Teams of 6 from Croquet North and The North West Fed met at Pendle for the annual contest.
North – Andrew Killick (- 1 ½), Terry Vernazza (3),David Millener (6), Julian Gibson (c)(8), Nigel Durie (10) and Derek Johnson (12)
North West – Lee Hartley (-1), John Henderson (5) Chris Alvey (8), Betty Bates (8), Anne Alvey (10 and Libby Dixon (12) (Non-playing Captain Liz Wilson)
The three morning advanced doubles paired 1 with 6, 2 with 5 and 3 with 4. John and Anne saw off Terry and Nigel in record time winning 26 – 0 and Chris and Betty did pretty much the same thing against David and Julian 26 – 3. The other game featuring the minus players was far more tactical with Lee and Libby beating Andrew and Derek 26 – 9. So 3 nil to the North West at lunch.
In the afternoon the first 4 pairings played level advanced with the final two pairings playing handicap. First to finish was Lee vs Andrew 26 – 9. The next to finish was Terry vs John which went to the North East 26 – 9. Chris Alvey then produced the match deciding win against David Millener again winning 26 – 9.
The other three games all went to time and were very close and exciting. Libby beat Derek 26 – 21 in the time turn. Julian beat Betty 20 – 18 and Anne beat Nigel 18 – 16. The final score 7 – 2 to The North West but it could easily have been 5 – 4!
