Additional Images to follow
What a great weekend! – the great North West Festival of Croquet appeared again on Southport lawns last weekend (25/26 June). Despite the weather hitting us with everything – sunshine, wind, rain, thunder, even hailstones – nothing could dampen the colourful extravaganza this event has become famous for. Old friendships were renewed, new ones made, in a non-stop schedule of croquet matches involving 33 teams from ten clubs, covering five disciplines of Golf and Association Croquet. Newer members experiencing this event for the first time were enthralled by the spectacle, especially if they played in a few games.
The lawns and surroundings were magnificent thanks to weeks of hard work by Terry Dunbar and his team and the catering was just superb, thanks to Margaret Flemington and her wonderful team.
Although attendance was slightly down on previous years, the new format of a very tight schedule, shotgun start to some events, games finishing with no extra shots, no results on cards, resulted in more exciting and adventurous play, adding to the enjoyment of the weekend.
For the record – Bowdon took the Champion Club Trophy, winning the Handicap AC:
Level GC:
Short AC:
and Level play AC:
Fylde won the Handicap GC:
The bottles of wine for best dressed players went to Liz Taylor Webb (Bowdon) and Peter Wilson (Fylde).
It is estimated over 80 players plus spectators were in attendance each day. A big Thank You to everyone who took part and everyone who helped with the many tasks needed to be completed for an event of this size.
P.S. Reminder to Bowdon – please bring the trophies back next year!
(Report and pictures by Tony Thomas, additional pictures by Sarah Clements)
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