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ASHBY CROQUET CLUB

 

CHRISTMAS MEAL

 

Tuesday 8th December

 

7.00 for 7.30 pm

 

At the Lakeside Tearoom (same venue as last year), Shortheath Road, Moira

 

Cost £19.95 for three courses, or £15.95 for two courses.
Menu link here.

 

Names, menu choices and £5 deposit per person to Mick H
(at the AGM if possible please).

 

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

 

The Ashby Croquet Club AGM will be on Tuesday 10th November at 7.15 pm in the Lounge at Moira Miners Welfare.  Details have been sent out to club members.  Please try to attend the meeting if possible.

 

Following the AGM, there will be a light buffet supper (£3.50 per person) and social evening. If possible, please let Derek know if you plan to partake in the buffet supper so that we can order the correct amount.

 

 

 

LAWN 3 NEWS

 

We are pleased to report that the work on Lawn 3 is now complete. The area has been professionally drained, levelled, the seed bed prepared and seeded and fencing has been erected to encompass the three lawns together. The grass is now growing as the picture below shows, and Ashby members expect to be playing on the new lawn in summer 2010, the club's 25th anniversary year.  We will be having a grand opening ceremony; details to follow. Ashby Croquet Club is indebted to all who have helped with the project.

 

 

 

NEWS FROM INTERNAL COMPETITIONS

 

Mike won the Golf Croquet Knockout Tournament, dispelling the myth about playing and administrating not being wise. Mike beat Ray in the final 7-3, 7-3, the only spectators being the noisy birds.

 

Will won the Buxton Vase (Golf Croquet Singles League), defeating Ray in the play-off.

 

Arthur and Judith were the winners of the Golf Croquet Doubles League. Will and Rachel finished runners-up.

 

Geoff won the O'Grady Trophy (26-point Association Croquet League), winning 4 of his 5 games. Runner-up was Mick.

 

Derek won the 14-point Association Croquet League with 4 wins out of 6. Arthur was a very close runner-up.

 

Unfortunately the newly-arranged 14 point Alternate Stroke Doubles never got off the ground. Only one game was played. We should try this again next year.

 

BARRIE'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

 

Well done everyone! The secret was well-kept, Barrie was completely surprised and unaware that the "party" had been arranged!

 

Seventeen members and guests sat down for a sumptuous lunch at Cynthia's house. We enjoyed starters of delicious smoked salmon or melon, fantastic main course choices of  chicken casserole, beef casserole or fish pie all accompanied by various hot vegetables and salads, with gorgeous sweets of apple and blackberry pie & custard, fresh fruit salad and cream, or lemon torte to follow. The wine flowed and everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

Ray gave a short speech in appreciation of all Barrie had done for the Club, and proposed a toast to celebrate his 80th birthday. Barrie reciprocated thanking everyone for their kind words, the celebration and to everyone who had helped with the arrangements and food preparation.

 

After lunch, the guests played snooker, carpet bowls, darts, carpet croquet and other games. Lindsey organised a "triathlon" of darts, croquet and golf putting. The results were then worked out by Judith with mathematical jiggery-pokery to evenly weight the value of each game and come up with a winner. Rupert won with 189 points, Dave 2nd with 187, and Lindsey 3rd with 179. Snooker was very popular with the table being used almost non-stop. Mal and Eileen had a marathon game, their skills not fully appreciated by the men.

 

Birthday cake and nibbles were enjoyed when the other guests arrived in the late afternoon. Unfortunately Barrie had to disappear at this stage due to a prior family engagement, but we carried on enjoying his party in his absence!

 

Special thanks go to Cynthia for having the idea and the use of her house, also organising some of the food preparation. To Carina, Cynthia's daughter, for allowing us to use her dining room. To Chris, Jean and Eileen for providing the main course dishes of chicken, beef and fish. To Mike for organising the wine distribution! To everyone who brought wine etc. To everyone who brought games and/or organised them. To Richard for staying on and helping with the clearing up. To Barrie for being 80 to give us all a good excuse for having a party! Apologies if I have missed anyone out. Unopened bottles of wine have been donated to the Club to use as raffle prizes etc.

 

We all hope that you had a lovely birthday Barrie, we all certainly did!

 

Report by Eileen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EAST MIDLANDS LEAGUES 2009

 

Ashby finished runners-up to Nottingham in the East Midlands 14-Point Association Croquet League.

 

In Division 1 of the East Midlands Golf Croquet League, Ashby A finished runners-up, again to Nottingham.  The Ashby B team narrowly escaped relegation to Division 2.

