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The Most Famous Croquet Bandit

14 October 2015 by Chris Alvey

Billy the Kid – Real Croquet Bandit

Billy the Kid (left) playing Croquet in 1878 (Pic: Kagin's)
Billy the Kid (left) playing Croquet in 1878 (Pic: Kagin’s)

A shopper called Randy Gijarro purchased the above picture from a junk shop in Fresno (California) in 2010.  The picture is now for sale having been valued at £3.3 million.  The above image has been cropped from the original 4in by 5in tintype picture, shown below.  (Tintype was an early form of photography with the image being etched onto thin metal).

The picture shows Billy the Kid and his gang, known as the Regulators, enjoying a game of Croquet after a wedding in 1878.  The photograph has been subject to a year of methodical study, involving facial recognition technology and inspection of the site.  It is now believed to be authentic.  The only other known photograph of Billy the Kid, taken in 1880, sold for £1.5 in 2010.

Billy the Kid and his gang, the Regulators, relaxing after a wedding (Pic: Kagin's)
Billy the Kid and his gang, the Regulators, relaxing after a wedding (Pic: Kagin’s)

Thank you to Ray Lowe of Southport and John Dawson of Chester, for spotting the press articles on Sky News and The Times – you can read them at:

http://news.sky.com/story/1568658/billy-the-kid-photograph-could-be-worth-5m

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article-4585243.ece

COMMENTS:

Ray Lowe: Always thought some wrong uns played croquet.

John Dawson: I am not sure I would be volunteering to ask Billy for his handicap card.

John Dawson: Lovers of Chester lawns will note that there appears to be a bit of a slope in the picture.

Peter Wilson: Working for Top Gear now John?

 

 

 

 

 

2015, News

James Hopgood Wins Croquet Salver

13 September 2015 by Chris Alvey

James Hopgood wins the Chairmans Salver at Southport (10-13 September 2015)

James Hopgood won a tense final round game against Ian Lines to win the Chairman’s Salver for the second time.

11 wins James Hopgood;  10 wins Duncan Reeve;  9 wins Ian Lines;  6 wins Ian Burridge, Marcus Evans and Chris Williams;  4 wins David Goacher and Matt Holmes.

Southport Chairman Don Williamson presents the 2015 Chairmans Salver to James Hopgood (Edinburgh)
Southport Chairman Don Williamson presents the 2015 Chairmans Salver to James Hopgood (Edinburgh)

2015, News, Southport

Riggy Wins LPG Croquet Millenium Trophy

1 June 2015 by Chris Alvey

NWFCC LEVEL PLAY GOLF CROQUET TOURNAMENT – 31st MAY 2015 at CHESTER

Paul Rigge (Bury) being presented with the Federation Millenium Level Play Golf Croquet trophy by Manager Pat Clare of Chester.
Paul Rigge (Bury) being presented with the Federation Millenium Level Play Golf Croquet trophy by Manager Pat Clare of Chester.

Ten players from six clubs joined in the first Federation Level Play Golf Croquet Tournament. We gave a big welcome to our friends from Craig Y Don. As far as I know this is the first tournament the club has entered except for the Festival.

The day was fine but started very cold with a very unfriendly wind. The day brightened later but was only a little warmer.  The format was ‘All play All’, with no time limits. Handicaps varied from 10 to scratch but despite this variation the games were well fought with the results mostly not giving a true picture of the battles that took place, sometimes lasting several minutes at one hoop.

After round six there were three players each with five wins – Maureen Ivens, Garry Greenwood and Paul Rigge – leaving all to be played for in the last three rounds. Maureen beat Garry in round 7 but lost the last two. Garry won his last two and Paul won all his last 3 games. This meant that Paul was the winner with 8 out of 9 wins, Garry on his tail with 7 wins. Congratulations Paul on your success.

A big thank you to Chester club for hosting the event and special thanks go to the catering team. They did a marvellous job especially dealing extremely well with the various dietary problems amongst the players and managers.

Paul had changed out of his whites prior to the presentation of the trophy unfortunately but he had had an earlier problem concerning his whites and some jam!

2015 Millenium Level Play Golf Players at Chester
2015 Millenium Level Play Golf Players at Chester

2015, Chester, Federation, Millenniums, News

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