Richard Smith, a longstanding member of Chester Croquet Club, was one of the players in Shrewsbury’s annual 14 point advanced singles competition for the Silver Salver on Saturday, 21 May.

With an association croquet handicap of -1, he is Chester’s highest ranking AC player and takes part in numerous Croquet Association events across the country.

He won the competition at Shrewsbury and is shown here holding the Silver Salver.

Held in blustery but mainly dry conditions the Open Series Championship at Pendle was a closely contested tournament with over a third of games going to the 13th hoop.The lawns were in very good condition and the hospitality very welcoming. 

At the end of Day 1 there were three players on 4 wins and two on 3 wins. Day two saw Jane Tewson (Ashby) take the lead with a win against Paul Dowdall (Pendle).

By the final round there were three players who could still win. Paul Dowdall and Libby Dixon (Pendle) went head to head with Paul winning 7-4 .  In another match David Cornes (Crake Valley) beat Andrea Widdison (Ripon Spa) 7-4 so David and Paul finished on 7 wins out of 10.

David was declared Championship winner with a superior hoop difference (plus 15 to Paul’s plus 11) losing his 3 matches 6-7 each time. David also managed a 12 yard jump shot to take a game to the 13th hoop against Paul Durkin (Ashby).

The picture shows Libby Dixon (Pendle) presenting the trophy to David Cornes (Crake Valley).

The Millennium AC Handicap tournament on 11th June attracted a field of only four. However, the quality of play was very high on Chester lawns that had turned into glass by the sun and gusty wind, (Keeping a long distance take off on the lawn was a nightmare).

In the first round Bury’s Chris Alvey scraped an 18 -17 win over his wife Anne (apparently the first domestic victory!!)

Whilst the rapidly improving Ged Smolskas (also Bury) comfortably beat Paul Taylor of Chester.

In the second round Chris turned up the heat for a big win over Ged whilst Anne had a solid win over Paul. 

The final round produced dramas. Against Chris, Paul ended a steady break by burning through his remaining bisques. Victory should have been easy for the lower handicapped Chris but Paul steadily ran hoops whilst Chris spent his energies on marginally missed roquets or blobbed hoops . The result an 18-3 win to Paul.

The final game between Anne and Ged was for high stakes; any win by Anne gave her the tournament whilst Ged needed a big win to take first place. When time was called the scores were level but Ged kept his nerve to score the winning hoop. 

Chris took home the trophy his wife had won and retained for the last two years;

And Ged gained the runner up trophy (a magnificent seventy year old memento donated to the CA by the CA of Australia).

Some great croquet in very tricky conditions – Tournament Manager: John Dawson.

Many thanks to the competitors and to the Chester helpers for a great tournament.