ASHBY CROQUET CLUB	2011 NEWS ARCHIVE
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LAWN NEWS

Lawns 1 and 2 have been seeded and top-dressing applied. Many thanks to all who helped out with this.

Lawn 3 is available for winter club play, weather permitting – please do not use in frosty or very wet conditions.

SUBS & COMPETITION ENTRIES 2012

To help offset our increasing lawn maintenance costs, the AGM agreed an increase in subs (our first for three years) of £5 on the Standard rate to £63 and pro-rata for other categories, but the Casual and Country rates will remain at current levels. We are introducing a new Distant membership category for people living more than 50 miles from the club. The Distant rate is half of the Country/Casual rate, on the basis that Ashby is not their main club.

Internal club competition fees (currently £3 in most cases) will be scrapped next year to try and encourage more members to enter our competitions. This is for a trial period and will be reviewed at the next AGM.

INTERNAL GC DOUBLES LEAGUE

Four pairs entered the doubles league and completed their games. Arthur and Judith Rowe were the winners with 3 wins. Runners-up were Martin Wroughton and Liz Riley with 2 wins.

COMPETITION WINNERS 2011

Trophies were presented to the winners of the year's competitions at the AGM. The indisputable star of the season was Will Gee, and in his absence he was awarded with the Player of the Year award.

List of competition winners 2011 (PDF)

ASHBY WELL-REPRESENTED IN YORKSHIRE DOUBLES FINAL

Three Ashby players featured in the Yorkshire Doubles at the Ripon Spa Hotel over the weekend 8th - 9th October. Rachel and Arthur Rowe played together, and Mike O'Brian played with Jacob Carr. There were twelve pairs, divided into two blocks. At the end of Saturday, both the Ashby containing pairs had won 5/5 19 point games and topped their blocks, winning most games easily, apart from the game between Rachel and Arthur and Sam Thompson and Freda Vitty which finished 10-9 to the Ashby pair. The weather was not great, with steady drizzle all day on Saturday.

The top four from each block progressed to the knockout stage on Sunday, when the weather was slightly warmer and less rainy. Rachel and Arthur easily won their quarter and semi-final games; Mike and Jacob took 3 games to beat Sam and Freda in their semi-final. By this time Jacob was in fine form and hit some spectacular jump shots.

Jacob and Mike took the first game of the final 7-5. Rachel and Arthur fought back in the second to be 6-4 up, but did not play good enough approach shots to hoops 12 and 13 (partly due to some large hills on Lawn 1), and lost the second game 7-6, leaving Mike and Jacob the winners.

Mike, Jacob and Sam

Sam, Arthur and Rachel

INTER-CLUB GC FINAL: Surbiton 4–3 Ashby

Played at Letchworth on Sat 1st October

Surbiton beat Ashby 4-3 in a very closely-fought contest to win the GC Inter-Club Trophy for the fifth time.

Surbiton were only one hoop away from a 5-2 victory. But Ashby were only one hoop away from a 4-3 victory and two away from 5-2! Ashby also won 16 more hoops than Surbiton across the 17 games in the match. However, Surbiton team captain Don Beck brought home the victory in a tight finish against Rachel Rowe, after John Spiers had hung on for a vital win in the morning against Ray Mounfield (from 1-4 down in third game) and Samir Patel had been assured in defeating both Ray and Tim King.

Letchworth proved to be a perfect venue for the final. The club was hospitable, members formed a decent-sized crowd of spectators, operated scoreboards and (most important of all) the two courts were in fantastic condition, with a fast, true surface that was a fair test of croquet ability.

Results

William Gee (0) & Rachel Rowe (1) beat Howard Cheyne (0) & Don Beck (0): 7-1, 6-7, 7-6

Tim King (1) lost to Samir Patel (1): 3-7, 6-7

Ray Mounfield (2) lost to John Spiers (1): 7-1, 6-7, 6-7

William Gee beat Howard Cheyne: 7-4, 7-1

Rachel Rowe lost to Don Beck: 7-3, 6-7, 5-7

Tim King beat John Spiers: 7-4, 7-3

Ray Mounfield lost to Samir Patel: 4-7, 4-7

WILL WINS THE ASCOT CUP

Will Gee has capped an amazingly successful 2011 with victory in the Ascot Cup (English National GC Championships).

