Category: News

The Blewbury Croquet Club social, held at the Red Lion on March 12, put an end to winter blues as members, old and new, chatted about bisques and breaks and other obsessions. Some 40 people enjoyed John’s beef stroganoff or its mushroom plant based alternative. Most of them splintered into tables of six for the quiz, the questions cunningly devised by David Long and Bruce Gibson., to cover croquet, Thames Valley history and general knowledge. The maverick joke round assigning such sports as coal heaving and black pudding throwing to English counties proved an effective tie breaker, with luck in random guessing the key factor. The exception was tiddlywinks , widely recognised as Norfolk’s finest. The winners were the team who can no longer remember its name comprising Peter Allan, Andrew Petit, Paul Wolf and his very knowledgable .daughter, Stephanie. Also present,Sarah, David’s partner, and Jane, Bruce’s wife, but they took no part, having heard it all before. Many thanks to organisers, David, Bruce and Paul, and mine hosts, John and Annabel, for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Let’s do it again.,

Even the weather gods entered into the convivial spirit of the Hi-Lo autumn series,. As the nation reeled under the impact of Storm Babet, Blewbury players sat out in balmy conditions over two intensely competitive days. First up, GC, with a dozen contenders in varying combinations playing five advantage handicap games a piece.

In the Hi division, three players – Sandy, Bruce and Jill – had four wins each, but Sandy’s superior hoop average won the day. Bravo Sandy – it was a real highlight to see your enduring application and dedication rewarded on merit. The Lo guys were equally locked in combat, with four wins for Brian, Dave Grinstead and David Vincent. To David Vincent, the prize bottle on hoop arbitration. Sincere thanks to the Jamiesons for an impeccably run event.

Deirdre and Sandy in the winners’ enclosure on the Blewbury Riviera, with Joe standing behind.

Over to David Long for the immensely more complex task of creating order out of 15 AC players with handicaps ranging from 24 to -1. For the seven Hi-bisquers, the dream was a nailed on game with Joe. As only four could enjoy that, he elected to play on his own with one dead ball and a load of peels. And to refuse the winner’s prize that was justly his.

David’s other conundrum was to create level playing fields so the Lo players didn’t use all available bisques to get their balls round, leaving the Hi tribe looking on in frustration, as happened last year. His solution, expressed in an algorithm of dazzling complexity, was to award points for games and hoops won to all, but double points to hoops won by Hi-bisquers. This format was tailor made for Carol Jamieson. Playing off 20, she bisque-blitzed her way round to the peg in all four of her games, winning three of them.,

Of course no one can force the Lo players to agree to this strategy . It follows that I’m particularly happy to report that two of those who nursed Hi partners throughout the day emerged at the top of the leaderboard. Deirdre and Steve earned equal points, with Deirdre taking the bottle by winning three games to Steve’s two. Thank you both for the very enjoyable games you played with me; I appreciate how frustrating they were for you! And thank you, David Long. You made madness work. We all applaud you.

The highlight of BCC’s well attended 30th AGM, held yesterday in the Melland Room, was the announcement of Grinny as the 2023 POTY. Outgoing president, Coral Richards, a stalwart from the Jolyon years, presented the shield and engraved glass to enthusiastic applause.

in a year when previous POTY, Peter Allan, won three of the six internal competitions, Dave stood out for his excellent record in GC leagues games, not only for his statistics as a player but as a ever encouraging partner to the less experienced in Philippa’s friendlies. You won’t see him sweeping the John. ‘I’ve never cleaned anything’, he announced in his robust Yorkshire style. But turn up early in midwinter and Dave, watched by the faithful Sammy, can be seen swishing the lawns to make them fit for purpose and to keep them in good condition for the spring. Thank you, Dave. Life is always more cheerful when you’re around.

Edmund presents Coral with a bouquet in recognition for her huge contribution to BCC over its first thirty years.

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.

A bright sunny day, with lawns looking and playing well, greeted the semi finalists for the Prebendal Manor Cup, our internal AC Handicap competition.

