Category: News

The AC Handicap league gives higher handicappers an opportunity to play competitively against other clubs. Last year, our squad just achieved 1 win from their 5 matches, and our first match of the season had started in similar vein with a 4-0 defeat at Phyllis Court.

Undeterred, on 18th May our team of 4 confidently gathered in the Blewbury sunshine, ready to take on Oxford Uni. And when Oxford arrived, they were a player short, having found themselves only able to raise 3 players amid the exam season. So David Long stepped down, and agreed with their captain – Charlie Sharpe (son of Aussie croquet star Alison) – to provisionally score one game as a walkover to Blewbury: that result was subsequently ratified by the SCF, but only due to the lack of notice given (individual games should normally be rescheduled, assuming 72-hours notice).

Despite that 1-0 advantage, we still nearly lost the match: Charlie proceeded to beat Andy Evason 26-9; and Deirdre Cochrane lost by the same score to Oxford’s Mark Baker. However, in the last match to finish, Andrew Petit achieved the squad’s first game win of the season; with a 26-15 victory against Rob Pearson to square the match at 2-2. All 7 of us retired to the Red Lion to lick our wounds over a convivial and tasty pub lunch – on a day possibly better remembered as being that of Blewbury’s annual beer festival.

As is the custom, the HI-Bisquers weekend brought together a cheerful gang of improvers, several in their first tournament. Carol and Brian Jamieson organised the ‘all play all’ format with the expertise we so often rely on. On sunshine Saturday, David Long, Blewbury’s sole representative, started slowly against Neil George, the irrepressible BBC producer from Caversham. As the day progressed, everyone had at least one win so there was all to play for on Sunday. Elizabeth Connolly’s withdrawal distorted matters for day 2 , with all matches against her struck off the grid.,

Would it rain? Of course it would, but it saved the downpour for last when David Long, rallying bravely in previous matches, lost his slender winning chance to Phyllis Court newbie, Helen Essa, playing off 24. That left Neil and Wycombe’s Kenny Weir, continuing his meteoric rise after picking up his first mallet last September, on four wins each. Who beat who? Kenny (below), as it happened, though Neil ran 65 hoops to his 55. A four way tie for third left Helen, David, Paul Franklin and Karen Newbould thinking about what might have been.

With two CqE short croquet tournaments a year, Blewbury is establishing a  reputation as a great place to play the ever more popular variation of the game. The May fixture, impeccably run by Brian and Carol Jamieson,  attracted the full complement of 16 players, though Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli had to drop out on  the day. 

The competitors were divided into four ‘all play all’ blocks for the morning games. In the afternoon, the leaders in each block took on  each other to establish the top finishing positions. With a handicap of -1.5,  Sheffield’s  Eugene Chang, now working in France, spent much of the day lying prone  to  line up his peels.  Deservedly,  he ran out the winner over Kington Langley’s Margaret Murray. Andy Evason, a creditable fourth in his first tournament year, was Blewbury’s best player.

Philippa served a delicious pasta lunch. With Avril’s fruit salad and meringue dessert, it was much appreciated by those wise enough to order it.  As Eugene said as he collected his engraved glass, ‘it was a fabulous day out for all’. 

The next short croquet tournament is on Saturday, August 3rd. Entries please…

The Southern Federation Croquet (SFC) Advantage League kicked off with an incestuous epic between the two home teams. Under David Dibben’s captaincy, Susan Tilbrook led the D team’s 11-5 victory charge with four straight wins, reducing her handicap from 6 to 5.

Dibben consoled C team captain, David Vincent, by pointing out that the tussle was much closer than numbers indicate. Ten of the 16 games finished 7-6, suggesting the advantage system is doing its job.

The event was attended on behalf of Blewbury by David Long and Steve Fisher. Carol Wadsworth represented Phyllis Court, her main club. The courts were in fair shape though almost every hoop had a small rabbit run and the hoops driven in too far. We were triple banked giving six people on each of seven courts and a few waiting for a game. It was played as a “flexible” Swiss and at around 15:00 the four with the best results played in semi-finals and final. I only managed to win three out of six but David managed five out of six. David played Matt Miles-Griffiths from High Wycombe where he had to give away 1.5 bisques. The game was close but David won. This was followed by the final against Richard Coward, also from High Wycombe, who gave David the same number of bisques. Richard had a succession of long hit ins to try and stop David but to no avail. There will probably be an official photo at some point meanwhile here is one of David thanking Martin Burger who managed the event in the afternoon. David is holding a rather nice glass trophy in the box.

The Oxford University sides are ever talented and unpredictable. There was an astonishing range of handicaps on display when we played them yesterday, from the lowest the to the highest AC handicaps that fit the scale and stay within the SCF’s B-League limits – 0.5 to 24. What was pretty predictable though is that Blewbury’s Peter Allan (0.5) won his game, and Andy Robertson (10) did likewise against the brave 24-handicapper who nevertheless had hopes of playing against Cambridge after a bit more coaching and practice, but had to dash off after lunch for his college’s Summer Ball that evening. I lost to the clearly up-and-coming Oxford captain, whose handicap was only twice mine.

Still, a team win’s a team win, and I found our lunchtime conversation in the Blueberry pub afterwards highly entertaining, though I did wonder what the other customers might be thinking.

AC B-League results so far: played 2, won 1, lost 1. Next, we play Winchester, away.

This morning we began our defence of last year’s SCF B-League title, level play AC under advanced rules. But in contrast to that undefeated 2023 season, East Dorset came to Blewbury and brought us down to earth with a bump. Although Peter Allan competently won his game +16, Avril R-M and I both struggled to find our form, and we two lost -17 and -8(t) respectively. Avril’s opponent gallantly and cheerfully admitted, while tucking into his lunch, that he had played unusually well today. Result: a 1-2 defeat for Blewbury.

Our next B-League match will be against Oxford University, who are coming to Blewbury on Saturday morning, 4 May.

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.

The weather was OK in the morning. The lunch was excellent. Then it began to rain…

For details please see the competition entry.