Salutations to Blewbury D team, unbeaten winners of the north division of the SCF GC Advantage league. When they clinched their final match in the round robin block against Harwell 13-3, they booked a ticket to Ryde (top of the south division) for a semi final on the Isle of Wight. David Vincent’s C team finished in 3rd place.
D team captain David Dibben and Simon Bryant won their 4 matches against Harwell, with David reducing his handicap to 4. Jackie Bryant (3 wins) and Susan Tilbrook (2 wins) completed the rout. The same team will travel to Ryde on September 2nd, with the winners taking on Phyllis Court (victors in the central division) in the final. Cheering supporters most welcome on Monday: if you fancy a short sea voyage, David will be there to greet you.
How often have we heard that said? Well it certainly applied to some of the games in the Blewbury Super-B AC advanced tournament held over the weekend of 24-25 August.
In one of the first round matches, Richard Peperell had a four hoop lead over Paul Watson as time went. Paul was just starting his turn and Richard would get one last turn. Those of us watching in the club house thought that Paul would have to play his blue ball in order to have any chance of winning, but he chose to play black. This was an easier hit in, but as it was for 4-back, surely Paul could not score enough points. However, we then realised that Paul could draw level by making three hoops and pegging out his black. Surely a risky strategy as it would leave him with only one ball. Having hit in and made 4-back, Paul appeared to be eyeing up a peel at 4-back. (He was.) Would he make the peel, go round to peg, and peg out to win? This resulted in a big debate in the clubhouse as to the best approach. After much thought, Paul did not go for the peel. He realised just in time (we in the club house were much slower) that his blue was for hoop 3, not 4-back, so the peel was never on. Paul did go round to peg with black, and pegged out to level the game. Richard had one more turn, but failed to score. Paul was the first to score a hoop in extra time, so won a very tight game.
I was involved in the next nail biter. I was playing against Christopher Crowcroft. I got off to a reasonable start, but I missed a short roquet and Christopher made rapid progress after that. I was way behind when Christopher was on peg and penult, but in trying to set up a leave, he accidentally pegged out his own ball! I now had two balls to his one, but I was way behind. Could I catch up? I made steady progress, helped by the fact that if your opponent has pegged out a ball, they can no longer claim a lift after their opponent has run through 1-back or 4-back. Christopher did score the last two hoops, but I managed to keep going to win 26-25. The roar of the crowd could surely be heard as far away as the Red Lion.
All of the players were impressed that we managed to start the tournament on time as it had been raining for several hours beforehand. Fortunately it had not been heavy rain, so our good drainage meant that there was no problem. Some also commented that they had started playing on the assumption that the rain would have made the lawns rather slow. Not so! They were at their usual pace.
We had an excellent lunch, prepared on both days by Minty, but served on Sunday by Sandy.
Once all of the games had been finished, two players emerged with four wins each: Robbie Dodds from Shrewsbury, and myself. Robbie had beaten me, so he was the worthy winner. He said that he had really enjoyed playing at Blewbury and that this was his first tournament win. He plans to come back next year.
This is a Blewbury event which took place on Wenesday 2 October 2024.
We used the Advantage Handicapping system in 13 Point games. Everyone played 6 games with different partners.
12 players entered, but unfortunately David Long had to withdraw at the last minute through illness. So 11 competitors played in pairs against another pair. Pairs were made up of a High Handicapper and a Low Handicapper. Pairings changed after each round. The winners were the individual High and Low Handicapper with the most wins,
The winners were Steve Fisher (Low) and Sandy Millikin (High) both with 5 wins.
Runners-Up were Dave Grinstead (Low) and Bruce Gibson (High) with 4 wins each.
A good day was had by all in this fun end of season competition.
This is a Blewbury event which took place on Thu Sep 26th.
10 competitors played in fixed pairs against each other pairing, in 13-point alternate stroke AC games played to an hour’s time-limit and against a handicap base of 2.5.