Rachel and Will travelled to Colchester to play in the Ascot Cup on 24-25 September. Whilst Rachel got off to a good start by winning two tough opening games, Will was playing much more shakily, having a 10-9 scare in the opening game, before losing his second. From then on however, Will played much more consistently, winning all his remaining games on Saturday, including beating Jack Wicks 10-0. On Sunday morning, whilst the qualifiers from Rachel’s block had been decided, two of Will, Jack Wicks and Stephen Mulliner would qualify from Will’s block. Will had to beat Stephen in his last block game to be sure of qualifying. Will played solidly to beat Stephen 10-6, placing him top of his block.

In the semi final, Will was pitted against Howard Cheyne, who he had played 14 times that season already. After going 3-0 down in the first game, Will turned the match around, winning the match 7-4, 7-3 to secure a place in the final against Robert Fulford. In the final, Will took an early lead and held onto it in both matches, winning 7-4, 7-5.

Will's Ascot Cup success is the culmination of a successful year which also saw victories for Will in the Bottle Challenge, the Surbiton and the Roehampton GC Opens and the National Forest GC Trophy. Also together with Rachel Rowe he won the national doubles championship at Wrest Park.

INTERNAL GC SINGLES COMPETITIONS

Both GC finals were played on Lawn 3 on Thursday 29th Sept.

Knockout Final : Mick beat Chris 7-6, 7-3

League Final : Ray beat Chris 7-3, 7-4

In both Chris played well ... but didn't get any of the luck!

EAST MIDLANDS GC LEAGUE:

Ashby 11–1 Leicester Sat 10th Sept

Will, Rachel & Arthur played the final match of the season against Leicester at Moira. In spite of the poor weather forecast most of the match was played in warm and dry conditions.

After an indifferent start to the season, with only half a win from 3 games, Ashby have finished with 2 wins in the last 2 matches against Long Eaton and Leicester. Leicester put up more resistance than the 11-1 scoreline suggests, but this Ashby team was just too strong for them. Full results

EAST MIDLANDS GC LEAGUE:

Long Eaton A 3–9 Ashby Sun 4th Sept

This was Ashby's first win of the season – well done to Arthur, Ray and Chris. Full results

FARRANT SALVER Sat 27th August

The Farrant Salver attracted a field of five this year, including novice (to Association Croquet) Christine Mounfield. The result was close, Ray and Richard each winning 3 out of their 4 games. Ray was the overall winner, having defeated Richard, and therefore claims the trophy for the first time. Mick was the only player to complete all his games within the time limit. Results

EAST MIDLANDS GC LEAGUE:

Ashby 5–7 Woodhall Spa Wed 24th August

The Ashby team was Mick, Martin, and Liz (making her debut).

INTER-CLUB GC SEMI-FINAL: Ashby 7-0 Nailsea Sun 21st August (Report by Tim)

Although Ashby has a distinguished playing record in the GC Inter-Club, the team has never previously scored a 7-0 victory. Indeed, many matches have been perilously close. On this occasion, the highly successful Ryan Cabble looked certain to lead a stiff challenge to the aspirations of the Ashby team. However, this semi-final became a surprisingly one-sided affair.

In the end, Nailsea only managed to score a single game victory and that was in the morning doubles leg, which swung violently one way and then the other. Nailsea reached a high point of 3-2 in the third game but then subsided. The doubles was also highly unusual in finishing in three games comfortably quicker than both the parallel singles legs, which both only took two games (although double banking accounted for some of the difference).

In matches over the years, Ashby has rarely had the opportunity to relax at lunchtime on a 3-0 lead but despite this did not rest on any laurels. Will Gee and Ryan demonstrated their fast, aggressive tendencies and were the first to finish, giving Ashby the unassailable lead. The other Ashby players then proceeded to deliver their own successes, although Brian McCausland eventually found some consistency to make Ray sweat to some extent over getting the final point of the white-wash scoreline.

