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ASHBY CROQUET CLUB |
2008 NEWS ARCHIVE |
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PROMISES AUCTION
AND LAWN 3 FUND Thanks to all who helped with the Promises Auction by donating items and delivering brochures, and also to everyone who attended the auction, bought items, and helped out on the night. Although the attendance on the evening was disappointing we raised an excellent total of £1053 in bids, plus £44 from the raffle and £64.50 from cake sales. And the additional net income from advertising and company donations boosted the total by a further £150. All proceeds go to the Lawn 3 Development Fund. Many thanks to our advertisers and sponsors: John Mills Curtains, Gillivers, L & C Motors, Mercedes-Benz Tamworth, Ashby Jewellers, Lakeside Tearoom, K Borley & Son, A E Taylor & Son of Measham, Furnace Lane Pottery, Notts & Derby Cash Registers, Heath Pest Control, and T H Heath (Contracts). We have had a generous donation of £100 for our Lawn 3 fund from the Ashby Rotary Club, who are regular visitors to our taster sessions. And the Federation of East Midlands Croquet Clubs has promised us a grant of £500. We are also still hopeful of a grant from the Croquet Association but it will now be February 2009 before we know the outcome. |
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LADDER RESULTS The result of the
inaugural and experimental Association Croquet ladder competition was:-
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INTERNAL LEAGUE RESULTS Here are the
final results of our internal leagues: Geoff won the
26-point AC internal league. Geoff also won
the 14-point AC internal league. Mike and Rupert
won the Golf Croquet Doubles league. Ray won the Buxton
Vase (Golf Croquet Singles league) as previously reported. |
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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Our AGM took place on Tuesday 11th November. The Committee Report highlighted our
successes during 2008: the quality of the existing lawns which continue to be
a credit to our grounds team; the progress of our fund-raising projects for
our third lawn; and our playing successes at regional, national and even
international level. The club’s finances continue to be sound. Subscriptions for 2009 will be raised by just £2 for most categories, to allow for the £2 increase in the membership fee payable to Moira Sports & Social Club (which is included in the croquet subscription). Welcome to our new committee members Martin and Rupert. Trophies were presented to the club’s competition winners. The latest winners of our internal competitions also get the satisfaction of seeing their names highlighted on the winners’ shelf in the lounge area! |
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THE BOTTLE CHALLENGE The 2008 Bottle Challenge was held on a very pleasant October day and
Eileen, Chris, Rachel, Arthur, Ray, Will, Derek Old and myself fought for the
privilege of taking home the trophy, and more important, the eight bottles of
wine to celebrate with. This year the draw was partially seeded so the lower handicap players
would meet in rounds 3, 6 & 7 and there would be all to play for in the
final two rounds. It was all play all as usual. As a player and manager the
only game I observed other than my own (modesty forbids any comment on those)
was between Will and Derek. Will was leading 6 - 5 but peeled Derek's ball
through hoop 12 leaving him first approach to hoop 13 and game over. The
re-match next year will be interesting. Derek Old was the clear winner with seven wins, Will second with five
wins (on who beat who) and myself third with five wins. Post Tournament Party We have now hosted two croquet parties, the first resulting in red
wine on the walls and ceiling, the second with red wine on the carpet. We are
seriously considering having the house redecorated with a burgundy red theme
before the next one. At least on this occasion guests showed some initiative
by not letting red wine linger too long in spillable containers. One guest later had to be dissuaded from attempting a jump shot on the
dining room table! The Bottle Challenge has evolved and matured to the point where the
club needs to consider how best to take it forward, hopefully onto three
lawns in the future. Innovators rarely make good administrators. Mike |
THE SHELTER GETS A MAKEOVER! Geoff and Marilyn
painted the outside walls whilst playing a game of Association Croquet! It looks like new again. Eileen made some plastic
screens for the windows to help stop draughts and/or the sun getting in your
eyes. She also has provided a matching
plastic curtain to cover the front of the shelter to help stop the horizontal
rain from wetting everything and everybody.
