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Paul Rigge Awarded a CA Diploma

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Paul Rigge (l) being awarded the CA Diploma by Angharrad Walters (r) Federation Secretary.

Paul Rigge (aka Riggy) Chair of the North west Federation has been awarded a well deserved Diploma by the Croquet Association, for his massive contributions to Croquet.

Paul started his croquet some 24 years ago at Bury Croquet Club.  In 2002 he was involved in setting up the facility at Heaton Park in Manchester and in 2010 was on the team that organised the MacRobertson Shield there, being instrumental in getting television coverage of the event.  In fact he has been a television and radio presence representing the North West Croquet Scene on several occasions. 

He is larger than life character and has had a very positive effect on croquet in the North West in the last 10 years. In 2012 Paul became Secretary of the Federation and served a three year term.  Since 2016 he has been the  Federation Coaching Officer.  His coaching is second to none for beginners, improvers and at an advanced level.  Together with another player he ran the “Advanced Pods” at Bury.  He is willing to travel anywhere to deliver his help and advice to the Federation members.  

In 2017 Paul also volunteered to Chair the Federation, a post he also still holds at present.  In 2019 he visited Stoneyhurst College and helped establish a new croquet club at the school, which is now a member of the Federation. He has constructed and maintained the websites for both Bury and now Pendle.  For many years he has been Team Co-ordinator for the Lancashire team at the Counties.  

He has recently become a very active member of Pendle Croquet Club and despite the Covid crisis has co-ordinated and run no less than 6 competitions in 2020.  10 more competitions are scheduled at Pendle this year – all motivated and co-ordinated by Paul.  

He is active on the Tournament scene representing the North West countrywide.  He works hard for the sport both on and off the lawns.

Great Opportunity for You ???

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The Federation League Manager, Ivan Wheatley, has announced he will not be standing for re-election at the AGM in November. He has fulfilled the role in an excellent manner for the last five years. So now we are looking for a new League Manager for next season, would you, could you, do the job? This is an ideal opportunity for someone to make a real contribution to the work of the Federation and play a major role in developing the competitive side of croquet throughout the North West region.

The League Managers Year at a glance:

Here is the way it works at the moment:
Dec – send out entry forms for the following season and receive them back from Clubs before January.
Jan – devise the fixture lists for the forthcoming season – not as difficult as it sounds because it means basically interchanging the home and away teams from the previous year and making amendments due to new teams entering league or others dropping out.
Feb – send out fixture lists asking clubs to confirm dates or change them in consultation with opponents.
Mar – send out the official fixture list for the season
Apr – manage the league programme by receiving match results from clubs and passing these to the Web Master who keeps the League Tables up to date on the Federation website. As the season progresses you may occasionally have to adjudicate in disputes and make rulings about matches that did not take place on the scheduled dates. You have a set of League Rules to guide you.
Sep – as the league season ends, announce the league winners.
Nov – ensure all trophies are returned to the AGM. Present a report to the AGM on the success of the season and propose any amendments to the League Rules for the following season.

Over time, you may feel that some of the league documentation needs updating, especially the League Rules whenever the CA or WCF announce changes to the Laws. You do not have to be an expert player or have an in-depth knowledge of the Croquet world to do the job! You have a Federation Committee to rely on, so can always request them to propose any necessary changes to Rules, documents, etc.

The Best Job on the Federation Committee!

The role of League Manager is a very satisfying job – you devise a programme and have sole responsibility to manage it through to the end, but with a Committee willing to back you up whenever the need arises. You obviously need an ‘eye for detail’ and good organisational and time management skills. If you have a logical mind and like communicating with people, this is the job for you.

Interested?

Why not have a chat with Ivan Wheatley (07881 581 349), or his predecessor, Tony Thomas (07841 538 676), or the Federation Chair, Paul Rigge (07947 333 236) or indeed anyone on the Fed Committee. You can be assured of great support and advice when sought, indeed, Ivan is very happy to mentor the new manager throughout the first few months in the role.

Willing to have a go?

Just contact Federation Chair Paul Rigge or Federation Secretary Angharad Walters.

Pendle Retain Festival Cup in Record Breaking Event

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Covid prevented it in 2020, delayed it in 2021, but it finally happened … the Great North West Annual Festival of Croquet made a very welcome return at Southport last weekend for the 26th time.  Was it worth the wait? Well record numbers provide the answer – 41 teams played in the five competitions and it is estimated over 107 people attended each day, supporting the claim this event is the largest gathering of Croquet players in the UK (some claim the world!). It started in sunshine, finished in sunshine, between we had wind and rain, but this could not deter the wonderful ‘great to be back’ atmosphere at Southport & Birkdale Croquet Club.

Teams clad in different colours, the mix of beginners and experts, contesting five different croquet competitions, produce an unrivalled spectacle of excitement and enjoyment making this the premier event in the north west croquet calendar.

The Southport club presented 16 lawns in excellent condition, a tribute to the many weeks of preparation led by the Grounds Manager Don Williamson and over the weekend the club members who arrived early to set out all equipment needed and kept refreshments flowing throughout the event.

The number of games required to be played put pressure on the lawn availability and gave a logistical headache to Manager Ivan Wheatley, who managed the event superbly. As always, the Federation was willing to try new ideas – Triple Banking was used again in the Level Play AC event, the strange colours not causing too much hassle, whilst Doubles teams were controversionally utilised in the Short AC event without causing any major problems – another first for the Federation.

As always, some excellent croquet was played, with rounds of applause from watching spectators in abundance, of course not forgetting cries of anguish from players who fluffed their shots.  The standard of play was high with many close contests in all sections.  Tales of games ‘given away’could be heard all over the weekend.  The most outstanding performance was produced by the two youngest players – Jack Good and Will Mellor representing Bowdon, who won every match they played and securing the Level Play Golf Croquet shield for their club.

Jack Good and Will Mellor
Pendle 2021 Festival Champions
Back Row: Sharon deMaine, Paul Dowdall, David Carpenter, Garry Wilson, Gediminas Smolskas, Andrew Webb, Bob Burnett, Paul Rigge.
Front Row: Karen Bamforth, Libby Dixon, Gabiji Smolskiene.

And the Winners Were:
Level Play AC Winners – Pendle.
Full Lawn Handicap AC Winners – Westmorland.
Short Lawn Handicap AC Winners – Fylde.
Level Play Golf Croquet Winners – Bowdon.
Handicap Golf Croquet Winners – Pendle.
The overall Festival Champions – Pendle (who also won in 2019).

Paul Rigge, Federation Chairman summed it all up in his closing remarks – “Isn’t it great to be back, what a wonderful weekend, thank you everyone for making this Festival such an incredible event”.

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Webmaster – Tony Thomas (tony@croquetnw.co.uk)