The 7-0 result coincides with Ashby fielding Will and Rachel at 1 and 2 for the first time, indicative of the progress of these two young players. Their next major outing as a doubles pairing will be at the National GC Doubles at Wrest Park on 3 and 4 September. They probably deserve the tag of pre-Championship favourites.

Nailsea were fautless visitors, having had to turn down the opportunity of a home tie because of fixture congestion. Thus, they had the long drive and then resisted all temptation to complain about the somewhat interesting court conditions at Ashby, where weather has not been kind to the required maintenance regime.

This semi-final result gives the final as Ashby versus Surbiton for the fourth consecutive year. The current discussion is to look for a different neutral venue other than Wrest Park, which has hosted the past three finals. One major reason is to provide easier opportunity for spectators to attend what should be an exciting match. Watch this space ...

RESULTS

Will Gee (0) & Rachel Rowe (1) beat Ryan Cabble (0) & Peter Dyke (1): 7-2, 3-7, 7-3

Tim King (1) beat Brian McCausland (3): 7-4, 7-3

Ray Mounfield (2) beat Jim Gregory (1): 7-1, 7-5

Will Gee beat Ryan Cabble: 7-2, 7-4

Rachel Rowe beat Peter Dyke: 7-3, 7-5

Tim King beat Jim Gregory: 7-2, 7-4

Ray Mounfield beat Brian McCausland: 7-4, 7-5

GC Inter Club draw/results (CA website)

WILL WINS THE BOTTLE CHALLENGE Sat 20th August
(Report by Ray)

This was our eighth annual one-day Golf Croquet “Bottle Challenge”. The event, initiated and developed by Mike O’Brian, involves each player contributing a bottle of wine, which then constitutes the prize for the tournament winner, together with a unique “bottle” trophy designed by Mike. Sadly, Mike’s wife, Margaret, had passed away three days earlier following a stroke. Naturally the thoughts of the players were very much with Mike and before play commenced they observed a minute’s silence in memory of Margaret.

The competition involved seven of Ashby’s top GC players (handicap range 0-3), together with this year’s guest player Stephen Mulliner. Early rounds saw the top four seeds (Stephen, Will Gee, Rachel Rowe and Tim King) winning each of their games, but in round four Ray Mounfield had a surprise win over Stephen. Nonetheless in the final round of play the top seeds, Stephen and Will, played in the game from which the tournament winner would inevitably emerge. Will was in “Juggernaut” mode and played some of the best croquet seen on the Ashby courts. He was unstoppable, even by the wily Stephen. Will won the game 7-2.

This completed a day in which Will had outclassed all seven of his opponents and was thus a worthy winner of the tournament. Stephen was runner-up with Rachel third (both on five wins), Chris Mounfield finished fourth with four wins. The weather had been kind, the company convivial and the day very enjoyable.

Full results and photos

MARGARET O'BRIAN

Margaret sadly passed away on August 17th after suffering a stroke. Margaret had been a member of the club for twelve years. Although health problems prevented her from playing much croquet in recent years, Margaret was a regular visitor to the club and will be much missed. Our condolences to Mike at this sad time.

ANNIVERSARY SHIELD Sat 13th August

Just four players contested this year's Anniversary Shield, ensuring that the event could be completed in a single day. Mick was the winner of a close competition. Results

EAST MIDLANDS GC LEAGUE:

Bakewell A 6–6 Ashby Fri 12th August

Ray, Mick and Martin played for Ashby.

MAX MORRIS TROPHY Sun 7th August

We have a new name this year on the Max Morris Trophy, which was won by Martin. Results

ASHBY WIN EAST MIDS 26-POINT AC LEAGUE

Sat 6th August

In another close competition, Ashby have won the league for the fourth year running. Details

CLIVE PEARSON DOUBLES Sun 31st July

The Clive Pearson Doubles competition attracted 11 people, and was won by Judith and Rachel with 5 wins out of 5. Report, results and photo

EAST MIDLANDS CROQUET WEBSITE

The Federation of East Midlands Croquet Clubs now has a website www.eastmidlandscroquet.org.uk which includes a photo gallery, links to the East Midlands Clubs, league fixtures and results from previous years.