This may/may not prove totally effective; we haven’t had any
rain to test it yet. This is unusual
at Moira as it seems to rain regularly on croquet club days. Geoff is also
looking at making the curtain double as an awning for use in the summer. The screens and
curtain are to be kept in the equipment shed when not in use. They are simple
to put up. Watch the shelter
for further developments! Eileen |
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ARTHUR WINS THE KNOCKOUT
FINAL Arthur beat Tim 7-6, 6-7,
7-4 in the final of our
level-play Golf Croquet Knockout competition. |
RAY WINS THE BUXTON VASE In the final of our Golf Croquet singles league
(best of three games, handicap), Ray beat Arthur 7-6, 7-3 to win the Buxton Vase. The first game was very tightly fought.
Arthur used his two bisques wisely and he put a ball into the jaws of
the 13th hoop. With no alternative shot to play Ray attempted, and successfully
pulled off, an angled jump. The second game was much more one-sided,
with Ray 6-3 up as the tenth hoop was played. Arthur hadn’t used
any bisques at this point and clearly didn’t expect Ray to run the hoop
with a tightly angled five-foot shot. Ray was delighted to win and get
his hands on the Buxton Vase for the third time. |
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RIPON DOUBLES WINNERS Six Ashby members (plus one former member) played in the Yorkshire Open Doubles at Ripon which attracted a field of 15 pairs. Congratulations to Ray and Chris who won the event, with Mike and Mick not far behind in equal-third place. Full report and results on the CA website. |
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INTER-CLUB GOLF CROQUET
FINAL: Surbiton 5 – 2 Ashby Surbiton fielded
their strongest possible team at |
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Tim and Ray competed in the Golf Croquet English National Singles Championship, better known as the Ascot Cup, at Hurlingham on the weekend of September 20th & 21st. Particularly of note was Tim’s quarter-final against Robert Fulford in which Tim took Robert to the 13th hoop of the deciding game – a feat only equalled by Reg Bamford in the final! In fact, Tim had a 5-3 lead over Robert in the final game. |
MIXED FORTUNES IN Congratulations to the Ashby A
team who finished top of Division 1 in the East Midlands Golf Croquet
League, winning three of their four matches. Well done also to Ashby B
for a clean sweep of victories which secured top place in Division 2, and (to
be confirmed) promotion back into Division 1 for next season. In the 14-point Association Croquet League
the Ashby team were not quite so successful, finishing in 3rd place in the
league of three, but only after games difference was taken into account after
all three teams had each won one match. |
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CAR BOOT SUCCESS Our car boot stall at Moira surpassed all expectations (as did the
perfect weather for it) and raised £195 for the Lawn 3 Development Fund (plus
another £8 still owed by Lindsey!). Many thanks to everyone who donated and purchased items, to Mick,
Martin and Richard for the 6 am start to set up the stall, Lindsey and Dave
for the bacon butties, and Cynthia for keeping us supplied with cups of
coffee – although this facility nearly came to an abrupt end at one
stage when a customer thought Cynthia’s hot water flask was for sale! We still have some saleable items left, and we’ll hold on to
these for a possible indoor sale over the winter. Meanwhile, the Promises Auction has been
confirmed for Friday 21st November. |
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TOURNAMENT WINNERS’ SHELF Eileen and Derek
have donated and put up a shelf in the Moira Miners Welfare to hold the lists
of past tournament winners. Eileen has
included most of the tournaments that we have information on from the
archives. Some may have been missed out. If all members
can look at the content of each list and let Eileen know of any incorrect
information on them (winners’ names/description of the tournament etc). She will alter
any list after the AGM in November when the 2008 winners will also be added. Any tournament
not included at present will need the information on the format, past winners
and year etc. to be sent to Eileen for inclusion in November. (Please put all
ideas, suggested alterations etc. in writing or by e-mail). As you will see
the shelf is full. New frames may have to be hung under or over the shelf.
