With no home lawn time, Blewbury was on the high road to Hurlingham to enjoy one-ball in the most elegant circumstances on the most brilliant day. As the shadows lengthened over the court on which Bunny Fulford beat America’s Matthew Essick to win the AC World title in 2023, Brian and Carol Jamieson locked horns . With six wins out of six, Brian had only to beat his wife to raise the Bingham Bowl. As he went to post the result, he said something along the lines of, “Well played, darling. Now we go home with nothing”. As Carol approached, I started hesitantly. “Maybe just this once you might have…” but I never finished. “I could never do that. It’s not in my DNA”.
Happily it was a truly golden day. On a more distant court, one of the Davids was beating the only Howard, the one result that could beam the silverware back to Brian. As it did; David Long and Carol came joint third with a 75% win rate. I had the same percentage but from less games due to sat nav meltdown, and Sandy Millikin was a winner too..
Pretty good for a Blewbury quintet that made up roughly 20% of a field of 24., And a great Jamieson victory in their last CqE tournament before they leave the committee at the AGM. Their plans for the future? “Play more croquet”. Is that really possible, but don’t say you weren’t warned…