 

 

BOTTLE CHALLENGE   Report by Mike

 

The 2009 Bottle challenge was held on 3rd October with a full compliment of eight players with handicaps ranging from three to zero. The guest player this year was Roy Ware. The 2008 winner, Derek Old, unfortunately had other commitments. The Ashby players were Chris, Ray, Arthur, Derek, Will, Tim and Mike. Conditions were challenging due to fast lawns and high wind. The final round decided the winner. Roy and Will both had five wins with Roy having beaten Will. Therefore, in the final round Will had to beat Ray to stay in the running, which he did, and Roy had to beat Tim to be the overall winner, which he didn't, leaving Will the winner with six out of seven wins. He must have anticipated winning. The giveaway was the haircut ready for the presentation photo shoot.

 

The other results were Mike on five wins, Chris on four, Arthur and Ray on three, Tim and Derek on one. The most important event of the day only became apparent the following day: Yours Truly moving from a handicap of two down to one after the final game.

 

 

YORKSHIRE OPEN

 

Ray and Chris Mounfield successfully defended their Yorkshire Open Doubles title at Ripon in October, defeating Mike O'Brian and Roy Ware in the final. Details on the CA website.

 

 

INTER-CLUB GOLF CROQUET FINAL

 

For the second year running Ashby faced Surbiton in the Inter-Club Golf Croquet Final at Wrest Park.  The match couldn't have been closer, and Surbiton just squeezed home as 4-3 winners.  Report and results

 

 

 

WREST PARK TO ROEHAMPTON

 

Geoff qualified for the finals of the All England Handicap AC competition at Roehampton.

 

In the area semi-finals at Wrest Park on Sept 5th & 6th, Geoff won 4 out of his 5 games to secure one of the four qualifying places. Geoff reports: "A great weekend at a really special venue with very competitive players. For my part it felt every hoop was fought for. I came home on Day 1 elated but mindful that my success was due to the help and advice that fellow Ashby members had given me during the season – thanks. Day 2 was another lesson – beaten on time by a better player coming into the semi-finals as a 20 in his first competition too. There was a huge marquee but that was for a wedding. As they paraded with drum escort, we had a very large audience all snapping our 'spectacle'."

 

Geoff then progressed to finish in 4th place in the finals at Roehampton on Sept 19th & 20th.

 

More details on the CA site.

 

ASCOT CUP

 

Three Ashby players – Tim, Mike and Ray – played in the Ascot Cup at Hurlingham in September.  The Ascot Cup is effectively the National Golf Croquet Singles Championship, and is contested by a select group of 16 players, chosen on merit according to results in various CA tournaments over the season.

Report and picture

 

ARTHUR RETAINS THE FARRANT SALVER

 

The 2009 Farrant Salver was contested by Tim, Arthur, Derek & Ray.

 

The competition was run in two phases: an all-play-all block phase, followed by a best-of-three final, with the first of the three games being carried over from the block stage. There were several close games in the block phase. Arthur and Tim contested a very close game in the first round, with Arthur making a third-turn break to peg, but breaking down at hoop 4 with his second ball. Tim then went round and pegged out Arthur's first ball, going on to win the 3-ball ending by a single point after a long hit-in when Arthur's ball was near the peg.

 

The games were played without time limits and most games finished in a reasonable time.

 

Tim and Arthur then went on to play a best-of-three final, with Tim's win from the block stage counting as the first game. The second game was characterised by errors from both players, ending with another close finish, this time +4 to Arthur. The deciding game was quicker and cleaner, with just a single mistake by Tim allowing Arthur to win in two turns (+14).

 

Photo and full results

 

EAST MIDS GC LEAGUE RESULT Sat 29th Aug

 

In Ashby's local derby match, the 'A' team narrowly beat the 'B' team 7–5. Most of the games were close and the final result could easily have gone either way.

 

Full results here

 

 

STEEL MEMORIAL BOWL

 

Congratulations to Rachel Rowe for being awarded the Steel Memorial Bowl by the Croquet Association. This national award is given to the most improved female croquet player for the year, and was presented to Rachel at the Croquet Association AGM at Hurlingham.

 

 

 

CAR BOOT SALE  Sunday 30th August

 

Ashby Croquet Club ran a stall at the Moira car boot sale to boost our Development Fund and at the same time get rid of some of Mick's junk! The stall raised £74 – thanks to Mick, Eileen, Richard, Lindsey, Cynthia and Geoff for helping.

 

YORKSHIRE OPEN AT RIPON  Aug 21–23

 

Winner: Khalid Younis; runner-up: Ahmed El Mahdi. The beaten semi-finalists were Reg Bamford and Jacob Carr.

 

Ray reports that the Ashby players have reason to be satisfied:

Derek qualified for the quarter-finals (beaten by Reg).

Mike took a block game off El Mahdi (7-3), the best result of anyone against him.

Ray took a block game off Reg (7-6), and the only other player to take any games off Reg was El Mahdi.

 

Ray repeats Tim's feat a week earlier (see Musk's Cup report below) of winning a game against the world number one player.