New frames may be different to those already up. |
DAWSON AND BARLOW BALLS Due to the
deterioration of the I have put the Barlow Balls (i.e. the older balls) into labelled cardboard boxes and put them on the shelves under the tubes. The remaining two sets of Barlow Balls are still in labelled tubes. The very old
balls remain in the opaque plastic containers hanging from the top row of
brackets. There is also a notice on the equipment shed door explaining this. I didn't think that this needed to be a Committee decision, just common sense! Eileen INTER-COUNTIES The Leicestershire
team, consisting of Ashby players, finished in fourth place at the 2008 Golf
Croquet Inter-Counties Championship played at Southwick. Details
on the CA website. |
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LAWN 3 UPDATE Although Lawn 3,
the original temporary lawn, has improved a bit in recent years, it is
considered that it needs major surgery to get it to the point where it can be
reliably used as an extension to the playing facilities of Lawns 1 and 2. The
basic problem is the very poor quality of the topsoil and the lack of
drainage. Mike and Derek
have done a lot of work in getting specifications and competitive quotations
for the work required which includes: ·
Levelling
the ground to the same standard as Lawns 1 and 2 ·
Major
improvements to the topsoil ·
Installation
of a drainage system ·
Sowing
correct quality grass seed ·
Fertilisation
of the new lawn The projected
cost of this work is £10,000. Also required
will be fencing and hedging similar to Lawns 1 and 2, which will increase the
total cost to £12,000. We started
searching for funding some months ago by approaching bodies that helped with
raising money for Lawns 1 and 2. In almost every case we found that there was
virtually no funding available, all sources being cut either due to council
budgets being reduced or sports support funds being diverted to Olympic
programmes. The situation as
of early September 2008 is that we have received a grant of £1000 from Ashby
Woulds Town Council. This sum, together with generous and much-appreciated
donations from members and other fund-raising efforts, means that our Lawn 3
Development Fund has already reached £2677.
This figure does not yet include the Gift Aid (expected to be around
£350) that we will be able to claim on this year’s donations. We have submitted
an application to the CA (via the East Midlands Federation) for £6000. It is
likely to be a month or so before we know the result of this, i.e. yes and
how much, or no. We are now
beginning to contact other possible sources of funds, most of them
understandably are quite selective on what they will support. Also most
funding bodies will not give grants if a project has already been started, so
we have to be careful not to jump the gun with what money we have got whilst
we are still making applications for grants from elsewhere. Thus, for the
moment we have no fixed plan as to when we will start the work. If any one has
any ideas of organisations that we could approach for funds (or sponsorship),
please let |
EILEEN A FINALIST AT EDGBASTON Eileen was a
finalist in The Edgbaston “B” Open Golf Tournament held at Edgbaston
Croquet Club on Tuesday, September 16th. She was the winner in her block. The
cup was won by Philip Wood from Well played by
Philip, he had won all his games in his block. (But handicap 9! I looked for
a bandanna hanging from his pocket). A well-run
tournament managed by Richard Thompson. The games were hard-fought. The
catering was excellent - Soup; Roast Pork and all the trimmings; Rhubarb Pie
and Custard. We really needed a sleep after that! Sandwiches and cake for
tea. |
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CLUB
CLOTHING The winter clothing order has had to be
cancelled due to problems with supplies.
It sounds as if the supplier couldn’t quite grasp the concept of
a “croquet hoodie”! We do still have a few (mostly small and
medium) sweatshirts (£15.50) and polo shirts (£13.50) in stock; also a few
caps (£9.00) – all with the ACC logo.
