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Margaret Anderton Wins Regional All England AC Heat

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The All England Croquet Handicap NW Regional Final 1st – 2nd August 2012

Manager Don Williamson with Tony Thomas, Margaret Anderton and Alan Morton.
Manager Don Williamson with Tony Thomas, Margaret Anderton and Alan Morton.

Despite the inclement weather and a disappointing number of competitors, players gathered at Southport for the All England Croquet Handicap Regional final – the prize at stake – a trip to Ramsgate for the national final!.  Although a bit squelchy under foot, the lawns were in excellent condition under the circumstances.  A hugely enjoyable weekend followed as players battled it out with the threat of a Ramsgate journey never far away.  The event was excellently managed by Don Williamson who kept games flowing efficiently and as always the catering was 'par excellence' by Margaret Flemington.

Happy players dreaming of Ramsgate - l to r - Garry Wilson, Tony Thomas, Alan Farrell, Alan Morton, Margaret Anderton, Richard Harvey.
Happy players dreaming of Ramsgate – l to r – Garry Wilson, Tony Thomas, Alan Farrell, Alan Morton, Margaret Anderton, Richard Harvey.

The first day saw Alan Morton (Fylde) becoming the 'bookies favourite' but as evening approached other players acclimatised to the lawns (or were fortified by a superb lunch!) with Margaret Anderton (Bury) and Tony Thomas (Southport) coming into contention.   As the light rain cleared away on Sunday, the Southport sunshine encouraged improving play from Richard Harvey (Bury) and Alan Farrell (Southport).  New kid on the block Garry Wilson (Crake Valley) gave a spirited performance and is one to watch next season.

Eventually Margaret Anderton and Tony Thomas provided an entertaining finale to the watching spectators.  With Margaret on Peg and Penult, Tony on Peg and Peg, he roqueted Margarets peg ball onto the peg – ( a semi greivous?).  In his next turn, he went one better and did a 'proper grievous' leaving only two balls on the lawn.  Margaret hit in and two-balled the final hoops and pegged out – a well deserved victory.

The steady play of Alan Morton gave him third place and after much discussion was awarded the honour of representing the North West at the Ramsgate final.

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Another First for Dave Nick

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Dave Nick
Dave Nick

Dave Nick won the Cavendish Clock at the Leven and Crake Valley Advanced Tournament for the first time with six wins out of six.
“The recent heatwave had taken its toll on two of the four lawns and it proved impossible to force the hoops into the parched ground”. The two lawns which were playable were measured for speed somewhere between 18 and 20 plummers! The eight hardy souls (who could not or would not be turned away) played a loosely based all-play-all with play getting underway at 1pm on Saturday afternoon.

Results:

Dave Nick 6 /6;   Phill Scarr 5/ 6;    Paul Rigge 4/6;    Bob Burnett 4/6;
Peter Wardle 2/6;    Peter Wilson 2/ 6;    Liz Wilson 1/ 6;    Peter McDermott 0/6.

B Burnett bt P Wilson +10 P Rigge bt P McDermott +15 Dave Nick bt Liz Wilson +21tp P Scarr bt P Wardle +15
Dave Nick bt P Wardle +1 P Rigge bt B Burnett +21 Liz Wilson bt P McDermott +11t P Scarr bt P Wilson +22
B Burnett bt P McDermott +9 P Wilson bt Liz Wilson +11 Dave Nick bt P Scarr +16 P Rigge bt P Wardle +13
P Scarr bt B Burnett +9 P Wardle bt Liz Wilson +6t P Rigge bt P Wilson +9 Dave Nick bt P McDermott +3t
P Wilson bt P McDermott +18 P Scarr bt Liz Wilson +5t B Burnett bt P Wardle +4 Dave Nick bt P Rigge +21tp
B Burnett bt Liz Wilson +21 P Scarr bt P Rigge +12 Dave Nick bt P Wilson +11 P Wardle bt P McDermott +26

David Maugham Wins North of England Championship

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David Maugham won the North Of England Championship

Despite a dreadful forecast predicting torrential rain, 18 brave croquet players turned up to contest this year’s North of England Championship at Bowdon. Fortunately, the rain largely confined itself to overnight and the lawns maintained an easy 10 seconds throughout. The first day saw some seeds fall – Ian Lines lost to an ever improving Robert Wilkinson, who then went on to beat Marcus Evansin the quarters. Meanwhile Chris Williams had a good run beating James Hopgoodin the quartersto make his first championship semi-final.
Unfortunately, the golden oldies beat the up and comers and Keith Aiton and David Maugham won through to set up the same final as seen for the last three years, with David triumphing +25tp, +11tpo, -26sxp, +10 to record his record eighth win at this event.
Meanwhile the plate was being enjoyed by many, with excellent form being shown by Gabrielle Higgins with 5 triples over the weekend. Sam Murray also did well, making the plate draw and dropping his handicap from 1.5 to 0.5 in one go. In an early game James Hopgood finished a sextuple despite it going sufficiently wrong in the middle that Ian Lines said he’d eat his hat if it finished – an edible hat was duly created and eaten to the delight on onlookers. The final of the plate saw James Hopgood beat David Goacher +26tp in quick time – James had a train to catch!
Martin Granger Brown presented the Faulkner Cup to David and the Tollemache Plate to James. He also thanked Christine Irwin and her team of helpers for the magnificent catering, Alan Mayne for the excellent lawns, and Barry Keen and Colin Irwin for setting the lawns and hoops.

It also emerged at the presentation that David and Keith had agreed that the first three games of the final would simultaneously constitute the completion of the final of the Eastern Championship, held over from Wrest Park where Keith was 2-0 up when rain stopped play, and so Keith won the Easterns+26sxpin the fifth (not sure how that will go into the rankings).

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