RACHEL WINS B CLASS IN NOTTINGHAM AUGUST WEEK

 

Only two Ashby members entered the Nottingham August Week this year. Both Will and Rachel got through to the knock-out of the Robin Hood Handicap trophy, with Rachel and then Will losing to the eventual winner, Peter Moore. Elsewhere, Will got to the final of the A class, but lost to James Death.

Rachel won her best-of-three B-class final to win the trophy, and due to a very successful week had a handicap change of 5 to 3½.

 

Further report on the CA website

 

TIM RUNNER-UP in MUSK'S CUP  Aug 15–16

 

Tim competed in the Musk's Cup (the Golf Croquet national "Eights" tournament) at East Dorset and finished runner-up to the favourite and world number one Reg Bamford who was playing in the competition for the first time.

 

Tim's highlight of the weekend was taking a game off Reg (7-5) in the block stage, ending an unbeaten run of 48 games.

 

Full report, results and photo on the CA website

 

GOLF CROQUET VETERANS

 

Derek, Eileen and Ray took part in the Golf Croquet Veterans’ Competition at Budleigh Salterton on 28-30 July.  Ray reached the final and played the holder, Dick Strover.  The result wasn’t decided until the 13th hoop of the third game – a tight match which Dick won and Ray finished runner-up.

 

 

EAST MIDS GC LEAGUE RESULT Sat 15th Aug

 

Ashby A (Mike, Barrie, Richard) 8–4 Woodhall Spa

 

Full results here

 

CRAZY CROQUET  Sunday 16th August

 

After almost being scrapped this year due to the development of Lawn 3, this event won a last-minute reprieve by popular demand, and so one half of Lawn 2 was used instead as the crazy croquet course. An innovation this year was a jump-shot hoop at the end which by successfully negotiating you could win bonus points off your final score.

 

As usual the competition was very close, but the winner of the Moore Broken Peg Trophy was Mick Haytack with a 28-stroke round, minus 3 bonus points making 25. Runner-up was Arthur Rowe with a score of 26, and third Eileen Buxton with 27.

 

 

Many thanks to Barrie for devising the course and running this enjoyable competition, which raised £28 for the Ashby Croquet Club Development Fund.

 

 

THAMES VALLEY CHAMPIONS

 

Christine and Eileen are the Thames Valley champions after winning the Golf Croquet tournament at Abingdon on August 12th.

 

ASHBY WIN 26-POINT LEAGUE AGAIN

 

Ashby have won the East Midlands 26-Point Association Croquet League for the second year running.  It was good to see the event contested by four clubs once again, making it more of a tournament than last year.  As so often happens in this competition, it went right down to the wire, with the overall outcome being decided by the result of the last game in the last match.

 

The Ashby team started well, winning the matches against Leicester and Woodhall Spa.  But in the final match against Nottingham, Derek and Richard failed to keep the momentum going and lost their games.  This meant that Nottingham had an unassailable lead in the match, and Nottingham and Ashby would end on two match-wins apiece, meaning that it would go down to the total number of games won.  With the final game between Geoff Ellott and Peter Moore still in progress well into the evening, the games-won score was currently 4-4, and a huge crowd (about a dozen people anyway) gathered to watch the thrilling climax, the players unaware that the game was so crucial.  Geoff managed to hold on to his lead when time was called, ensuring overall victory for Ashby.

 

Ashby win the league for the third time, and once again qualify for next season's Secretary's Shield.

 

Full results

 

CLIVE PEARSON DOUBLES  Sunday 9th August

 

Fourteen people entered this year including Jean and David Burrows, our newest members.  Pairings were arranged by Ray (tournament manager) resulting in five of the pairs having a combined handicap of 12, the two others totalling 10 and 8.  Eileen and Chris had hoped to be paired together to practise for the Thames Valley Ladies’ Doubles but their request fell on deaf ears!

 

Ray organised play as ‘all play all’.  After 6 rounds Lindsey and Derek had won all their five games but in the final round they met Barrie and Richard who notched up their fifth win and edged ahead on a ‘who beat who’ basis.  To everyone’s amazement Richard announced that this would be the first time his name would be engraved on an Ashby trophy.

 

Jean and David enjoyed their first taste of competitive play and were ably coached and encouraged by their respective partners, Tim and Will.

 

Many thanks to Ray for managing - and stepping down as a player at the last minute to ensure there were an even number competing.  It's a shame we didn't have one more player to make 16 in total which would have been ideal. Thanks also to all entrants for turning up and making it a successful tournament, and for the sunshine!

 

Full results

 

GC INTER-CLUB SEMI-FINAL: Cheltenham 1–4 Ashby

 

Saturday 8th August.  Report by Tim

 

Having not had a home fixture this year, Ashby were away yet again, this time against Cheltenham. Ashby's team remained unchanged from the previous matches, and had travelled somewhat less in the preceding 24 hours on this occasion (see report on the Auckland match). Although Ashby enjoyed a smooth journey (with a different driver, by rotation), elsewhere traffic problems deprived Cheltenham of their fourth man for the first part of the morning's play. The eventual solution was to award the first game as a walkover to Ashby.