Please see Cynthia S if you would like to purchase any of these. |
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CLIVE PEARSON GOLF
CROQUET DOUBLES Due to clashes with other events, only six
people played in this year’s Clive Pearson Doubles which
was won by Marilyn Murray and Geoffrey Ellott; the runners-up were
Cynthia Steel and |
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FARRANT
SALVER 2008 14-point Association Croquet handicap |
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ASHBY SET UP A FINAL WITH SURBITON Inter-Club
Golf Croquet: Ashby 5 – 2 Blewbury
Played at Moira
on Monday 1st September. Not for the first time in this supposed summer, a group of
croquet players had to dodge showers; on this occasion, for the cause of the
second semi-final of the Golf Croquet Inter-Club Championship. Ashby versus
Blewbury was a repeat of the 2007 final. Some careful archaeology also
revealed that the teams had played in 2000 (although Blewbury was playing
home fixtures at Harwell) and Ashby claimed the prize of being the home team on
this latest instalment. The morning legs provided some sense of balance
between the two teams. From 3-2 up in the doubles, King and Mounfield then
only took two further hoops. Meanwhile, after a comfortable win in his first
game, Gee found himself 2-5 down in the second, while Mitchell levelled his
leg at 1-1 with O'Brian. Gee responded first to win his next five hoops and
seal the leg. Then O'Brian played with reasonable control in the deciding
game and Blewbury hoped in vain for a 2-1 lead at lunch. In the afternoon, Ashby proved even more
resilient than in the morning. Mounfield failed to find much form but King,
Gee and O'Brian were in a race to secure the winning leg. King gave up some
ground when he allowed Spiers to take the first game to hoop 13 (a rare
occurrence between these two players), there having been a two-hoop
difference for most of the game. O'Brian finished his 2-0 victory first and
then Gee secured the match, leaving King to put the icing on the cake. Unfortunately, the hectic schedule of the croquet calendar depleted the
Blewbury team from being full strength, while Ashby have played in 2008 with
the added strength of William Gee. Thus, the result was somewhat of an
over-compensation for the one-sided final last year. Hopefully, the two will
play again and be more closely matched in the future. (Report by Tim for the CA website) Results William Gee (2)
beat Jim Bartlett (4) 7-3, 7-5 Mike O'Brian (2) beat Gerald Mitchell (3) 7-4, 6-7, 7-3 Ray Mounfield lost to Nick Butler 5-7, 3-7 Will Gee beat Gerald Mitchell 7-5, 7-3 Mike O'Brian beat Jim Bartlett 7-4, 7-3 |
The 'B' Team consisting of Mick, Geoff, and
Marilyn spent a very pleasant afternoon on Thursday 4th September, despite
the threatening weather, in the company of Brenda Roe, Mari Bebbington
and Angela Mumby of the North Hykeham Croquet Club. Of course, we
missed Eileen. Although it was a resounding win for Ashby, (Report by Marilyn) |
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TV QUIZ RESULTS We had a good
response to the Lawn 3 Development Appeal quiz: a total of 208 sheets sold. The standard of entries
was very high, for some time I thought that Peter Stanton's score of 73 would
win, then two days before the deadline Peter Dodson overtook him with a
splendid 76. But, in the post on
Saturday arrived a magnificent entry from Ray and Chris Mounfield and they
win the wine. Thanks to everyone who helped to sell the quiz and also to
those who bought it. Mick These were the
leading scores: Ray and Chris
Mounfield 79 Peter Dodson 76 Ryk Downes 74 Peter Stanton 73 Clive Burrey 68 Eileen Buxton 67 Click here for the
answers. Many thanks to
Mick for setting the quiz. |
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Will
Gee and Will
won the Robin Hood Gold Cup (handicap singles) and the Open Singles event. Rachel
won the C class (for handicaps 8 and above). A
short report is available on the CA
website. |
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PENDLE AUGUST HANDICAP TOURNAMENT The Rowe family returned to Pendle for the August Handicap Tournament over the Bank Holiday weekend. Will Gee (-0.5) played too and achieved some stunning successes, especially against Alice Fleck (10) where he won a 2 ball ending after a double peel on opponent and double peg out. Will was unable to hang on to his lead on the final day though, with Betty Bates (18) finishing on the 5th turn with 3 bisques standing. Rachel (7) armed with 7.5 bisques also managed to beat him.