EAST MIDLANDS 14-POINT AC LEAGUE:

Ashby 5–2 Woodhall/Branston Sat 30th July

Ashby won 5-2 against a combined Lincolnshire team from Woodhall Spa and Branston. Full results

NATIONAL INTER-CLUB EVENTS

Here are details of Ashby's fixtures and results. Click on the name of each competition to see the full draw.

GC Inter Club:

Quarter-final (Sun 10th July): Ashby 4-3 Cheltenham

Semi-final (Sun 21st August): Ashby 7-0 Nailsea

Final (Sat 1st October): Surbiton 4–3 Ashby at Letchworth.

GC Murphy Shield: Quarter-final (Sat 16th July): Belsay Hall 5-1 Ashby

Longman Cup (AC): First round (Sun 12th June): Wrest Park 4–3 Ashby

Secretary's Shield (AC): First round (Sun 26th June): Ashby 3-4 Letchworth

AC FRIENDLY: Ashby 5–1 Kenilworth Wed 6th July

This year's friendly against Kenilworth was an Association Croquet match at Moira. Ashby just about managed to get a midweek team together – Roger, Mick and Derek – who finished 5-1 winners.

MURPHY INTER-CLUB GC SHIELD:

Belsay Hall 5–1 Ashby Sat 16th July

It was a long trip up to Northumberland, but a delightful venue in the gardens of an English Heritage property despite the wet weather. A disappointing result for Ashby in the end, losing 1-5.

RESULTS (Belsay Hall names first):

Derek Old (2) & Derek Johnson (4) beat Derek Buxton (2) & Richard Sanville (5) 7-6, 7-4

Jacqui Old (5) beat Martin Wroughton (7) 7-1, 5-7, 7-6

Megs Rogers (5) v Rupert Knapton (7) 7-5, 2-7 (match not completed)

Derek Old beat Derek Buxton 7-5, 7-2

Derek Johnson beat Richard Sanville 7-5, 7-5

Jacqui Old lost to Rupert Knapton 7-5, 3-7, 6-7

Megs Rogers beat Martin Wroughton 7-4, 2-7, 7-3

ASHBY PLAYERS COMPETE FOR WORLD GC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2011 World Golf Croquet Championship took place in London from July 18th to 24th at Hurlingham and Surbiton. Ashby player Will Gee was one of the England players competing and reached the knockout stage.

Rachel and Ray played in the pre-championship qualifying event at Surbiton and Roehampton. Rachel finished on 4 wins out of 7 including a good win against the top player in her block, but unfortunately not quite enough to qualify.

Will finished third in the Under-21s Golf Croquet Championship at Hunstanton, following his recent successes in the Student Championship and Ashby's own National Forest GC Tournament.

EAST MIDLANDS GC LEAGUE: Nottingham 10–2 Ashby Tues 21st June

The Ashby team faced a tough opening match against Nottingham A in the 2011 league, and finished on the wrong end of a 10-2 scoreline despite some close games. Full results

INTER-CLUB GC: Ashby 4–3 Cheltenham Sun 10th July (Report by Tim)

Ashby: Will Gee (0), Ray Mounfield (1), Tim King (1), Rachel Rowe (1)

Cheltenham: Richard Thompson (1), David Foulser (1), Tony Forbes (2), Dave Mundy (2)

Will Gee and Ray Mounfield lost to Richard Thompson and David Foulser 4-7, 7-2, 6-7

Tim King beat Dave Mundy 7-3,7-6

Rachel Rowe lost to Tony Forbes 7-3, 6-7, 5-7

Will Gee beat Richard Thompson 7-2, 3-7, 7-3

Ray Mounfield lost to David Foulser 5-7, 7-2, 3-7

Tim King beat Tony Forbes 7-2, 7-5

Rachel Rowe beat Dave Mundy 7-4, 7-6

The Ashby would not have been human had they not felt some confidence turning up to a home tie against opponents having lower rankings player for player. However, the morning leg proved that the contest on the court is all that matters. Tim King and Rachel Rowe did live up to expectations in each taking their first games with a fair degree of comfort. However, in the doubles, Cheltenham showed resilience and bucked the trend; first game to Richard Thompson and David Foulser. This led to the first turn of tide: Ashby coming back strongly in the doubles and, on the singles court, Dave Mundy (against Tim) and Tony Forbes (against Rachel) taking early two-hoop leads.