Meanwhile Ashby went one game down in both of the other morning legs. Will recovered his form to win the next two games, whilst Ray and Tim recovered theirs too late in their second game, losing at the thirteenth hoop. Rachel had a quick victory against David; suggesting that tactics do in fact exist in Golf Croquet! This gave Ashby a 2-1 lead at lunch.

In the afternoon Will built on this lead, beating David. Shortly afterwards Rachel sealed the match for Ashby, beating Tony. This rendered the remaining matches superfluous, and given both other legs were tied at one game all, the players retired to the bar. Ashby were grateful for the good condition of the lawns, as it helped prevent undue home advantage. They also appreciated not having to double-bank.

Ashby are now through to the final (their fourth in six years), to be played September 26th, when they will meet the winner of Ryde and Surbiton. So far, the youngsters have been the stars of the show for Ashby; both are unbeaten in legs and Rachel has won 11 games and lost 3, Will has won 10 and lost 3.

Results (Cheltenham names first)

David Foulser (0) & Richard Thomspon (1) beat Tim King (1) & Ray Mounfield (1) - 7-3, 7-6
David Kibble (2) lost to Rachel Rowe (3) - w/o, 1-7
Tony Forbes (3) lost to Will Gee (1) - 7-6, 3-7, 2-7

Foulser versus King - abandoned - 7-6, 4-7
Thompson versus Mounfield - abandoned - 3-7, 7-4
Kibble lost to Gee - 3-7, 6-7
Forbes lost to Rowe - 4-7, 2-7

 

 

UNDER-21s WORLD GOLF CROQUET REPORT

 

Ashby Croquet Club members Rachel and Will travelled to Cairo in July to compete in the Under-21 World Golf Croquet Championships.  The strong field of 31 in this prestigious event also included players from Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, as well as the host country Egypt.

 

The competition started with preliminary group matches which determined the seedings and byes for the subsequent knockout phase.  After mixed success in the group stage – Will winning all three matches, but Rachel failing to win any – both Rachel and Will then went on to enjoy success in the knockout stages.  Will reached the quarter-finals (finishing in 8th place) and Rachel the last 16 (13th place).

 

There's a report by Rachel and Will, with a photo, on the CA website.

 

For a day-by-day report with full results, see the World Croquet Federation website (you need to select the Results & Media tab).

 

 

GC INTER-CLUB: Auckland 2–5 Ashby

 

Sunday 26th July at Ripon.  Report by Tim

 

Auckland used the Ripon Spa Hotel to host this quarter-final of the Golf Croquet Inter Club Championship. On paper the teams appeared closely matched but Ashby had set themselves some self-inflicted challenges. The only one of the four players not to have returned from abroad the day before was team captain Ray Mounfield and he duly took on the chauffeuring duties for the day. Tim King had returned from Japan, so he faced the potential effects of jet lag. On the other hand, Will Gee and Rachel Rowe had been tuning their croquet skills at the Under-21 World Championship in Cairo.

Rachel showed no ill-effects and took her first game against Eugene, who was then able to respond in a close second. However, the great surprise was for Will and Tim to lose 7-1 in their first game. Freda and Jane had played steadily and also then took the first hoop of the second game. The consequence was to wake the two gentlemen from their slumbers and they won the next seven hoops. Fortunes switched again and the ladies went 5-2 up in the third. Once more, Will and Tim found some better execution of their big shots and they had their second long sequence of hoops to take the leg. Meanwhile Pat played with good composure to give Auckland a victory but, with the match in the balance, Rachel won the third of her games to give Ashby the comfort of a 2-1 lead at lunchtime.

In the afternoon, the main feature was 8 out of 11 games played going to the deciding hoop, including in the deciding third games in three of the legs, each of which Ashby then won. So, overall, Auckland were not far short of taking the match, having also been the winner of the only leg to be won in two games and winning 9 games to 11 for Ashby.

The weather was never brilliant, with some showers, but the hospitality of the welcome at Ripon Spa was as warm as ever. Rachel was probably the player of the day, with two good wins against lower handicap opponents.

 

Ashby will face Cheltenham in the semi-finals.


Results (Auckland names first)

Freda Vitty (1) & Jane Pringle (2) lost to Will Gee (1) & Tim King (1) 7-1, 1-7, 5-7
Eugene Brady (2) lost to Rachel Rowe (3) 4-7, 7-6, 4-7
Pat Rogers (2) beat Ray Mounfield (2) 7-4, 4-7, 7-5

Vitty lost to Gee 3-7, 7-6, 6-7
Pringle lost to King 6-7, 7-6, 6-7
Brady beat Mounfield 7-4, 7-6
Rogers lost to Rowe 1-7, 7-6, 6-7

 

 

EAST MIDS 14-POINT AC: Nottingham 5–2 Ashby

 

Saturday 25th July

 

Ashby's 14-point team of Arthur, Jeremy, Richard and Geoff lost 2–5 at Nottingham in a reversal of the scoreline at Moira earlier in the season.

