The club was invited to provide a presence and some informal play opportunities for the public in Woodthorpe Grange Park (in Nottingham) on Wednesday 1st June for the centenary of that park (another Jesse Boot endowment). It was a pleasure to let so many people new to croquet have a go, on the improvised lawns, including Councillor Wendy Smith, Lord Mayor of Nottingham, and her husband Peter.
Four Nottingham members were selected to play in the 2022 European Golf Croquet Championships at Budleigh Salterton at the end of May; Rachel Gee and Euan Burridge representing England, Ian Burridge representing Wales and Lorna Dewar representing Scotland. The event had a field of 32 players, from 12 different countries and was the strongest field the event has even seen. The block draw wasn't very favourable for Nottingham with both Burridge's in Block D, and then Rachel and Lorna both in Block A.
The blocks went mostly to seeding with Rachel, Euan and Ian all qualifying for the 16 player knock-out. All 3 players won their first round knock-out matches, with Euan then being knocked out by the Spaniard, Manuel Alvarez-Sala and Ian losing to Rachel on Saturday evening.
The semi finals were both England v Spain, with both English players prevailing to match up an all England final, with the upcoming young Aston Wade winning the event. Meanwhile, Euan quickly wrapped up the Shield event final to win another piece of silverware.
Photo courtesy of Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club Instagram Account
