Author: Brian Jamieson

Our One-day Open GC tournament regularly attracts a quality field of low-handicap players; people who are drawn by the one-day format and the quality of our courts. This year was no exception; neither the courts nor the weather were disappointing.

We welcomed young Josef Rakosnik, a Czech in the UK for the next week’s European Club League competition. He had arrived in the UK only the day before and was playing his first croquet of 2026.

The all-play-all format involved each player having seven games, so there was no hanging around.  After the first few games the field split into a top half, who were winning most of their games and a bottom half, who were struggling against the power play and accuracy of the lower handicappers, notably Ian Burridge (Nottingham) and Guy Scurfield (Dulwich), both playing off -1. 

Going into the seventh and final round, there were three on five wins — Burridge, Scurfield and Rakosnik. But the Czech was too far behind on net hoops, and Burridge and Scurfield were drawn to play each other.  

In this deciding game. Burridge had the edge for the first few hoops, but Scurfield came back strongly to win successive hoops at the end for a 7-5 victory.  Burridge thus ended up a creditable second.  Nick Saxton (Cheltenham) finished with a win to edge past Rakosnik on hoop difference for third place

Scurfield had won the tournament in 2024, but last year choose to play in Mauritius rather than Blewbury.  He describes his exploits there and in other equally exotic countries in his article in the current (April) edition of the Croquet Gazette.

Our picture shows Blewbury’s Open field, with champ Guy Scurfield third from left.

The new competitive season got off to a good start. Our first CqE Fixture competition, an Open GC tournament on 19 April, attracted a competitive entry from as far away as Nottingham, Bath and Chichester. A combination of warm, sunny Spring weather and timely irrigation meant the courts were in very good condition.

Cool, cloudy conditions gave way to warm sunshine after lunch. The afternoon’s first pairing brought together Ian Burridge (Nottingham) and Peter Tofield (Northampton), both of whom had navigated the morning unbeaten. Peter won that game 7-4 and it seemed all over. But there was an unexpected intervention by Peter Falle, a six handicapper from Phyllis Court. First, he beat Peter Tofield (7-6) in the penultimate round, opening a path for Ian Burridge to win on hoop difference. By a chance of the draw Ian lined up with Peter Falle for his final game. But Ian couldn’t take advantage of the situation. Peter repeated his giant-killing, beating Ian 7- 4, leaving Peter Tofield the overall winner with six wins out of seven games. Ian Burridge and Andrew Willis (Bath), an accomplished AC player with limited GC experience, shared second place each with five wins.

Peter Tofield on his way to beating Ian Burridge.

The first of this season’s coaching courses have now been drawn up by the Club’s coaches and are available for members to sign up. Each course has a suggested handicap range. Preference will be given to members whose handicaps fall within the suggested range. Please be realistic when considering whether courses are suitable for you.

Most of the courses are limited to four members, exceptionally more may be accepted at the discretion of the coaches. Places on these courses can only be booked using the Sign-Up facility on the Club’s Team-Up. For those unfamiliar with this procedure, here are the sequential steps:

• Log-in to the Blewbury CC website.
• Select Calendar (Team-Up).
• Select the first date of your chosen course on Team-Up.
• In the next window, select Sign-Up.
• Add your name to those attending.
• Save.

If the maximum of four places have already been taken, (indicated by 4/4), you will be unable to subscribe. You will have to repeat this for each session of the course you plan to attend so that coaches know in advance who will be at each session. One innovation this year is we are offering early evening and weekend courses. We will monitor their popularity. The courses initially arranged are as listed below:

GC Beginners

Coach: Carol Jamieson
A short, two session course specifically designed for new members with little or no experience of croquet. Covering an introduction to Club procedures, an introduction to GC and basic croquet skills.
Fridays 5 and 12 April 2024. 12.30-1.30pm. Two sessions.

GC: Improvers

Coach: Steve Fisher
Covering: Basic GC croquet skills and tactics.
Saturdays 27 April and 4 May 2.00-4.00pm and 18 May 2024 3.00-5.00pm. Three sessions.
Limited to four members; priority to those with handicaps in the range 16 to 10.

