Pendle and Craven Midweek Tournament July 8-11, 2014 –  Report by Ken and Margaret Anderton

The Class Events consisted of two blocks of Advanced  and two blocks of Handicap play in which all played all.  Alan Edwards (Woking) won the lowest handicap block (as last year) with accurate and consistent play.   The  Advanced block was closely contested with Terry Vernazza (Fylde) as the winner.  In the other two blocks the lower Handicap one was won by Ian Hall (Keswick) with good hitting in and long breaks.  Graham Good (Bowdon and Bury) won the higher Handicap one with four wins out of four retaining his trophy from last year.

The Egyptian Tournament was won by Ian Hall after a “winner takes all” game against Alan Edwards on Friday afternoon.  The doubles had 6 pairs entered and was run as two blocks with the winner of each playing the final on Friday morning.  Roger Staples and Terry Vernazza won the A Block and Margaret and Ken Anderton won the B Block and also succeeded in winning the final in a tense and closely fought game.  A good birthday present for Ken and revenge for losing to them last year!

Special congratulations go to Roger Schofield on achieving his Gold Award

The weather was kind – a bit of drizzle on the Tuesday morning; beautiful sun, white fluffy clouds and a gentle breeze Wednesday and Thursday and very hot and partly overcast on Friday.  The management, the lawns and the food were excellent.  The tournament was well managed by Liz Wilson.

Trophies:

The following trophies were presented by Denise Hoyle:
Pendle Rose Bowl: Alan Edwards;
David Jenkinson Tankard: Terry Vernazza;
Pennine Trophy: Ian Hall;
Irish Cup: Ian Hall;
David Hoyle Trophy: Graham Good:
Woodlands Trophy: Ken and Margaret Anderton;
The Addict (most games played): Peter Wilson;

Merit Awards:

Bronze: Ian Hall;
Gold: Roger Schofield;
Handicap change: Ian Hall 8 to 7

John Beech Memorial Easter Tournament (18^th /21^st April Pendle & Craven Croquet Club).

Lee Hartley retains the Peter Dowdall Cup (for Advanced play).
Roger Schofield Wins the John Beech Trophy.
High Handicap Trophy (10+): Joe Lennon.
Low Handicap Trophy (<10): Lee Hartley.
Fastest Game: Roger Staples.
Leisure Trophy (most games played): Andy Brandwood.

Four days play in fine, dry and mainly warm weather was again the order of the day in Earby over Easter for this year’s ‘John Beech’ after last year’s seriously minus degree frozen expedition.

The main handicap event is run as an Egyptian but by the finish only two points separated third place from the winner, necessitating the manager checking and rechecking each card to validate the victory in Roger Schofield’s (Hcp2) favour from Lee Hartley (Hcp -0.5) & Andy Brandwood (Hcp 4.5).

In the Advanced All play All Block, the manager’s nightmare continued with three players tying for the title on the same wins; on who beat who – still a tie, so net points finally broke the stalemate in Lee’s favour.

The courts were green with very firmly set hoops and looking at the repairs to court 4, it won’t be long before Pendle & Craven return to being a five lawn club again having improved the clubs drainage.

Always known as a friendly tournament, with much banter & beer – the bar is sponsored by a certain croquet playing micro brewery proprietor after all, and this year was no different with all competitors vowing to return again and again.  Did I mention the food yet? Each day, bang on 12:30 copious amounts of hot fare followed by pudding were enjoyed and the time honoured ‘tradition’ of tea at 4pm was of course observed to stave off any hunger