Meanwhile Arthur (10) had an inauspicious start losing his first two games but then won 7 straight games, including the last one against Betty, to win the overall tournament, whilst Rachel emerged with the low handicap trophy and the fastest game.
More details on the Pendle & Craven website. |
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Mike O’Brian and Derek Buxton both reached the quarter finals at Ripon over the August bank holiday weekend, with Mike progressing to a semi-final against Reg Bamford. Reg won the match against Mike and went on to beat Khalid Younis in the final. Mike shared the third place with Evan Newell (Mike and Evan were also on form, and their luck was in, at Ripon races the following day!). More details on
the CA website. |
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CROQUET AT CATTON Ashby returned to Catton Hall on August Bank Holiday Monday in support of The Benefice of our four local churches. A half 'lawn' (or 'pasture' would be more accurate with the balls behaving like bouncing bombs) and target croquet was set up with the following members giving much valued assistance:
Marilyn with patience and effort in the setting up, Eileen & Derek who came straight from Ripon and still very willing, Dave giving a super effort considering he had been unwell. Special thanks to Jeremy for his generous donation of prizes.
The frame tent is now unserviceable (it is now consigned to a skip) - the wind won! As with Ashby's visits to Overseal & Netherseal, the efforts of our members far outweighed the income/interest of visitors. Both Marilyn and I think our time would have been better spent on our own club's beautiful lawns. I am sure this feeling is also echoed by others. Oh well, we tried.
Thanks to everyone and Janet/Martin who turned up in support. (Report by Geoff) |
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Played at |
ASHBY B 9 – 3 BAKEWELL B Saturday 23rd August was 'summer' and the lawns were
green and fast. With Eileen away at Ripon, I took upon the task of Team
Captain. It was harder than I at first thought!! Although the final result looks very
good, most of the games were very close and hard fought. Many
thanks to Martin and Rupert, who joined the 'B' Team for the first
time. I do hope they enjoyed the day as much as I did. (Report by
Marilyn) |
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RECENT SUCCESS FOR ASHBY LADIES Eileen Buxton and
Chris Mounfield were runners-up in the Thames Valley Croquet Club’s
Ladies Doubles Golf Croquet event held at Abingdon on Wednesday 13th
August. The weather was somewhat
unkind, with rain of varying intensity for most of the time. Twenty-four
pairs competed in this one-day event, which Eileen and Chris almost won, only
losing to a local pair at the 13th hoop in a keenly contested final. |
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CRAZY CROQUET Ten players
attempted the Crazy Croquet
competition on Sunday 17th August. Ray won the
competition with a round of 32 strokes, closely followed by Eileen on 34 and
Chris on 35. Mike did actually manage
a round of just 30 but was apparently disqualified on one of the hoops. Ray is therefore the new holder of the
Moore Peg. Thanks to The event raised
£20 for the Lawn 3 Development Fund. |
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We recently
hosted the regional finals of two national competitions at Moira: on Saturday
2nd August the All England Golf
Croquet Handicap (above) was contested by a field of 17 (manager Ray);
then on Saturday 9th August eight people met for a wet Grass Roots competition, managed by Eileen. |
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A SUCCESSFUL JULY DOWN SOUTH Ashby’s
Golf Croquet players have enjoyed a string of successes along the south coast
during July. On the A fortnight
later, Tim was runner-up in the Then, on Monday
28th July, Ashby’s team of Tim, Will, Ray and Mike put in a great
performance in their Inter-Club quarter
final match to squeeze past |
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FRIENDLY v KENILWORTH Ashby played Ashby - Eileen, Marilyn, Geoffrey, Ray, Martin and Rupert A really good day was had by all. Thanks to the Ashby side for bringing such a lovely, varied lunch. It was much appreciated by all. The new innovation of using a teapot for the tea makes a big difference to the taste - Well done Marilyn. The result was
Ashby 16 Kenilworth 11. The
lawns are playing very well. Earlier
in the season, Ashby played |
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MAX MORRIS TROPHY Derek won a
closely-fought contest. Details here |
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HUNSTANTON OPEN GOLF CROQUET HANDICAP (July 5th & 6th) Doubles event won by: Singles event won by Jeff Race ... |
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CLIPS Association
