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Paul Durkin Wins B Level Golf at Southport

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Colin Irwin, on behalf of the CA, presents the national B Level Golf Croquet trophy to Paul Durkin

Paul Durkin (Long Eaton) Wins National B Level Golf Croquet Final

Southport members mopping up

Would it happen or would the recent wet weather rule it out?  The almost incessant wet weather in the north west during the last few weeks caused havoc with cancellations in various Croquet events throughout  September.  The normally splendid lawns in sunny Southport became a haven for ducks as Don Williamson and his fantastic team of helpers battled to remove gallons of water, the hire of Surface Water Removal machines proved back breaking, but they succeeded and enabled the national B Level Golf Croquet final to go ahead.

Not to be defeated, the Weather Gods took their revenge by providing further downpours on the first day causing three lawns to become unplayable.  Not to be defeated, the Southport club brought into play their emergency lawns in a neighbouring compound.  Yes, it was squelchy, but enabled a good standard of play as sixteen players battled it out over the weekend of 7th/8th October, many brave souls wearing Shorts – well October in Southport can be quite warm!

After thirteen rounds of Golf Croquet, the leader board showed three players leading the pack with nine wins each and followed by another three players with eight wins.  So with two rounds to go, it was still all to play for, with the manager Don Williamson calculating the possible permutations.  However, as the results came in, the situation clarified and as players went into the final round, Paul Durkin (Long Eaton) had 11 wins and David Boyd (Chester) 10 wins.  Then Paul loses to Stephen Leonard (Kingston Maurward) and David beats Brian McCausland (Nailsee).  There was a nail biting wait as scoresheets were perused and hoops aggregated until the result was finally announced as David Boyd Runner Up and Paul Durkin the national 2017 B Level Golf Croquet champion.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW FROM CA WEBSITE

 

 

 

 

Before Wimbledon there was …..

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THERE WAS A NEWS FLASH !

Before Wimbledon there was ….  Listen to James Hawkins talking to Chris Evans about Croquet on Radio 1 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058x6kh

THEN AN OLD CODGER GOT UPSET !

Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir

I was so disappointed to learn that the Editor of the NW Fed website was stuck in a pre millennium time warp. Even the most uneducated of his readers will know that Chris Evans has matured over the years and moved from Radio 1 to take over the early morning Radio 2 slot once occupied by ( some would say) the late/ great Terry Wogan!

As my daughters say to me so regularly ” Keep up , you old …..”. I trust the error will be quickly rectified ( even if the balls are not returned their previous position)

Yours

Old Codger of Chester

THE EDITOR REPLIES ! 

Ah those pre-millennium days – when I had a high croquet handicap and could win most of my Croquet games, Wogan and the TOG’s gave us a few laughs on Radio 2 whilst a young whippersnapper called Evans excited younger listeners on Radio 1.  This fellow Evans does not look a day older so still looks like a Radio 1 personality, far too young for Radio 2!  When did that transfer happen?  Apologies to all Radio 1 / 2 fans.

JOHN DAWSON PUTS IT IN PERSPECTIVE ! 

James Hawkins, a leading AC player and author of Complete Croquet, is to be congratulated on getting Croquet on to the Chris Evans Radio 2 show. He initially phoned in to ” put Chris right” on the history of croquet at Wimbledon a few weeks ago and was promptly ” rewarded ” with a live interview with Chris within days. A brave man!! And whilst James in the interview may not have revealed anything new to croquet aficionados he did get croquet into the public arena. Not many of us create the opportunity to talk to 9 million people in the UK about croquet and to get on to the Chris Evans IPlayer site for more listeners ( along with a photo of AC World Champion, Stephen Mulliner lining up a hoop1 peel).

Well done , James .

John Dawson

Nathan Baker Keeps Trophy in North West

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Nathan Baker and Eugene Chang Win Southport B Tournaments (30 July 2017)

Nathan Blake with the Hawkins B Level Cup and Southport Chairman Don Williamson

They came from all parts of the UK to contest the Southport B Tournaments from Edinburgh to Sheffield to Nottingham, Surbiton and Cheltenham, plus local players from Crake, Fylde, Chester, Bowdon and of course Southport.  The tournament involved two events of eight players each – Super B (handicap range 0 to 2.5) and a B Level (handicap range 3 to 6).

The Southport lawns were immaculate, winning high praise from many competitors.  The weather was kind, catering wonderful and everyone enjoyed their croquet in the summer sunshine.  Eugene Chang (Sheffield) was in excellent form, winning the Super B Manor House trophy in style.  The B Level went to the last minute as a titanic battle to clinch the trophy between Barbara Haslam (Southport) and Nathan Baker (Fylde), either of whom could have taken victory.  However, with his last turn Nathan came from 3 down to go to peg securing the trophy and a handicap reduction.

 

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