Champion Club – Fylde
The 2024 North West Festival of Croquet Champions are Fylde with a total of 74 points accumulated over the 5 different formats of Croquet played at Southport this weekend. In second place were Crake Valley with 67 points from just 4 formats and third were Bury with 64 points. Ten Clubs entered 32 teams with approximately 100 people each day, playing in challenging wet weather conditions. The lawns dried out well (and the ducks went away) to allow play to be completed by 3.15pm on Sunday.
A change from the traditional Advanced AC format saw the 4 teams play “all play all” AC on Saturday, followed by 6 rounds of “One-Ball” on Sunday. Three of the teams ended the weekend level on 14 points but the winners with 9 wins out of 15 available were Bowdon. Angharrad Walters & Ed Cheetham represented Bowdon on the Sunday.
The Handicap Golf used the Advantage scoring system and saw all games finished before time. Two teams won 5 out of their 7 games. Based on “who beat who” and a slightly better hoop difference Crake Valley pipped Pendle & Craven to the Shield. This was Crake’s first win in any format since 2018 – congratulations to John & Karen Bowes who played in all games.
Handicap Association saw the fastest game of the weekend (possibly ever at the Festival) with Richard Leach (Bury) beating his Bowdon opponent in just 30 minutes. Bury finished in third place and Southport were runner-up. Fylde however, were extremely strong performers winning 9 and drawing one game to take that Shield (photo Phil Snowdon and Barry Broughton).
In the Short Lawn Llanfairfechan (under Sarah Andrew’s leadership) were the strongest team with 10 wins out of 14. Bowdon second, with Fylde and Southport joint 3rd.
The Level Play Golf saw a much closer contest than in previous years. Due to the weather the first 2 rounds were 13-points games but after that we reverted to 19-point games. Crake Valley and Chester both recorded 5 wins out of 7 but lost out to Mike Bradbury and Paul Dowdall (Pendle & Craven) who had a 100% record.
The Chair of the Federation, John Haslam, thanked David Cornes for his contribution as Festival Manager over the last 3 years. John made an appeal for a new Manager to come forward as soon as possible so planning for 2025 can commence.
Advanced AC Winners – Bowdon
Handicap Golf Winners – Crake Valley
AC Handicap Winners – Fylde
Short AC Croquet Winners – Llanfairfechan
Level Play Golf Winners – Pendle