Croquet players will be pleased to hear that we now have some new sets of
metal clips in both primary and secondary colours! |
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ASHBY ANNIVERSARY SHIELD Rachel,
making her debut in this competition, won the Anniversary Shield with 4 wins
out of 5. Full results including picture |
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LADIES DAY After days of
good weather, Ladies’ Day was grey and drizzly. Ten ladies from
Ashby and Leicester Croquet Clubs braved the weather to compete for The Perry
Bowl. The winner was Rachel with 5 straight wins. Full results |
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“PRO-AM” GOLF CROQUET DOUBLES
REPORT In spite of the poor weather, which had been
forecasted earlier in the day (resulting in a few withdrawals by the less
hardy!), eight guests and twelve club members took part in this year’s
event on Thursday 26th June. All three lawns were used and the
intention was that the three blocks of players would play a game on each of
the lawns. However as the competitors got wetter and colder it became
clear that some were not sufficiently prepared for this all-weather sport,
and the third round of play was abandoned. By virtue of having
the best record over the games played (two wins) the winning partnership
was |
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NOVICES GOLF CROQUET COMPETITION REPORT The
Novices’ Golf Croquet Competition (for players with a handicap of 7+
who have not previously won a tournament) was played at Moira on Sunday 22nd
June. There were five entries, four
playing off the same handicap of 10.
An all-play-all format was used.
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ALL The
Club’s heat of this national CA competition was held on Sunday 22nd
June. Due to pressure on lawn use the four competitors met at 10.00am.
The format was all-play-all, two 13 point games, with a time limit of 45
minutes per game. The weather was fine, but with strong gusts of wind
and tight hoops to contend with the players had to concentrate even harder
than usual when attempting hoop runs. However most games were completed
within the time limit, with only one game being recorded as tied. In
fact all the other games (including those timed-out) had at least a two hoop
winning margin. The last game to come off the lawns, in which Chris
beat Eileen 7-4, decided the heat winner. The final
results : Chris Mounfield 4 wins
(from 6 games played), Eileen Buxton 3 wins and a draw, All
involved enjoyed the competition and the manager, Ray Mounfield, wished the
winner good luck in the next stage of the competition. |
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Longman Cup:
SOUTHPORT & BIRKDALE 5 – 2 ASHBY Unfortunately
our Longman Cup team couldn’t quite reproduce the success of our Golf
Croquet players, and went down 2-5 at Derek
Buxton & Geoff Ellott lost to Carol Lewis & Simon Wolf -1t Arthur
Rowe beat Diana Williamson +7 Derek
lost to Carol -5 Richard
lost to Diana -4t Arthur
lost to Simon -1t Geoff
beat Brian +12 |
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JIM KIRBY CUP
The
Jim Kirby Cup was played at Moira on Saturday 31st May (Manager: Mick). The
weather was perfect, no rain and not too hot. The worthy winner was Bob
Thompson. Full results
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Inter-Club Golf Croquet Championship: BELSAY HALL 1 – 6 ASHBY
The English Heritage "protected" turf
(cut only once a week and never weed-killed!) and slightly smaller dimensions
of the two courts didn't prove too inhibiting and the morning's play saw
Ashby leading 3 - 0. Luckily, the Bank Holiday downpour didn't reach Ashby players were pleased with the outcome of
their 400-mile round-trip to Belsay (done by Tim in one day!) but are hopeful
of winning the toss against
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SPEED DOUBLES SUCCESS Rachel
and Will won the Surbiton Speed
Doubles on the weekend of May 17th and 18th. There are some pictures on
the Croquet
Association website and also on the Surbiton website. Will also
won the Nottingham
Spring Handicap weekend on May 10th and 11th. And Rachel won her Silver Merit award. |
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ENGLAND v IRELAND UNDER-21 INTERNATIONAL Rachel and Will
played in the CA U21 team which beat the Irish over 2 days play at Match report and photo on the CA website. |
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ASSOCIATION CROQUET
LADDER The Association Croquet ladder has been launched – the ladder and accompanying rules and details are in the equipment shed. Inauguration of the "Ladder" was made on Thursday 24th April by the Chairman and the 'Constructor'. The first game on the ladder is significant – let’s hope many more steps are taken. Ladder latest - Marilyn took top rung from Geoff 14 - 0 on Saturday 26th April. Well done Marilyn.
