Dreaming of the Summer?

This is a typical winter photo from our club. Not a square inch of skin to be seen; gloves and bobble hats mandatory.

Photo credit Jill P cleverly updating Andy L’s pic.

We have Winter Lawns!

A team of dedicated pedants turned up today to precisely measure and position all our hoops to their winter settings. All four lawns have been rotated 90⁰ and shrunken to about 70% of their summer size. This involves excavating 48 new hoop holes (plus 4 centre pegs). The hoops are alluringly aligned and virtually vertical. Any complaints can be directed to Andy 🙁

Here is Chris showing excellent technique with the massive corkscrew. Years of practice with bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon finally pay off.

And here is Steve wrestling expertly with a piece of string that was, just 10 seconds earlier, perfectly unknotted.

Many thanks to Brian, Chris, Steve, Simon M, David, Des , Phil and Andy for undertaking this onerous task! We rewarded ourselves by polishing off the left over cake from Finals’ Day

Finals’ Day – The Results

AC HandicapSimon D (8)Mark (18)
GC Level SinglesAndy (6, 5)Colin (7, 7)
GC High Handicap SinglesChris (7)Simon M (5)
GC Handicap DoublesPhil & Marilyn (6)Trish & Jill (7)
AC Short CroquetSimon M (9)Colin (14)
GC Level DoublesAndy & Nigel (6)Mark & David (7)
GC Handicap SinglesAnn (7)Trish N (6)

Finals’ Day – The Pics

Well, we got away with it. Finals’ Day was dry! And the sun even came out. There was an excellent crowd, lots of good croquet, fabulous food and a special atmosphere. This is what it’s all about.

Here are some pictures of the competition, the presentation and the celebration.

Simon D in praying mantis mode
Jill attempts something – everyone else looks on in amazement

Andy attempting yet another clearance against Colin

AC Handicap winner – Mark

Short Croquet – Colin

GC High Handicap – Chris

GC Handicap Doubles – Jill and Trish

GC Level Singles – Colin

GC Level Doubles – Mark and David

GC Handicap Singles – Ann

Brian enjoying the scoff

Robin laughing at his own joke. In the background Andy is barely speaking to Colin.

Lynn and Trish ‘avin’ a laugh

Marilyn “I’m only here for the cake” Hendy

CPCC (+ 1) in Short Croquet Victory

On Saturday 5th October, a team from CPCC competed in Division 4 of the South West Federation Autumn short croquet tournament at Budleigh Salterton. The CPCC team was Fran Ralli, Ann Munton, Simon Munton and Chris Williams. (Chris was a guest player from Glamorgan as CPCC had difficulty in fielding a full team).

There were 4 teams in Division 4 (Bath Buns, CPCC B, Nailsea and Budleigh Salteron Mallets) and the format was 3 rounds of all play all. After these rounds CPCC were in the lead with 9 wins. There was then a play off between CPCC and the Mallets who were the second placed team.

At the end of the day CPCC took the trophy having won 11 out of their 16 games. Many thanks to our guest player Chris who won all of his games.

A moral SC victory at Bath?

This year, CPCC’s Short Croquet team came top of their block which meant they had to compete against Bath in the final.

This took place on Sunday 29th September, with the CPCC team (David Milford, Simon Dunk, Fran Ralli and Simon Munton) being the home team and Bath the away team. As the final took place in Bath, being host to them on their own lawns felt a little strange!

After the first round the score was 2 all, but by lunch CPCC were trailing by 3 games to 5. After the third round CPCC were trailing by 5 games to 7. To win outright, CPCC needed to win all 4 games of the last round, but only succeeded in winning 2 games meaning that Bath were the victors by 9 games to 7.

Interestingly, although CPCC lost the match, they did score more hoops than their opponents (158 to 154). Many thanks to David and Fran for stepping in at short notice.

The Showdown in Peasedown

We all remember The Thriller in Manila and The Rumble in the Jungle. Well, today we hosted the 2024 South West Federation High Handicap final, and it turned out to be an epic.

After a full season’s competition Swanage and Llandaff croquet clubs had topped their respective leagues and The Showdown in Peasedown was on!

Remarkably three of our four lawns were playable after the recent rains. The standard of play was excellent and there was much tactical discussion, especially in the doubles games.

After a full day’s competition the score was a tantalising 10-10. Something had to break the deadlock and a final doubles game was decided upon. The crowd (there’s rarely a crowd at croquet) was riveted. This is as exciting as croquet gets!

Swanage commendably won the decider 7-4 and therefore are crowned the 2024 High Handicap champions. Here are the two exhausted teams (Llandaff on the lleft and Swansea, right).

Many thanks to Nigel for busily reffing the match and Des/David/Mark for setting up the hoops. Also Fran and Sue for cake and tea-making.

Colin gets the Third Eight Plate!

Towards the end of each season are the “Eights”. Eights refers to tournaments where top players compete in groups of eight , based on their ability.  Croquet England run three Eights, appropriately named the First, Second and Third Eight

Colin was accepted into the Third Eight, played at Nailsea over three days. He just missed out on the main tournament, winning three of his qualifying matches out of seven and taking one game in three more.  On the final day he went on to win the plate event (or bowl as they called it) for places 5-8.  This is no mean feat.