From 3-5 down, Tim did revive to 5-5 but lost at hoop 11 and only won at hoop 13. He won have done so in real style had he actually run the hoop having put black in an on-side position, just too angled to be simple at 8 feet [Ashby 1 - Cheltenham 0]. Rachel faced the bigger barrier of a 3-6 deficit. However, she played bravely to force the game to hoop 13, where Tony then kept a cool head to level at one game each. Shortly afterwards, the doubles reached the same point.

A small crowd had gathered and was able to watch the unfolding drama of two deciding third games. The doubles stayed tight, the sides exchanging alternate hoops. But Tony took another early lead, once again reaching an advantage of 6-3. A further repeat of pattern and Rachel looked set to take the leg to an all-deciding hoop 13. This time though Tony found his winning hoop at 12, inflicting a rare defeat on Rachel in her Inter-Club career [Ashby 1 - Cheltenham 1]. Attention could now turn to seeing which side the result of the doubles leg would make happier at lunch.

Everything remained very tight and no-one was surprised when the doubles went to the 13th hoop. Will Gee just failed to make a perfect approach and after Ray Mounfield and Will both missed 7-yard chances for glory, David Foulser was able to give Cheltenham the advantage in the match [Ashby 1 - Cheltenham 2].

Just five players (Mike O'Brian being the one unavailable on this occasion) have participated in the last twelve Inter-Club matches for Ashby over the past three years. At some point, each player has had to make a telling contribution, so all have the confidence to know that they can trust those around, concentrate on their own success and have no fear of personal failure. But there is still excitement and tension along the way. This time, Tim and Rachel led the charge. But with the same intruiging repetition of patterns as in the morning. Each won a comfortable first game and then suffered early two-hoop leads to Cheltenham in the second.

Tim had to come back from 3-5 (again) and then survive a jump shot from Tony trying to take a 6-4 lead. But by this stage, Tim was hitting a high percentage of his clearances at seven to fourteen yards and keeping good control; ones at hoops 11 and 12 kept Tony at bay [Ashby 2 - Cheltenham 2].

Rachel had to struggle even further against Dave. She levelled at hoop 12 and then of four approach shots to the 13th, only Dave's second one reached the playing side. However, Rachel held her nerve in the exchanges that followed [Ashby 3 - Cheltenham 2].

Once again, attention turned to Court 3, where both legs went to deciding third games. Richard did especially well in taking the second game against Will. As things unfolded, Cheltenham never quite came close to making Ashby too nervous. Will and Richard were playing ahead of Ray and David; Will took an early comfortable lead and Richard never looked like getting back. Ray and David remained closer. But as Will looked more and more secure, Ray tired, allowing David to stretch ahead. Will won first though to achieve the match victory [Ashby 4 - Cheltenham 2], leaving David to pick up a consolation win by running hoop 10 from beside hoop 9 a few minutes later [Ashby 4 - Cheltenham 3].

Cheltenham left praising the catering but no doubt determined to score success on the courts when the two clubs are next drawn together and Ashby have to make the journey down south.

Ashby will now play Nailsea in the next round. GC Inter Club draw and results

SECRETARY'S SHIELD: Ashby 3–4 Letchworth Sun 26th June (Report by Arthur)

Having made the long trip to Ryde in the preliminary round, Letchworth again had to travel to play their first round match against last year's champions Ashby, on the hottest day of the year. This made a pleasant change for the Ashby team who played a Longman cup match two weeks earlier on probably the wettest day of the year.

The morning games went Letchworth's way and they were soon 2-0 up. The doubles provided entertainment to the other players after Tim King (4) was pegged out by Nick Mounfield (1) with Arthur Rowe (3.5) and David Tutt (0) both for hoop 5. After a lot of tussles and some excellent long hoop approaches by Arthur, David saved the day with a 30-yard hit-in after time with Arthur poised 1 foot in front of what would have been the winning hoop. So the game finished +1T to Letchworth. This proved to be the decisive shot of the match, and Letchworth went to lunch 3-0 up.

