendle & Craven Croquet Club.

Full results are available on Croquetscores website.

Dave Williamson Wins Fed Millenium Handicap

by

NWFCC Millennium handicap AC tournament, 13th/14thJuly 2019

2019 Federation Millenium Handicap contestants

The Federation Millennium handicap AC tournament was held over the weekend of the 13th/14thJuly hosted by Pendle & Craven Croquet Club. With 8 contestants from Bowdon, Bury, Crake Valley, Fylde, Pendle and Westmorland and with handicaps ranging from 3½to 22 taking part, the event comprised 5 rounds of 18 point handicap AC played to a time limit of 2½hrs per game. The lawns were in excellent condition, running both true and consistently, and the weather forecast was for good, dry days so all looked on course for an enjoyable weekend of croquet.

Robert Essler (Pendle) presents the winning trophy to Dave Williamson (Crake).

Initial pairings were based on matched handicaps as far as possible with subsequent rounds determined using the Swiss format. This brought some interesting encounters with the overall ranking changing with each iteration. As late as round 4 there were still three of the competitors in contention for the title but by the final round this had reduced to two with the final result hung on the last game to finish. At the end of the tournament three of the players were tied on 3 wins out of 5 and the end placings were determined by net hoops however the overall winner, being the only player with 4 wins out of 5 was Dave Williamson from Crake Valley (who earned a handicap reduction from 22 to 16). Second place went to Paul Dowdall of Pendle and third place to Tony Phillips of Bury.

Robert Essler (Pendle) presents the Runners Up trophy to Paul Dowdall (Pendle)

Thanks to Pendle CC for hosting the event and for providing their customary excellent hospitality and to Robert Essler of Pendle who presented the trophies .

Find a Category

Webmaster - Tony Thomas (tony@croquetnw.co.uk)
Consultant - Dave Thackeray (the Pod Cast Guy)