 

Full scores

 

 

 

GEOFF PROGRESSES TO WREST PARK

 

Geoff Ellott has won the club's qualifying stage of the CA All England Handicap (26-point Association Croquet) competition which is decided by the results of all relevant games played to date in our internal 26-point league (O'Grady Trophy). Geoff is therefore through to the next stage of this national event, which will be staged at Wrest Park during September.

 

EILEEN REACHES SEMI-FINALS AT RAMSGATE

 

June 20th & 21st  Report by Eileen

 

Eileen Buxton was accepted as a late entry to the Women’s Open Tournament at Ramsgate, after the disappointment of having to cancel The Ashby Ladies Day tournament due to lack of players.

 

Eileen came second in her block and joined Marilyn Murray in the Quarter Finals. Unfortunately they had to play each other in the Quarter Finals, Eileen just winning 10/8.

Eileen played Jane Collier from the Colchester Club in the semi finals, just losing in the third game. The scores were 7/4; 5/7; 7/6.

Jane Collier beat Valerie Harding of Ramsgate in the final, and retained her title and trophy for the second year.

Eileen beat Christina Rice, from the Ramsgate Club 7/5 in the 3rd and 4th place play-off. Her success has meant that her handicap has been reduced to 4.  

Evelyn Martin was the tournament referee, and she sends her regards to everyone at Ashby Croquet Club.

 

 

AC FRIENDLY MATCH: Ashby 5–3 Kenilworth

 

Wednesday 15th July at Moira.  Report by Mick

 

On Wednesday we played a friendly match against Kenilworth.  The weather was for the most part fine and sunny and the match was played in a friendly, but still competitive manner.  Eileen provided an excellent lunch and tea and I think it's fair to say that it was a very enjoyable event.

The teams were:
Ashby:  William Gee (-1) Mick Haytack (9) Jeremy Staley (10) Derek Buxton (10)
Kenilworth: John Leader (4) Adrian Morris (4.5) Rachel Rowe (5) Cliff Daniel (9)

In the morning, William beat John +19, Mick lost to Adrian –5, Jeremy beat Rachel +23, and Derek beat Cliff +22.


After lunch, William beat Adrian +11, Mick lost to John –6, Derek lost to Rachel –3, and Jeremy beat Cliff +8.

So, in quite a close match Ashby won 5-3.  We very much enjoyed the company of Kenilworth and hopefully this will be a regular fixture.

 

ALTERNATE STROKE DOUBLES

 

Unfortunately, due to insufficient entries, we have had to cancel the Alternate Stroke Doubles tournament which was scheduled for Saturday 18th July.  Arthur will instead try to rearrange it for later in the season.

 

 

MAX MORRIS TROPHY   Sat 4th July

 

A clash with an Association Inter-Club match meant that some strong players were absent, but eight members contested the 2009 Max Morris Handicap Competition.

 

13-point games were played in two blocks, with the luxury of no time limit.

 

Ray topped Block A with three wins and Barrie had two wins.  In Block B, Derek and Rupert both finished with two wins each.

 

In the semi-finals Ray lost to Rupert, and Barrie beat Derek.

 

In the final Rupert used his bisque effectively and took an early lead which he maintained to win the tournament and take the Max Morris trophy.

 

The weather was mostly kind to us (only the finalists got a bit damp) and the croquet and the company were both enjoyable.

 

Full results & picture

 

 

SECRETARY'S SHIELD: Ealing 5-2 Ashby   Sat 4th July

 

Will, Rachel, Arthur and Mick travelled to Ealing in West London to play in the Secretary's Shield match on Saturday 4th July. The team lost 2-5. All of the games finished well within the time limit.  Arthur won both his singles games and achieved the CA silver award in the afternoon.

Results (Ealing names first):

Colin McKenzie (6) and David Wedmore (14) beat Will Gee (-1) and Rachel Rowe (6) +26
Suzanne Clarke (12) lost to Arthur Rowe (7) -5
Roger Mayhew (14) beat Mick Haytack +25
Colin beat Will +17
Suzanne beat Rachel +17
Roger lost to Arthur -13
David beat Mick +21

 

ASHBY ANNIVERSARY SHIELD   Sat 27th & Sun 28th June

 

With seven players, the tournament manager Mick decided to try the new format of a flexible Swiss to reduce the field from seven to four.  On Saturday everyone played at least four full games, Richard and Will managed five!  The four players with the best record qualified for the semi-finals on Sunday.