Gaining an advantage (GC tactics)

Coach: David Vincent
Fridays at 12.30pm . Three sessions Dates: 12, 19, 26 April 2024
Limited to four members; priority to those with GC handicaps in the range 9 to 6

AC: Bookending the break

Coach: Peter Allan
A two-part course dealing with the key topics of Openings and Leaves
Monday 22 & Thursday 25 April 2024 12.30-1.30pm. Two sessions.
Limited to four members; priority to those with handicaps in the range 20 to 8.
The course will be run more than once if there is sufficient demand.

AC Improvers’ Coaching

Coach: Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli
Covering: Use of bisques, Tournament preparation, etc.
Thursdays 2, 9, 16 and 23 May 12.30-1.30 pm. Four sessions.
Limited to four members; priority to those with handicaps in the range 20 to 12.

Advanced AC Coaching

Coach Robin Brown
Covering: Advanced play, Peeling, etc.
Tuesdays 7, 14, 21, 28 May & 4 June 6.00-7.00pm. Five sessioms. Limited to four members; priority to those with handicaps 8 and below.

Blewbury hosted a National Final on 30 September – the prestigious Inter-Club AC team event, with Roehampton up against Nottingham.

Roehampton suffered an early setback when one of their key players, Joel Taylor, a schoolmaster, discovered the event was on a Saturday when he routinely has morning teaching duties. So Roehampton had to concede the singles game he was due to play. However, they won the doubles game and the other morning singles to lead 2-1 at lunchtime.

Joel Taylor arrived breathless from school for the afternoon session and proceeded to overwhelm Nottingham’s Will Gee 26-0, including. a triple peel. Roehampton won two more of the afternoon singles to end up winners by 5-2. Omied Hallam was Nottingham’s only winner after lunch, beating Mark van Loon 26-9.

Our own Harry Fisher had a successful day in Roehampton colours, having contributed to the doubles win in the morning and beating James Death 26-0 in the afternoon.

Both teams were full of praise for the quality of the Blewbury lawns. Tim Russell, the Roehampton Captain, even said they were on a par with Roehampton’s – praise indeed.

This two -day tournament was hosted jointly by Phyllis Court (21 June) and Blewbury (22 June).  It attracted a full house of eight competitors, all with handicaps of 8 or more, including Andy Robertson and Brian Jamieson (competing in Caversham colours!).

Brian and Ragu Iyer of Phyllis Court, both with two wins., were leading the field on the first day.  Under the Swiss system, they were due to play each other, but Ragu was called for an urgent hospital appointment.  Consequently, they were out of sync at Blewbury the next day.  They played part of their game early on and the second part after the others had finished around 6.pm, Brian winning by 9 points.

As it happened, this  didn’t affect the result. Both Ragu and Julian Gibson  (Middlesborough) already had four wins but, under  the Swiss system, they hadn’t played each other.  The  outcome was decided on the somewhat esoteric ‘quality of wins’ criterion, with both inheriting the wins of those they had beaten: Ragu was ‘awarded’ nine wins,  Julian  only eight.  So  Ragu was declared the  winner.

Andy finished with one win, but scored freely in all his defeats. Brian ended up with three wins out of five.

Not all the competitors were familiar with Advanced AC rules, but they soon learned the unfortunate consequences of leaving a ball near a baulk line after going through Hoops 1-back and 4-back!

Blewbury won hands down in the catering stakes.  While the sandwiches at Phyllis Court were perfectly decent, they could not compare with a two course meal served under the gazebos at Blewbury. Little did competitors know of the complex logistics needed to prepare, deliver and serve the lunch!  Thanks to Minty,  Carol W and all others involved, with a special mention for Paul Wolff who oversaw arrangements from early morning until late afternoon.

This was a splendid tournament, played on excellent lawns in almost continuous sunshine. Such tournaments, catering for AC mid-handicappers (7 to 14), are not frequent.  This one, though tiring for competitors and organisers alike, was played in a good spirit and enjoyed by all.