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  • Mary Rose final

    Submitted by Rob Edlin-White on

    A stalwart Nottingham team of Dave Gunn, Mike Hedge, Martin Beacon and Ian Draper travelled to Surbiton at the crack of dawn on Sat 2nd October in pouring rain to contest the final of the 2021 Mary Rose inter-club AC competition, with Surbiton as the opponents. Very sadly, due to persistent torrentuial rain making the lawns unplayable, the best-of-7 match had to be abandoned at 1-1, and a rematch has been scheduled for early next season. Thanks to the Nottingham team and best wishes for the postponed final. 

     

    Photo: Mike Hedge (L) & Dave Gunn (R). Photo / montage credit - Beatrice McGlen. 

     

     

     

  • Mary Rose semi-final triumphs

    Submitted by Rob Edlin-White on

    Nottingham beat Bowdon 6-1 in the semi-final of the Mary Rose inter-club competition.  

    On Wednesday (29th September) a Nottingham team of Dave Gunn (0.5), Ian Draper (0.5), Mike Hedge (1.5) and Alex McIntyre (1.5) played at home to a visiting team from Bowdon: Mike Sandler (0.5), Will Mellor (2.5), Nigel Matthews (3.5) and Adrian Apps (3.5). By lunchtime Nottingham were 2-1 up, and by early afternoon (when your reporter left) Draper had had a quick victory and the other three matches looked poised. In the event Nottingham won all three for a resounding 6-1 victory.

    Congratulations to the Nottingham team, and best wishes for the final against Surbiton  on Saturday 2nd October at Surbiton. 

    Detailed results (unconfirmed) below. A formal report with photos will be published when available.

    Nottingham names first:

    Draper & Gunn vs Sandler & Mellor +24
    McIntrye vs Matthews +9
    Hedge vs Apps -7

    Gunn vs Sandler +5
    Draper vs Mellor +26
    McIntryre vs Apps +17
    Hedge vs Mathews +2

  • Club barbecue - and World Croquet Federation presentation

    Submitted by Rob Edlin-White on

    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.

     

     

  • Golf Croquet First Eight tournament

    Submitted by Rob Edlin-White on

    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

     

     

     

  • Annual tournament 2021

    Submitted by Rob Edlin-White on

    Nottingham's six day Annual Tournament  - a highlight of the year for many - took place from 16th to 21st August. It was on a smaller scale than in previous years because we were restricted to five lawns, the newly-seeded lawns 6 to 9 having been held back by the poor spring weather. A total 0f 30 players were involved, but not everyone was in every event.

    The big Handicap, for the Robin Hood Cup, saw a range of handicaps from -1.5 to 14 in the quarter-finals, after 4 days of flexible Swiss competition to find the top 8. The final was between Debbie Watson (Nottingham) and Roger Staples (Middlesbrough), and was reduced to 18 points to allow Roger to travel. Debbie won +18 in just over an hour.

    The A class had 11 competitors, played as a flexible Swiss until Friday lunchtime, followed by a knockout for the top four. In the semi-finals Omied Hallam beat Arthur Rowe and Phil Eardley beat Joel Taylor, then Omied beat Phil +3 in the final.

    The B Level singles was an American block of 6 players followed by a play-off between the top two. John Filsak played Roger Staples, and had his revenge for the block stage loss to Roger, winning +10.

    The C class (Ordinary level singles) had 4 entries, played as two American blocks, so that each player played the others twice. Mick Haytack won the first series and Mark Lansdale the second, after the Manager had scratched Debbie Watson from the second series because of her commitments in the Robin Hood and the doubles, otherwise there would have been a 3-way tie to sort out. In the play-off Mark beat Mick +3.

    The D class (Full bisque base 10 handicap singles) had 4 entries, played as two American blocks, so that each player played the others twice. Cathy Turski was undefeated in both blocks to take the trophy.

    13 pairs entered the Handicap Doubles knockout, and in the final Phil Eardley and Cathy Turski played Omied Hallam and Debbie Watson. Omied and Debbie were ahead for much of the game, but Phil made a break to the peg as time was called to level the scores. Omied missed the long shot he was left by the narrowest of margins, and Cathy duly ran the golden hoop to win +1t.

    Fuller report and detailed results on the CA website. 

    Photo: Debbie Watson receiving the Robin Hood Cup from club president, Ian Vincent.

     

     

     

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