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PENDLE TOURNAMENT Eileen reached the semi-final of the Golf Croquet Tournament
at Pendle in |
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AROUND THE COUNTRY Our top Golf Croquet
players have had a busy start to the season, playing in weekend tournaments
at Surbiton and |
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CHANGES
TO LAWS AND HANDICAPS Both Association
Croquet and Golf Croquet have had a few minor changes to their respective
Laws introduced for the 2008 season.
Details of the changes are on the Croquet Association website. The club has new versions of the laws books
available for purchase – see opposite.
There is also a reference copy of each book in the equipment store. Also, the Golf
Croquet handicap system is changing.
Details of the changes are here
(on the CA website), and will also be posted on the Ashby Croquet Club notice
board in the equipment store. New Golf
Croquet handicap cards will be issued by the club; these will be available
from Derek at club sessions. |
NEW LAWS BOOKS Update 28/06/08: The club still has
two copies of the new Golf Croquet laws book for sale, price £2.50. All the
Association Croquet books have been sold, but you can purchase individual
copies (postage & packing is free) from the Croquet Association shop. |
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ASSOCIATION
CROQUET COURSES On the Tuesday
prior to the new season, we had an excellent Association Croquet tactics session for established players with
lots of advice and tips from William – a very useful and enjoyable
evening which covered all aspects of the game. Many thanks to Will for his time, Arthur
and Judith for hosting, and Geoff for providing the table-top teaching aid. Arthur took the picture opposite, which is
a bit misleading – it looks as if most of the participants are asleep
but this most certainly wasn’t the case!! |
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Then on Wednesday 9th April,
Derek ran a one-day Association
Croquet primer course which was aimed at players who knew little or
nothing about Association Croquet but would like to give it a try. There were some favourable comments
including the following: “Well
done Derek. Two of your
'little helpers' thought it was fantastic, the feedback we got was that
everyone thought that it was great. Keep your lesson plan ... more
... more often. A thought from
conversation: This could be done for Association and for Golf as it is a
great learning tool, everyone felt equal and were under no pressure.
May be that is why it was such a good day." |
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SUCCESS
AT SURBITON Rachel played in the wind and sleet at Surbiton on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend in a field of 28 competitors, many with negative handicaps, in one of the first Association competitions of the year. Rachel emerged as the winner with 6 wins out of 6, although she was run close in the last game on Friday. The last match was a 'final' against Patrick Swales who also had a 100% record having won 4/4 at that stage. She was presented with a rather large trophy currently perched on a speaker in the dining room. Her handicap changed to 10 as a result of these games. |
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LAWN AVAILABILITY FOR THE 2008 SEASON The
season runs from March 30th to October 26th.