On Court 1, Brian Jamieson took an early 4-2 lead against Peter Allan, but was eventually overwhelmed 18-6. Brian was still recovering from a significant operation on one hand, but made no excuses – it wasn’t his day. In the other semi-final, Claire King used all but two of her many bisques in her initial break to take a 10-0 lead against husband Joe (the first time they’d played competitively at Blewbury: they’d once met about 25 years ago at Caversham). She got another chance when Joe played the wrong ball, but otherwise his play was solid; once she was out of bisques, the match rapidly slid away from Claire. A score of 18-12 gave Joe a confident overture for the final.

But Peter has only lost one AC match since the start of August (to High Wycombe’s Richard Peperell), wins that included defeating Joe in level play in the Founders Cup. With a two bisque cushion, he had cause for optimism in the 26 point showdown. Joe won the toss and went first. Playing the fourth ball, his first shot with yellow, Peter used a bisque to set up a break that took it round to the peg. Joe had only played each of his balls once and he was 0-12 down. A intelligent leave challenged him to hit in from a distance: when the long roquet missed, he never got another chance.

Remarkably Peter played most of his second break with three balls, only picking up Joe’s black from the yard-line as a pioneer when he reached three back. Using his second bisque to avert a breakdown, he completed his merciless 26-0 rout in little over an hour. So it’s the big triple for Peter, who also won the GC level play Championship. Don’t expect an AC handicap reduction to +1/2 to be much comfort to future opponents. Very well done indeed, Peter.

Icknield Cup finals day was the kind of scorcher that prompts losers to say ‘I’m so happy I’m sitting in the shade watching others suffer’. Of course Mick Moore and I were lying to save face after comprehensive defeats by Chris Fairburn and Carol Jamieson respectively. No deciding games required.

Well, it was pleasant watching Chris and Carol go head to head in the final with rarely more than a hoop between them. In both games, Chris led 6-5, only to be rolled over by Carol’s iron will and unfailing precision. So she raised the silverware and we all huddled into to the ever-diminishing patch of gazebo shade for wine and canapés. Cheers Carol. You deserved it.

Peter’s triumph in the Bank Holiday weekend AC Super-B tournament, his biggest win to date, triggered an unstoppable surge. First up, the level play GC Championship. On a damp day, he beat John Garnett in the semis and Dave Grinstead in the final, both without losing a game.

The Indian summer had arrived in force by the time he took on Founders Cup holder, Joe King, in the 2023 renewal. Back in April, Paul Wolff was Joe’s only challenger in the 2022 fixture, held over from last year. On that occasion, Joe came out on top in the AC level play contest. Would he prevail again?

Not if Peter could help it – and he could. After two examples of flawless break building, his trademark calm deserted him at the final hoop. Twice he fluffed it, once Joe hit in, but the mountain was too high and Peter duly claimed his reward. A bigger trophy cabinet? He’s working on it ahead of the AGM presentations on Tuesday, October 17th.

No cause for concern. Peter watches Dave lining up his shot

When the only sign ups for the CA one ball tournament on the last Monday bank holiday of the year were from Blewbury, BCC decided to cancel the fixture, abolish the entry fee and hold an internal tournament instead.

Balancing AC and GC players with handicaps ranging from 1 to 24 in two blocks, Carol Jamieson masterminded an intense morning of All play All.. Jeff Drummond Hay, a GC specialist who had never played AC, grasped the one ball variant after a 15 minute introduction and came third in his block. Bravo Jeff.

Andy and Sandy negotiate triple banking.

With the first two in each block qualifying for the afternoon round robin finale, quality rose to the top. In the showdown, David Long, unbeaten all morning, recorded a further two victories to claim the engraved glass, with Brian second, Duncan third and a jaded Peter Allan, his handicap reduced to 1 by his first Super-B Advanced win over the previous two days, fourth.

A lovely social crossover mixing AC and GC that deserves to become an annual fixture. Thank you, Carol.