Suitably refreshed, the Ashby players set about redressing the balance. Arthur beat David +26 in an hour and an half with only a few chances given. Richard Sanville (9) and Derek Buxton (10) had much closer games against George Woolhouse (2.5) and Jeremy Scott (4.5) respectively, but ended up winning +7 and +8. So the match result now depended on the game between Nick and Tim. Having played the odd poor croquet stroke, Tim played to his GC strengths with some erratic pioneers but plenty of accurate long rushes. For the last hour this game could have gone either way with both players making long hit-ins, spells of good play and some errors, the pressure now on both players as they knew this was the decisive game. Just short of time, former Ashby player Nick finished +4 to win the match for Letchworth.

RESULTS (Ashby names first):

Arthur Rowe (3.5) and Tim King (4) lost to David Tutt (0) and Nick Mounfield (1) -1T

Richard Sanville (9) lost to George Woolhouse (2.5) -15

Derek Buxton (10) lost to Jeremy Scott (4.5) -11

Arthur Rowe beat David Tutt +26

Tim King lost to Nick Mounfield -4

Derek Buxton beat George Woolhouse +7

Richard Sanville beat Jeremy Scott +8

ASHBY CA TOURNAMENTS

Ten players took part in our first-ever national CA tournament at Moira – the National Forest AC Tournament – won by Clive Goode of Nottingham Croquet Club. Derek Buxton of Ashby finished runner-up. Report, results and photos

This was followed two weeks later by the National Forest GC Tournament, contested by a field of 14 including players from as far away as Australia. Will Gee beat Tim King in an all-Ashby final. Report and photos

RESULTS ROUND-UP

Mick has won the Jim Kirby Cup for the second year running. Disappointingly this East Midlands Federation AC event comprised solely Ashby players and no-one from other clubs.

Six teams competed in the re-arranged Coors Cup & Bass Shield GC tournament at Moira. Ashby A were the winners of the Bass Shield, and the Coors Cup was won by Ray.

Ray has also won the Letchworth GC Open, with Tim finishing as joint runner-up. Details and picture (CA website)

In the Longman Cup (national AC team competition), the Ashby team of Mick, Arthur, Tim and Richard narrowly lost 3–4 to last year's overall winners Wrest Park, in a match played at their venue on one of the wettest days of the year!

Results (Wrest Park names first):

Tim Brewer (4.5) and David Marsh (6) beat Arthur Rowe (3.5) and Tim King (4) +7t

Ray Pearcy (14) lost to Richard Sanville (9) -1t

David Morris (18) beat Mick Haytack (7) +12

Tim Brewer beat Arthur Rowe +1t

David Marsh lost to Tim King -7

Ray Pearcy lost to Mick Haytack -3

David Morris beat Richard Sanville +9

RACHEL WINS WOMEN'S OPEN AT RIPON

Rachel Rowe won the 10th Women's Open GC Championship at Ripon Spa Croquet Club on May 14th-15th, winning all 18 of her games.

More details and results (CA website)

VICTORIES AT SURBITON AND ROEHAMPTON FOR WILL

Will has won the Surbiton Golf Croquet Championship on April 16th-17th.
Details and results (CA website)

He also very convincingly won the Roehampton GC Open Tournament (April 30th & May 1st).

Both of these are qualifying tournaments for the Ascot Cup so he has now qualified for that too.

ARTHUR WINS SHAKESPEARE TROPHY ON SECOND DAY

Six players contested the Shakespeare level-play AC competition which overran into a second day. Arthur won a decisive final-round game against Tim on the Sunday, confirming him as the winner of the competition. Full results, report and picture

RAY WINS CHARITY ONE-BALL CROQUET

This year's One Ball tournament was played as part of a national charity event organised by Winchester Croquet Club in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign. Unfortunately with only five participants we were some way short of the minimum of ten needed to guarantee free entry for the winner into the national final at Winchester on May 7th, but as it turned out neither the winner (Ray) nor the runner-up (Martin) would have been able to make it that weekend anyway. Our players did mark the event by wearing various pink items, and we have sent off a cheque of £25 (the money we collected from entry fees) to add to the final national fund-raising total.

