Richard Smith, a longstanding member of Chester Croquet Club, was one of the players in Shrewsbury’s annual 14 point advanced singles competition for the Silver Salver on Saturday, 21 May.

With an association croquet handicap of -1, he is Chester’s highest ranking AC player and takes part in numerous Croquet Association events across the country.

He won the competition at Shrewsbury and is shown here holding the Silver Salver.

Held in blustery but mainly dry conditions the Open Series Championship at Pendle was a closely contested tournament with over a third of games going to the 13th hoop.The lawns were in very good condition and the hospitality very welcoming. 

At the end of Day 1 there were three players on 4 wins and two on 3 wins. Day two saw Jane Tewson (Ashby) take the lead with a win against Paul Dowdall (Pendle).

By the final round there were three players who could still win. Paul Dowdall and Libby Dixon (Pendle) went head to head with Paul winning 7-4 .  In another match David Cornes (Crake Valley) beat Andrea Widdison (Ripon Spa) 7-4 so David and Paul finished on 7 wins out of 10.

David was declared Championship winner with a superior hoop difference (plus 15 to Paul’s plus 11) losing his 3 matches 6-7 each time. David also managed a 12 yard jump shot to take a game to the 13th hoop against Paul Durkin (Ashby).

The picture shows Libby Dixon (Pendle) presenting the trophy to David Cornes (Crake Valley).