There are trophies and trophies, but the Claret Jug, awarded to the winner of the Open Championship, Britain’s golf major, since 1882 is among the most prestigious. The Blewbury version, the Kay Memorial Trophy (KMT), commemorating club founder, Jolyon Kay, has a way to go as it makes its debut in 2023.

On Monday afternoons throughout the summer, Short Croquet players, many of them new to the discipline, challenged each other on the half size courts. On finals day, the four top players on the ladder who’d played the six matches needed to qualify assembled for the shootout. First up, Joe King versus Steve Fisher, Andrew Petit versus Brian Jamieson.

As ladder leader, Joe’s win over Steve took him straight to the final. Steve and Andrew, the victor over Brian, played for the right to challenge him.. With three peels to Andrew’s five bisques in the final, Joe needed a fast start. At the first hoop, an uncharacteristically short roquet led to an awkward hoop approach – and a jawed ball. Andrew pounced flawlessly and remorselessly, taking his first ball round without using a bisque. To the mournful strains of a bagpiper practising on Tickers Folly Field, Joe accepted his fate as Andrew powered on to a handsome win.

To the winner, the spoils – Brian presents Andrew with the Claret Jug.

“You really shouldn’t need a degree in jurisprudence and combinatorial maths in order to be able to decide who has won a croquet tournament” were my thoughts around 6pm on Sunday afternoon. But I am getting a head of myself.

On 26 & 27 August 2023, Blewbury hosted the annual super-B advanced AC tournament. Eight players had signed up, but unfortunately Richard Peperell came down with a bad cold so we were down to seven. I will claim that half of the original eight were international players. We have played in Corfu – surely that counts!

An odd number is always unfortunate since it means that one player has to sit out in each round. Robert Upton opted for the lie-in on the Saturday morning and Beatrice McGlen for the early bath on Sunday evening. The rest of us took pot luck. One lucky player would avoid the sit-out and get their fully money’s worth. By the luck of the draw, this turned out to be David Warhurst.

The weather on Saturday was showery with sunny spells and fortunately the showers never stopped play. I got off to a good start by beating Mike Hedge (0) and after an excellent lunch provided by Sandy and Philippa, I beat David Warhurst (-1) and followed this up by beating Ian Draper (1.5). No one was more surprised than me to find that I was in the lead at the end of the first day with three wins out of three games, although I did note that Robert Upton was also undefeated on two wins from two games. Dare I hope that this was “my weekend”?

I had the sit-out slot on Sunday morning, so I spent the time watching my next two opponents looking for any tactical weaknesses on their part. Sadly I found none.

Fortified by a scrumptious lunch from Minty, I beat Andrew Dutton (1). Was the dream really on?

In the last round I played against Robert Upton (2), who I have played several times before. I think we are about 50-50 on wins, but surely I am on form and I would be able to beat him. As the game progressed things were not looking so rosy. I made a good start, but then made a hash of hoop 3, letting Robert in, who took full advantage. For the next two hours, it was mostly Robert making good progress with me making a few hoops here and there. This is where the jurisprudence and maths comes in. It was looking like Robert would beat me and if David won his last game there would be three players with only one loss, but different number of wins, and each of us would have beaten the other. The tournament regulations do cover this situation, but in language that I can only describe as something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike English. To help the aspiring tournament director, there is a worked example. This is where the maths comes in and it is best not attempt to follow this on your mobile phone in the middle of a tournament when you are desperately trying to win your last game!

As I walked on to the lawn with about ten minutes of play left on the clock I was ten hoops behind. Things looked dire, but I had a reasonably easy hit-in and I decided to just do the best I could in the remaining time. If I could go from hoop 3 round to peg with red and peg out I would be one point ahead. A fiendish leave would give me a win – and no headache on deciding the winner. So that is what I did. A carefully crafted split shot after hoop 3 gave me a crucial rush to bring the pivot into play and after that it was just careful play to keep the four-ball break tidy. Simples! Plus one on time, for a 100% record over the weekend.

It was very gratifying to win my first advanced AC tournament. I will be putting the trophy (an engraved glass) to good use by adding a smidgen of single malt and studying those tournament regulations in the peace of my own home.