Festival of Croquet – June 2010

Chester Gain Historic Victory in Jamboree Championship 2010 by Tony Thomas (27/06/10)

On the hottest day of the year can there be anywhere better than Southport?  Once again the Southport club hosted the wonderful croquest fest that is the Federation Jamboree Weekend.  For those who did not attend this year, you missed a treat –  beneath  glorious blue skies,  we basked in mediterranean like conditions, enjoying great company and the usual ‘food par excellence’ of the Southport catering team.  No wonder we love croquet! Although not as well supported as in previous years, this unique event still attracted 19 teams representing six clubs, who competed in Golf, Short, Association and Advanced Croquet formats.  As always, this annual event provides a broad platform for players of all abilities –  there was some excellent croquet played by some of the A and B class players but how marvellous to also see new members participating and enjoying tournament play.  About 150 people were catered for over the weekend and once again this event reminds us that together we can take our enjoyment of Croquet to new levels.  The South Lawns were a delight to play on (speed in the high Plummers), whilst in contrast, the North Lawns presented their usual frustratingly tricky challenges (speed low Plummers – very low!) – the event was organised this year so that all formats had similar times on both sets of lawns. For the first time in their history, Chester were crowned Jamboree Champions for 2010, winning the Association, Short and Golf events, beating Fylde to the title, who won the Advanced event.  Congratulations to Chester who also  entered teams in all four competitions for the first time.  The Red Arrows even ‘flew past’ to add to their celebrations.  Congratulations also to Abdul Ahmad who won all his eleven games and gained a golf handicap reduction from 5 to 4.

Thank you to managers Alan Mayne and Terry Foster, ably assisted by Ray Lowe, Brian Lewis, John Taylor and Don Williamson.  CA vice chairman, Barry Keen thanked the Southport club for hosting the event, paying tribute to the many home club members who prepared the lawns, set out fourteen courts each day and catered for so many people.  He also stressed the need for regional clubs to continue to support this event if they wished it  to continue in its present format.

See you all again next year – same place, about same time?