Sunday 29th August saw a well attended and well received club barbecue from around 5pm, with around 60 members attending, including a good number of our 2021 new members. This coincided with the second day of the GC Top Eight (Ricki Savage memorial) tournament, and once their games were finished, the players joined us. Attendees feasted on marinated chicken, burgers, sausages, baked potatoes, salads and ice creams. Many thanks to Diana Plant and the social committee for organising this and to the large team of volunteers involved in catering, setting up, front of house etc.
(Photo credit: Nicky Newberry)
Ian Burridge, in his capacity as President of the World Croquet Federation, took the opportunity to present a gift to Stephen Mulliner, who is retiring from his role as Secretary General of the WCF, in front of the assembled throng. (Both Stephen and Ian were taking part in the tournament.)
Photo: Stephen (left) & Ian.
Nottingham hosted the prestigious GC First Eight (Ricki Savage memorial) tournament from Sat 28th to Mon 30th August. The strongest 8 available GC players in the country competed, including four of our own members: Richard Bilton (who also managed the tournament), Rachel Gee, Euan Burridge and Ian Burridge. The other players were John-Paul Moberly (Bowdon), Stephen Milliner (Surbiton), James Galpin (Nailsea) and Aston Wade (Hamptworth). (It was good to see a wide age range, with a median age of under 30). The format was an all-play-all in best of three matches, followed by a two round knockout. In the semi-finals Moberly beat Wade convincingly and Euan Burrige beat Gee narrowly, with Moberly beating Burridge in the final 7-3, 4-7, 7-3.
Four sets of Atkins Quadway hoops were used for this event, and extra temporary fencing was erected along the stream side to prevent or minimise ball loss. We are grateful to Charlie for extra hoop setting work and to a team of volunteers for erecting the fencing. We also used this opportunity to test the use of land drain piping as a ball stop and feedback is broadly encouraging.
Detailed results on Croquetscores here and here.
A detailed report of the event will be posted on the CA website.
Photos: John-Paul Moberly, Richard Bilton, Rachel Gee, Ian Burridge