After the final round was abandoned due to heavy rain, joint winners were declared; comprising Deirdre Cochrane (8) & Claire King (24), alongside Peter Allan (3) and Hugh Coghill-Smith (24).
Other pairings comprised Joe King (-1) & David Weston (24); Andy Evason (7) & Sandy Millikin (24); Brian Jamieson (10) & Minty Clinch (20).
After a long summer of qualifying trials and tribulations, the Kay Memorial Trophy short croquet tournament climaxed on a blazing Monday afternoon. Ladder leaders, Andy E and holder Andrew P, competed for the first final place. By taking an early lead without using his bisques, Andrew set Andy a catch up that proved to be a few hoops too far (14-9). Meanwhile the Jamiesons fought it out for the right to challenge Andy for the second final spot. Carol, qualifying for the finals in Joe’s absence, prevailed (14-6), then defeated Andy by the same score.
In the shootout, Andrew used both his bisques to establish an early lead, leaving himself dangerously exposed to a fiery opponent with eight to play with. The ding dong battle swung to and fro, with Carol working steadily through her hoard to a successful outcome (13-9). After Peter presented the handsome trophy, the survivors enjoyed celebration bubbles on Tickers Folly Field. Brava Carol.
On the final weekend of the Olympic Games, Blewbury Croquet Club picked up a well deserved gold medal for Catering and Hospitality, writes David Dibben. The occasion was the prestigious Smokey’s Cup, an annual B-Level GC marathon of 14 matches in two days hosted jointly by Blewbury and Phyllis Court.
Step up to the podium Deirdre Cochrane for the sumptuous spread enjoyed by the lucky eight drawn to play at Blewbury on Saturday. Her feast of chicken in a delicious sauce with salad, followed by apple pie and ice cream plus strawberries and cream, was especially appreciated by the Phyllis Court cohort; apparently their club doesn’t offer such haute cuisine.
From my point of view, the playing side was anything but a success. Allocated to my home courts for Saturday qualifying, I won through to the Sunday finals staged this year at Blewbury and masterminded by the ever efficient Carol Jamieson. How did I beat the winner, Adam Newbould from Bromley, twice while losing to almost everyone else ? Eighth out of eight is not a good look. Over at Phyllis Court, my fellow Blewburians, Steve Fisher and Brian Jamieson, scored an honourable three wins apiece in the Sunday plate.
Smokey’s Cup finalists: from left Raghu Iyer (Phyllis Court), Andrea Huxley (Guildford), Alastair Bloom (Phyllis Court), Sarah Clements (Chester), Adam Newbould (Bromley), David Dibben (Blewbury), Patricia Mulcahy (Phyllis Court), Steve Baldwin (Compton, Eastbourne)
Blewbury buzzed at the beginning of August when 16 players double banked on four short croquet courts for the morning blocks. Four players, three games, four winners into the finals. Philippa prepared lunch for 14 – tasty curried pasta and salad followed by raspberry tart.
Next up, the semis. Would Dave Kibble’s skills off – 2 defeat Andy E’s surge of handicap reductions? Would Peter Allan come out ahead of Adam Newbould, a man who’s left his home in Almeria to compete in summer croquet tournaments nationwide. Yes and no, which meant Dave and Adam fought out the final. Big Dave raised the engraved glass but conviviality ruled, so much so that two days later, while his wife Karen was winning the hi-bisquers tournament at Cheltenham, Adam called Dave to ask for coaching. A nice twist in the tail of another Blewbury tournament managed seamlessly by the indefatigable Carol J.
Bravo Blewbury. Having lost the venue toss for their semi final against York in the SC Interclub National tournament, the team was determined to make the long journey pay off. As they did, with a convincing 8-3 victory.
The format is 10 singles and a doubles over three rounds. Captain Joe led the charge with three singles wins; he kept to basics to finish ahead of his oppo each time so no peels were required. Brian and Steve also starred with two singles wines each. Steve teamed up with Andrew Petit to take the doubles.
Nottingham and Southport will contest the other semi final to decide who will meet Blewbury in the final. This will be held at a neutral venue, probably in September.
