Matt Holmes Takes John Beech Easter Trophy by Barbara Dutton (06/04/10)

Tournament novice Matt Holmes won the John Beech Memorial Easter Tournament. Matt, a young player from Bury, arrived with a handicap of 14, and took the Overall Winner trophy. He was also awarded a silver medal for running 12 consecutive hoops in a game which he won. Twelve contenders took part over the four days to win one of the five trophies on offer.

Local man Roger Schofield battled hard to beat Roger Staples from Middlesborough to take the Low Handicap trophy, only to find he was in a shoot out for trophy with level score with David Turner from Tyneside. They tossed a coin for which side to shoot from and unfortunately Roger lost out to David.

Joe Lennon from Glasgow took the High Handicap trophy. Liz Wilson of Fylde and Pendle took the Fastest Game trophy in just 48 minutes. Playing time is up to 3 hours 30 mins for each game. James Hopgood (Edinburgh) and Peter Wilson (Fylde & Pendle) shared the Most Games Played trophy, getting in 12 each over the four days.

The weather was mixed but mostly kind and players contended well with the odd puddle, unlike the member who drove onto the green car park and became bogged down and remained so in spite of several efforts to free him. Croquet whites do not go well with mud splatter, rendering those players, who offered to push, to a semblance of monochrome Jackson Pollock’s.

Pendle Win the Secretary’s Shield (18 Oct 09) by David Pollitt

Pendle beat Ealing 5-2 in the Secretary’s Shield Final at Northampton on 18 October.

Teams:
Pendle: Roger Schofield (3), Andrew Webb (4.5), David Pollitt(Capt) (7) and Robin Delves (11)
Ealing: Nigel Polhill (0), Colin McKenzie (6) Suzanne Clarke (8) and Roger Mayhew (12)

Could Pendle win this competition for the first time? It needed the players to rise at 5.30 am and to leave Robin’s at 7 am to arrive at Northampton before 10 o’clockstart. We made it with 15 minutes to spare. It was good to find we had support from Pendle’s founder and present country member, Norman Hicks, who now lives in the Northampton area.

All the games were double banked with the lawns playing fairly fast but they were undulating. In the morning Andrew built up a good lead but his opponent decided it was time to start using her bisques, so with 1.5 bisques she took her first ball round and then eventually finished the game with 2 bisques still in the ground, without Andrew adding to his score. A player to watch!

In the doubles Ealing won, so it left David to win to keep Pendle in with a chance. We ate our lunch in the open with it being such a good day. After lunch Roger set the tone with a comprehensive win using his bisques to maximum effect to win +26. David looked to be heading for 2nd win, but was finally beaten by Ealings most impressive player. So it needed Robin and Andrew to win for Pendle, to lift the shield. This they both did without much nail biting by Roger and David.

Well done Pendle and a big thank you to all the drivers especially Robin and everyone who played.