Well, whoever said that got it wrong as the contenders for the regional finals of the GC handicap championship discovered when they stepped onto the courts without their thermals on June 1st. The Blewbury qualifier was run slickly in the familiar Jamieson style: two blocks of five, all play all. And please get on with it. A sensible if largely superfluous instruction as lower handicappers worked their way through up to 11 hoops in biting wind.
Andy E was unbeaten in block one, with Nick Freund second; in block two, it was ladies day, with Jackie Bryant first and Maggie Freund second. The deciding line up pitched Andy against Maggie and Jackie against Nick. To the Freunds, the spoils: Aston Tirrold rocks.
Nick and Maggie en fete
Back in the clubhouse, the knives were out: Nick, a dashingly rapid improver, accepted a 4 stroke handicap cut from 9 to 5, Maggie went down from 8 to 6 and Jackie relinquished her long term 10 for a more realistic 7.
This year’s Hi-bisquers weekend was severely hit by last minute illness and injury, a nightmare for organisers Brian and Carol to sort out at the very last moment. Six players lined up for four 14 point games on a windy Saturday; by close of play, four were still possible winners, among them Blewburians, Carol and Edmond. On Sunday, Fred Williams from Llanfairfechan, showed AC skills above his 20 handicap to take out the home pair.
As they shook hands, he told Carol that their close fought game was the most enjoyable he’d had all year. Although its result meant she’d present him with the engraved glass trophy, she agreed wholeheartedly. This generous spirit marked the whole tournament, so much so that the Jamiesons rounded out a weekend of diverse duties by playing Fred and his wife in a social doubles on Sunday afternoon before the Williams pair returned to Wales.
Fred Williams’ stylish hoop approach.
Thank you Brian for setting up, adding up, stepping in whenever refereeing was required – and everything else.
Last Saturday saw 3 club members battling it out in this year’s Charity One-Ball Regional Final. With Avril Rangoni-Macchiavelli injured, Brian Jamieson became a late replacement to join David Long and Carol Jamieson as Blewbury’s representatives.
With a record 51 entrants, the competition’s traditional Swiss format was abandoned this year in favour of a simple knock-out. David (last year’s winner) became the first casualty, losing his 3rd-round (last 16) match narrowly to Roehampton’s Jenny Gaskin. Carol went one better, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Watford’s Nick Archer. But it was Brian who progressed furthest, only losing in the semi-finals to the eventual competition winner, Ludolph van Hasselt from Hurlingham.
Well done all, and especially to Surbiton Club for laying on such fast lawns and excellent food, and for contributing all their proceeds to the £8,000+ raised for this year’s chosen charity, The Alzheimer’s Society.
On a day neither too hot or too cold, a treat even in this outstanding May, the first SC tournament of the year unfolded block by block. Some quirks of performance, though certainly not of the lawns which were impeccable, relegated such redoubtable maestros as John Grimshaw, Kingston Langley’s bearded giant, Peter Allan and Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli to lower orders they are not accustomed to.
Carol Jamieson, in command of both the tournament and her game, was joined in the top tier by Caroline Tarran, another member of a strong Kingston Langley contingent, and fellow Blewburians Andy Robertson and Andrew Petit. After David Long’s delectable coronation chicken and Eton mess, they locked horns in matches that resulted in a final between Caroline and Andy. After a tenacious battle to a 5-4 conclusion, Andy emerged triumphant.
Huge thanks to Carol and Brian for bearing their on-going workload so tirelessly and so cheerfully. And to David for gastro-fuelling Blewbury’s dominance in the latter stages.
Applause for Andy as he collects his engraved glass
After their impressive start at Nailsea, the Blewbury Bullets came up a little short against Cheltenham in the northern division of the SC open league. Facing a low handicap team, Andy E’s Bullets, captained on this occasion by Brian, may have benefitted from Nigel Cox’s unexplained withdrawal: Joe, his last minute replacement, won all his games. Sadly his bedrock performance wasn’t equalled by the also rans, but the day could easily have gone the other way. There were only two peg out wins and three of the matches went to the golden hoop. Brian backed Joe up with chutzpah : two victories in this company is straight shooting, but the final score was 9-7 to Cheltenham.
BCC’s C & D teams in the GC Advantage League met at home, as is customary, in the first of their series matches. As they set out on their mission to defend their divisional title, David Dibben’s hardened warriors in D (DDD) emerged as convincing winners. The 11-5 score line , the same as last year, left David Vincent’s C team licking familiar wounds.