One Ball tournament page

EAST MIDLANDS LEAGUES

The East Midlands league fixtures have been announced for 2011.

In the Golf Croquet league Ashby is fielding just the one team this year, and we have games against Nottingham A, Bakewell A, Sapcote, Woodhall Spa, Long Eaton A and Leicester.

In the 14-point Association Croquet league, Ashby and Nottingham are joined this year by a combined team of Woodhall Spa & Branston.

Ashby is hosting the 26-point Association Croquet league at Moira again this year on Saturday 6th August.

Details are on the Diary page.

POLO CLUB CROQUET IN FLORIDA

Rachel played in the 4th Annual International Polo Club Croquet Tournament in West Palm Beach in Florida 23rd – 27th February. She was the only woman invited from a field of 8 players which included Stephen Mulliner and former US champion Mohammed Kamal.

The competition involved an all-play-all block stage, followed by a seeded knockout. On her first day Rachel defeated Sherif Abdelwahab 7-1 and Mohammed Kamal 7-3. She finished the block stage with 3 wins out of 7, leaving her placed 5th. This meant that she faced local professional David Maloof who was placed 4th in the knockout. She had beaten him in the block stage but lost a closely fought match 4-7, 6-7, leaving her in 5th place overall. David Maloof went on to the final where he lost to an in-form Stephen Mulliner 3-7, 5-7.

Following the competition final on Sunday the players had the opportunity to see a polo game. Most of the top players come from South America and this game featured some of the best players in the world. It was a very fast moving and exciting game with plenty of goals.

More pictures

NATIONAL EVENTS AT MOIRA IN 2011

Following the opening of our third lawn towards the end of last season, the club is pleased to be hosting and running some national Croquet Association events in the 2011 season.

In April, the CA ran a Golf Croquet Coaches' training course at Moira. Club members Martin and Eileen attended the course.

This year we are also running our inaugural CA weekend tournaments: we have an Association Croquet Handicap Tournament on June 18th and 19th, and then a Golf Croquet Level-Play Tournament on July 2nd and 3rd.

We have already received some external entries for all of these events, so will be expecting quite a number of visiting players during the year. To this end, we have compiled a list of Places to Stay which is linked from the ACC home page. If any Ashby members have any additional recommendations of places to stay which you think should be included, please let the web editor know (link at top of this page).

WINTER WALK Sun 6th Feb This year's winter stroll was a five-mile circular route from Melbourne to Breedon-on-the-Hill. The day was overcast, but luckily the heavy rain which had been forecast for that weekend didn't materialize, so the ground was fairly firm and not too muddy. The walk had lots of interesting features along the route including a stop at the Breedon war memorial on the village green, which we later found out had been constructed by Eileen's grandfather. We then paused for a photo stop at the village lock-up before heading up to the top of the hill and the familiar landmark church of St Mary and St Hardulph which has some fine Anglo Saxon carvings inside. After a look round the church, we admired the great views from the hill of the surrounding Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire countryside. We were joined here briefly by Derek and Eileen before we made our way across the golf course and parkland back to Melbourne, with a good view into the Hall gardens. We rounded off the walk nicely with a visit to the Melbourne Hall tea-room where Chris joined us for well-earned refreshments.

COUNTDOWN

Eight regulars were joined by Roger and Corrinne who were making their debut appearance. Richard won the event for the fourth year running, equalling Margaret's record. Derek maintained his impressive form from last year, finishing runner-up, and Roger finished a creditable third. The other two finalists were Mick and Christine. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped out.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

A good turnout again this year: twelve players took part in the New Year's Day doubles tournament (plus two more casual players) on a cold and drizzly day, with welcome relief in the form of hot soup, mince pies and wine between games. Congratulations to the winning pair Mike O'Brian and Chris Mounfield, and many thanks to Martin for organising the tournament.

New Year's Day tournament: spot the serious croquet player

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