 

In semi-final 1 Derek beat the holder Rachel 26-23 in a very close game.  The other semi-final between Jeremy and Arthur was even closer. Both players had more than one chance to close out the game and when time was called both had clips on penult and peg.  However, Jeremy still had a turn and he successfully ran penult to win +1 on time.

 

In the play-off for third and fourth Rachel continued with her remarkable form against Arthur in this competition and won 26-1 in just over an hour.

 

The final lasted rather longer, neither player made much progress in the early stages but Jeremy got his nose in front after around 90 of the 210 allocated minutes with clips on 4 and 5 against Derek's 1 and 4.  Derek eventually found his form and took Yellow round from 2 to peg which proved to be the decisive innings.  With 15 minutes to go Derek had an 11 hoop lead but Jeremy then found form and put together a good break. With the clock ticking away he missed a crucial shot and Derek had won by +6.  This was the first time Derek had won this trophy and it was good to see his form return after an indifferent spell.

 

For the record Richard was 5th, Will 6th and Mick a poor 7th.  Hopefully next year we will be able to play on three lawns and accommodate more players. The winner declared that this was the best Association tournament the club had held yet and with a total of 18 games played over a day and a half it certainly set the record for games played in one event.

 

Report by Mick

 

 

LONGMAN CUP: Bowdon 6–1 Ashby   Sunday 21st June

 

The Ashby team of Mick, Jeremy, Richard and Geoff were well and truly beaten 6-1 by a strong Bowdon team, in an exact reversal of the score in the previous meeting between the teams at Moira in May 2007.  Not even the presence of our mascot (non-playing captain Derek) could lift our performance.  Well done to Geoff for winning his singles game, thus saving us from a complete whitewash.  A nice friendly club, great facilities, warm hospitality, shame about our croquet!

 

Bowdon team: Francois Garcia (10), Paul Widger (10), Barry Keen (11), Barry McKenzie (16)

Ashby team: Mick Haytack (9), Jeremy Staley (10), Richard Sanville (10), Geoff Ellott (14)

 

Results (Bowdon names first):

Barry K & Barry M 20-14 Richard & Geoff; Francois 26-10 Jeremy; Paul 26-9 Mick;

Francois 26-8 Mick; Barry K 26-3 Richard; Paul 26-3 Jeremy; Barry M 20-26 Geoff

 

 

 

CANCELLED/POSTPONED EVENTS

 

The Ladies Day competition scheduled for Saturday 20th June had to be cancelled due to a shortage of entries.

 

The Novices competition scheduled for Sunday 21st June had to be cancelled due to a shortage of novices.

 

The Member & Guest competition scheduled for Thursday 25th June has been postponed until later in the season.

 

 

 

JIM KIRBY CUP   Saturday 13th June

 

Five players contested the Jim Kirby Cup at Moira.  Arthur won all four of his games, securing the trophy for the first time.  Full results

 

 

 

ALL-ENGLAND GOLF CROQUET: CLUB HEAT

 

Sunday 7th June

 

Four players spent just over two hours in the pouring rain, and Ray played very well to qualify for the Midlands final in August.

 

Ray beat Mick 7-1, Lindsey 7-2, Martin 7-3

Martin beat Mick 7-4, Lindsey 7-5

Mick beat Lindsey 7-2

 

Despite the torrential rain the lawns drained well and played very well considering the circumstances.

 

Mick

 

SHAKESPEARE CUP   Sunday 14th June

 

This was the club's first venture into the world of advanced play.  Four players took part, and Tim (a last-minute entry) was the worthy winner with three wins out of three.  Full results

 

LONGMAN CUP: Ashby 7–0 Beverley

 

Thursday 28th May

 

On a fine early summer day Ashby entertained Beverley and managed to reverse the result of the clubs' only previous meeting (in the 2006 Secretary's Shield).

 

The match was much more closely fought than the scoreline would suggest.

 

Results (Ashby names first):

 

Derek Buxton (9) and Geoff Ellott (14) beat John Kennedy (7) and Malcolm Lawrenson (16), +7

Rachel Rowe (6) beat Derek Knight (7), +3

Mick Haytack (9) beat Mike Evans (11), +10

 

Rachel Rowe beat John Kennedy, +24

Mick Haytack beat Derek Knight, +8

Derek Buxton beat Mike Evans, +6t

Geoff Ellott beat Malcolm Lawrenson, +19

 

Overall result: Ashby 7-0 Beverley

 

Report by Derek Buxton

 

GC INTER-CLUB: Letchworth 2-4 Ashby

 

Sunday 31st May

 

Ashby travelled to Letchworth to contest the first round of the Golf Croquet Inter-Club Competition.  The team captains were father and son: Ray for Ashby; Nick for Letchworth. When the morning singles matches finished (after about two hours), the doubles pairings had only just completed their first very tactical game (7-6 to Ashby) so it was decided to play the remaining singles after lunch and then resume the doubles if necessary.  Afternoon wins by Will and Rachel mean Ashby will play Auckland in the next round.