With the Bryants as its backbone, Dibben’s gang won many more games than any other team in the regional group in 2024.. On this occasion, Jackie led from the front, with four games out of four; Captain Dibben scored 3, with Simon and David Grinstead on 2. For C, Carol and Susan won two each, with Andy E on one.
The match successfully trialed the new Target scoring system, though David Grinstead had to fight on to the 16th hoop to confront large handicap differentials. Thanks too, to David Vincent, on the sidelines this time, for excellent stewardship and hospitality.
Bravo DDD. The way is clear for that regional supremacy so narrowly denied last September.
The first of the SCF’s GC 10+ level play series took place at Blewbury last weekend. Eight players converged on Tickers Folly Field from fairly distant Winchester and High Wycombe for the all play all block rounds. Tessa Ford from Eynsham and Julia Green from Phyllis Court were unbeaten at lunchtime, with Blewburians Edmund and Minty qualifying for the afternoon play offs as the next best.
Edmund, the lone male, raced into an early lead against Tessa, then hung in as she rallied, while Minty set up a home final by shading Julia. In a one-sided show down, Edmund repeated his front running strategy, roaring seamlessly to 4-0, before Minty took the first of her two hoops. To the much better performer, the spoils: a certificate (see picture) and a springboard for SCF’s four sister tournaments. Eynsham: Sunday, June 15; High Wycombe: Saturday, July 19; East Dorset, Sunday, July 27; Winchester Sunday, August 10. Block entries (£10 each): southern-croquet.org.uk/scf-gc10. Staying power, Edmund? Enough to follow Bruce as series champion? My money’s on it.
As always, our sincere thanks to Carol and Brian for the early rising and hard work required to run an impeccable tournament.
Rosemary Balsdon’s first friendly match resulted in a handsome 7-2 victory over Harwell. Sandy and Jeff topped the table with three wins, while Rosemary & Susan, Maggie & Nick recorded two each. Relaxing over tea and Sandy’s carrot cake under the shade of the larger gazebo completed a perfect afternoon against very gracious opposition.
By 09.00, when 16 players gathered for the annual charity One-Ball tournament, Brian and Carol had set up four impeccable short croquet courts and heat was building in Joe’s charcoal barbecue. Not anywhere else though. Not on Easter Monday: competitors shivered in thermals and waterproofs, many with touches of blue out of respect for the Alzheimer’s Society, the national One-Ball’s chosen charity for 2025. Carol’s ultramarine nails were particularly impressive.
The whistle blew, the gloves came off. David Long, the 2024 national handicap champion in this discipline, was asked to start by your over optimistic correspondent. No messing about: he shot through hoop 1 and into the distance. We shook hands at the peg a humiliatingly short time later. DL was on his way.
Steve Fisher stalked meticulously and prospered. Likewise Paul Wolff in a variant that rewards his crisp strokes. And Carol, as ever an implacable giant killer off the maximum handicap. Liz Webb, our guest from Bowden, and Avril struck the ball with attitude as they renewed an old acquaintance.
After four hours, the rain began: it was time for lunch. As smoke from 6kg of prime barbecued topside swirled over the courts, many realised they were very hungry indeed. But not for long. The larger gazebo proved its worth, providing covered seating for a dozen or so, while wimpier folk enjoyed the clubhouse bench. After as much beef as you could eat, followed by strawberry cream meringues and Sandy’s authentic American cinnamon buns, afternoon play yielded winners: 1st DL, 2nd Steve, 3rd Paul.
Donations totalling £255 – way above the £10 a head requested – secured three allocations for Blewburians in regional qualifiers in Nottingham and Surbiton. The sun came out as David accepted his victory wine and hastened home to secure his slot before places run out. With Steve and Paul otherwise engaged, Carol (4th) and Avril will get their chance.
All in all a lovely day. Huge thanks to beef baron Joe, organisers Brian and Carol, sous chef Sandy, ever helpful David Grinstead and the Freunds for courageous skivvying in narrow greasy spaces. Maggie and Nick, you are great new members, but you really should have played.
See you all at the Roger Cambray: for one year only on Deirdre and Malcolm Cochrane’s court at Hall Barn, on Saturday, July 5th. Sign up, sign up….
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.
