Southport — Croquet in the North West

Crake Win Double Croquet Success

28 September 2021 by David Cornes

North West Federation League Play-Offs 2021

On Sunday 26th September 2021 Crake Valley completed a memorable double league success.

The team of Neil Adams, Jim Allcock, John Henderson and Steve Skelton took on Chester in the AC Weekend Handicap league play-off, hosted at the neutral Fylde Club. Crake started the morning in good form by winning two of the three early games. Jim and John played Robin Tasker and Paul Watson, winning the doubles and Neil won in his match against Brian Walton. Steve had a much harder match against an Sally Slater with a 13.5 bisques advantage, narrowly losingh by 1.

After lunch in the singles Jim and John both played well beating Brian and Paul with Steve having a long battle against Robin, finally winning on time. Neil played Sally with a 11 bisque disadvantage and struggled as Sally played well to win by 22. With Crake players each winning a singles match and with the doubles win the final result was a win of 5-2.

*Crake AC Hcp Team of Neil Adams, Jim Allcock, John Henderson and Steve Skelton*

On the day before, the GC Handicap team of Roger Coates (12), Sandra Cornes (6), Simon Robins (7) and Frank Sharps (5) took on a strong Southport side led by Terry Dunbar at Crake Valley, in the GC League Play-off. The 2 doubles games were shared but Crake managed to win 3 of the first 4 singles to take a lead of 4-2 mid morning.

*2021 GC Play Offs – Mike Armstrong, Bryan Roberts, Tina Kelly, Terry Dunbar, Frank Sharps, Roger Coates, Simon Robins, Sandra Cornes and David Cornes*

Thereafter the games were fairly evenly shared with the scores 6-4 at lunch and 8.5 to 6.5 going into the last round of games. Simon and Roger held their nerve to complete the necessary wins needed to ensure a final scoreline of Crake Valley 10.5 and Southport 7.5. Crake Valley retained the shield they won when last contested in 2019.

*Crake GC Hcp team of Frank Sharps, Roger Coates, Simon Robins, Sandra Cornes, David Cornes*

A mention should also be made of father and daughter, Frank Sharps and Sandra Cornes who finished 4th and 3rd respectively in the National C level finals in the Isle of Wight, the weekend earlier. John Armer (Crake & Westmorland) also qualified for the finals finishing a credible mid table position.

Alain Giraud Retains Southport Sandiford

21 September 2021 by Ray Lowe

Southport September Advanced Weekend 18-19 September 2021

Alain Giraud retained the Sandiford Salver at the Open Weekend in Southport on 18-19 September.

*Southport President Brian Lewis presents Alain Giraud with the Sandiford Salver*

The tournament marked a return to normality for both the club and the players.

Manager James Hawkins made his first appearance on a croquet lawn since the onset of the pandemic and Rick Harding played well to take the runner-up place, in his first competitive season since winning this event in 1993.

Pendle Retain Festival Cup in Record Breaking Event

18 August 2021 by Tony Thomas

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.

*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).

Federation Chair Paul Rigge thanks everyone

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”.