 

Results (Ashby names first):

 

Will Gee beat George Woolhouse 7-2, 7-1
Rachel Rowe beat Colin Davies 7-4, 5-7, 7-4

Tim King & Ray Mounfield v Nick Mounfield & David Tutt: match not completed

 

Tim King lost to Nick Mounfield 7-3, 4-7, 3-7
Ray Mounfield lost to David Tutt 2-7, 7-6, 5-7
Will Gee beat Colin Davies 6-7, 7-3, 7-5
Rachel Rowe beat George Woolhouse 7-6, 7-2

 

Overall result: Letchworth 2-4 Ashby

 

Report by Christine Mounfield

 

 

GC FRIENDLY AT KENILWORTH

 

Wednesday 20th May

 

The Golf Croquet Friendly match took place at Kenilworth. The weather was variable with some sun and some rain. We travelled by minibus to Kenilworth, thanks to Martin who had offered to drive, arriving in plenty of time for the 10 a.m. start.

 

Doubles matches were played in the morning with the score of Kenilworth 3.5/ Ashby 5.5.  Singles in the afternoon resulted in Kenilworth 12/Ashby 6.  Kenilworth were therefore the overall winners with 15.5 to Ashby 11.5.  The games were all hard-fought.

 

The Kenilworth members provided an excellent lunch; perhaps an afternoon nap could have been included in the schedule!

 

Kenilworth had their “killer weapon” - Rachel Rowe!  She played her usual magnificent game – but unfortunately not for us.

 

We thank Kenilworth C.C. for their good company and good croquet facility.  The Association Croquet friendly Ashby v Kenilworth is due to be played on July 15th at Ashby.

 

Report by Eileen Buxton

 

 

NEWS FROM MAY TOURNAMENTS

 

Tim King won the Roehampton Golf Croquet Open.  Results

 

Rachel and Will successfully defended their Speed Doubles title at Surbiton.

 

And Ashby had five representatives playing in the Nottingham weekend handicap tournament.

 

 

NATIONAL TEAM COMPETITIONS 2009

 

Our Longman Cup team had a 7-0 home win against Beverley in the first round.  In the second round we lost 1-6 to Bowdon.

 

In the Secretary’s Shield (for winners of the previous season’s regional AC leagues) second round, we lost 2-5 at Ealing.

 

In the Inter-Club Golf Croquet our team had a 4-2 first-round victory at Letchworth.  In the quarter-final we won 5-2 against Auckland at Ripon.  Another away fixture in the semi-final saw us winning 4-1 at Cheltenham.  Ashby faced Surbiton in the final for the second year running, with Surbiton emerging as 4-3 winners.

 

 

ONE BALL CROQUET

 

This year's One Ball club competition was contested by only six players.  The weather was good, the lawns played excellently, and the day was enjoyed by those who played.  Rupert Knapton, with precision play and astute use of bisques, won 4 out of his 5 games and took home the Gnome.  Final placings and picture

 

 

NEWS FROM APRIL TOURNAMENTS

 

Martin Wroughton finished as runner-up in Pendle & Craven Croquet Club’s GC Handicap Tournament.  Details and pictures on the Pendle website.

 

Ray Mounfield didn’t do too badly either.  He entered the Ripon Rowels Singles Cup (at Ripon Spa) and finished as runner-up to the winner (and title holder) Jacob Carr.  Ray reports: "It was run as an all-play-all three games event and up to the final round neither Jacob nor I had lost a match.  Unfortunately (for me) he won our match and therefore retained the title.  Earlier this month I was unfortunate to meet the eventual tournament winner (David Walters) in the quarter finals of the Lancashire Open, but at least this time losing to the tournament winner meant I finished second."  Further report (CA website)

 

Tim reached the final of the Lancashire Open 2009 Golf Croquet Championship at Heaton Park, Bury.  Ray (as mentioned above) and Derek also reached the quarter-final stage, Derek just losing to Tim in a tight match.  Results

 

We also had representatives playing in tournaments at Surbiton, Northampton and Sidmouth.

 

 

EAST MIDLANDS LEAGUES

 

The fixtures have been announced for the various East Midlands leagues for 2009.

 

Following promotion at the end of last season, Ashby B join Ashby A in Division 1 of the Golf Croquet League.  Each team plays five matches during the course of the season.  The crunch Ashby A v Ashby B match is on Saturday 29th August.

 

Once again there are only three teams – Ashby, Nottingham and Woodhall Spa – competing in the 14-point Association Croquet league, so to make it a more meaningful competition the Federation has decided to introduce both home and away fixtures.  This means that each club will play four matches in all.