The main club sessions are Tuesday
& Thursday evenings from about 5.30 pm (although many usually arrive
earlier in the afternoon) and Sunday
afternoons from about 2.30 pm, although lawn availability may be
restricted at times on Sundays when tournaments or league matches are being
played. Please note that the lawns are
closed for play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings until 12.00
noon. This is
to allow the groundsman uninterrupted access for lawn maintenance and
watering. Apologies for any
inconvenience, but we hope that the loss of four mornings’ play will be
compensated by the increased maintenance and even better quality lawns as a
result. Access
will be available for members on Wednesday mornings, subject to the same
conditions that apply at all other times, i.e. the committee may arrange club
events and the groundsman or the lawn committee may close the lawns without
prior notice. |
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FUN
AND GAMES The Games
Evening, arranged for the Club by Lindsey, was a howling success! Only a
small number of members braved the howling gales to attend. Several versions
of Pictionary were played : Drawing; Blind-folded; and Play Dough. The
subjects were pub names and random miscellaneous. The
scoring system was discarded as speed of answers - sometimes lack of speed -
made it impossible.
We also played
Charades where some Oscars should have been awarded for originality, acting
and blagging! Dave Bell's interpretation of the film
title "Drifted" was especially challenging. Well Done Lindsey
for a hilarious and entertaining evening! |
NEWS FROM Tim’s preparations for the championship got off to an
excellent start at Surbiton in February when he finished runner-up in the In the championship itself, Tim successfully got through
the group stage with 4 wins out of 7 including some good performances, but
then faced a tough challenge in the first round of the knockout, and was
unable to overcome the 4th seed Ahmed el Maadi from For the World Golf Croquet Championship web page, click here. Tim has written an excellent blog describing his experiences in the World Championship, with accompanying photos. Click here for Tim’s blog |
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BASS SHIELD & COORS CUP
GOLF
CROQUET ASTROTURF TOURNAMENT sponsored by Coors Sunday
9th March at
Shobnall Leisure Complex, This year’s
Astroturf tournament was a sell-out, with all 24 places allocated and paid
for three weeks before the closing date. We had teams
competing from eight different clubs across the East Midlands: Ashby,
Bakewell, Gainsborough, Long Eaton, The Bass Shield
team competition was won by Southwell for the second time in three
years. Arthur Rowe won the Coors Cup
individual competition. Mike
O’Brian won the Ashby Auxiliaries Award (a mini-tournament for helpers
on the day). Full report and pictures
to follow. Full report and pictures on the Bass Shield and Coors Cup page |
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WINTER WALK This year’s walk took in |
ANNUAL QUIZ Six teams took part in the quiz which was
quite tough and low scoring but apparently we improved on Edgbaston Croquet
Club’s scores! The winners were
the Croquet Potatoes with a score of 40.
Runners-up were 2 Plus 2 scoring 37, and in 3rd place The Bright
’uns with 36. Many thanks to
Noel for running the quiz.
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GRANTS TO YOUNG PLAYERS The Federation of
East Midlands Croquet Clubs is offering grants to promising young players
to develop their croquet skills by playing in appropriate competitions. The Federation will offer help towards the
costs of entry, travel and accommodation incurred in connection with CA
listed events. For more details and how to
apply, click here. |
COUNTDOWN Our Countdown
competition this year was won by Richard in a close final, just snatching
victory from Eileen by 3 points with the final Conundrum. The other finalists were Margaret, Ben and
Mick. Thanks to all who took part and
to everyone who helped with the scoring. |
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NEW YEAR’S DAY CROQUET Once again we had
an excellent turnout for this traditional curtain-raiser to the new year: 14
of us playing, plus a few visitors. We
ran a small tournament, triple-banked on Lawn 1, with the three games
starting at hoops 1, 3 and 5 respectively which seemed to work reasonably
well. The winners were Will and Martin
with 3 wins & 1 draw from their 4 games.
Runners-up were Arthur and Eileen (2 wins & 1 draw from 3 games),
and in third place Derek and Richard (2 wins from 3 games). As usual, we enjoyed mulled wine, mince pies
and other nibbles between the games of croquet. |
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