 

The 26-point Association Croquet league is scheduled for Saturday 8th August at Nottingham.  As last year, teams will be three people in an attempt to attract more clubs.

 

LAWN AVAILABILITY FOR THE 2009 SEASON

 

The season runs from March 29th to October 25th.  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. Please note that lawn availability may occasionally be restricted during club sessions due to the odd tournament or beginners’ session taking place (check the Events List for latest updates), although we have tried to schedule these away from club sessions as far as possible.

 

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.

 

Providing that conditions for play are suitable, the lawns will be open at any time (except mornings on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) during the playing season subject to the lawns being free of arranged events or Lawn Committee requirements.  There is no priority on lawn use, but please co-operate to enable fair and equal use of the lawn time available, particularly as we are restricted to two lawns this year.

 

Please be aware that we will need Lawns 1 and 2 for the taster sessions this year whilst lawn 3 is being constructed.

 

 

SHAKESPEARE CUP

 

Mick won the rescheduled 2008 Shakespeare Cup, but only just.  As 3 of the 4 players tied on two wins each (Mick, Richard and Derek), it went to hoop difference.  Mick had the best hoop difference by just one point.  Report now available.

 

 

TACTICS SESSION

 

Many thanks to Will for running another excellent AC tactics session, which amongst other things covered advanced play leaves, cannons, and tactics for peeling the partner ball.  Hopefully everyone who was there will have lots of opportunities to put these into practice.  Thanks also to Arthur and Judith for hosting.

 

 

START-UP SUPPER

 

Barrie’s start-up supper turned out to be a huge success.  Many thanks to Barrie for hosting, and Cynthia and Corinna for providing all the food.  Apparently the raffle provided much amusement with several people drawing out their own tickets, not that it was a fix or anything!  Barrie has donated the £100 proceeds from the evening to the Development Fund.  Thanks to all who supported the event.

 

QUIZ RESULTS

 

Three teams fought a tough battle in our recent quiz, but it was the Pencil Pushers team of Martin, Janet and Richard that triumphed on 75 points, just ahead of Forlorn Hope (73 points) and the M & Ms (68½ points).  Many thanks to Mick for running the quiz.

 

 

   BASS SHIELD & COORS CUP

GOLF CROQUET ASTROTURF TOURNAMENT

sponsored by Molson Coors

 

Played at Shobnall on Sunday 8th March

 

We have new names on the trophies this year: Sapcote won the Bass Shield, and Tim King of Ashby won the Coors Cup.  Report and pictures now available on the Coors Cup/Bass Shield page (sorry for the delay).

 

WINTER WALK

 

This year’s walk was enjoyed by ten adults, three children and two dogs.  We assembled at Coton-in-the-Elms church for a five-mile circular route taking in one or two National Forest plantations before arriving in Rosliston village and then the Forestry Centre where we stopped for tea and cakes.  After a detour via the adventure play area (enjoyed by all!) we were soon on our way back to Coton.

 

 

LAWN 3 NEWS

Awards for All

 

We have received confirmation that the Croquet Association has granted us the further £2000 that we were seeking.  This is in addition to the £3000 already granted by the CA, plus grants of £2500 from Awards for All and £520 from Leicestershire Grassroots.

 

These grants will take our projected Lawn 3 Development Fund to £13,700.  We can now complete the job comfortably and the new lawn should be ready for play by April/May 2010.

 

Thanks to everyone who's made a contribution to the fund in the way of cash donations, or by filling in grant application forms (mostly Barrie), or by helping out at the various fund-raising events we have held so far.

 

The total cost of all the work including hedging and fencing will be around £14000.  We can dip into our own general funds to make up the shortfall.

 

Work is expected to commence in a few weeks (April/May).  We will need to set up a working party to take off the top level.  If you have any comments or suggestions I'll be pleased to hear them.  A grass killing chemical has already been applied to lawn three and the grass should have gone by now.

 

I’m looking forward to the opening ceremony already.

 

Mick

COUNTDOWN

 

Our Countdown competition was won by Richard in a close final.  Eileen and Chris finished just three points behind, Eileen claiming the runner-up spot with the tie-breaker Conundrum.  Mick was the other finalist.  Thanks to all who took part and to everyone who helped with the scoring.

 

NEW YEAR’S DAY CROQUET

 

For the first time in its seven-year history, the New Year’s Day Tournament was held in sub-zero conditions!  Eight hardy souls played on a very frosty and bumpy Lawn 3 which certainly added an extra dimension to the game.  Many stop shots and clearance shots turned out to be unintentional jump shots instead, completely missing the target ball in the process, much to the frustration of those playing the shots!

 

Well done to Ray and Martin who won all three of their games, and were therefore declared the winners.

OLDER NEWS ITEMS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE 2008 NEWS ARCHIVE PAGE.