Southport & Birkdale Croquet Club
News 2007 |
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Spencer Ell - Last Day Guest bt Mundy
+9 Ashwell bt Williams
+26 Play-Off Ashwell bt Guest
+25tp Congratulations to Ben Ashwell for winning the tournament and giving the spectators such an excellent demonstration of how croquet should be played. Spencer Ell - Day 4 Nick bt Tuttiet
+4 Williams bt
Guest +18 Mundy bt Nick
+9 Jenkins bt Tuttiett
+5 Burnett - 8 Spencer Ell Day 3
Burnett bt Ashwell
+26
Spencer Ell - Day Two Ashwell bt Guest
+3 Tuttiett bt
Nick +5 Jenkins bt Burnett
+24 Spencer Ell Day One Round 1 Ashwell bt Jenkins
+17 Round 2 Burnett bt Tuttiett
+17 Round 3 Mundy bt Williams
+11 Guest 3 - 3 Southport Finals Weekend Results The Chairman's - Bob Burnett beat Ray Lowe The Presidents - Still in play (Barbara Haslam vs. Ray Lowe) The American Cup - Simon Wolf beat Melanie Foster 18pt Shield - Alan Farrell beat Terry Foster Short Cup - Simon Wolf beat Bob Burnett Golf Cup - Don
Williamson beat Terry Foster With Handicap Cuts for the following people - Anne Belcher 14 to 12, Melanie Foster 9 to 7, Terry Foster 8 to 7, John Taylor 8 to 7 & Simon Wolf 12 to 9. Congratulations on the handicap cut folks!
SOUTHPORT V BOWDON CANNONS SUNDAY 19 AUGUST 2007 MATCH REPORT (AKA:- Ray wasn't having a good day) The Southport team of Ray Lowe (Capt.) Bob Burnett, John & Barbara Haslam travelled to Bowdon on Sunday to play the latest advanced rules league fixture. The doubles, in the morning, saw the two Haslams play together against Sylvia Steer and John Wilkinson whilst Ray and Bob took on Alan Mayne and Lorna Frost. John H soon got the innings in his game and, having safely negotiated hoop two, went to four-back with a good leave. After another short exchange Barbara played a good break that threatened to go to the peg but unfortunately broke down after four-back where she had a hampered shot and was forced to take on the penult pioneer which she missed. There was a bit more tooing and frowing before John went to the peg but declined to peg his own ball out! The spectators speculating that he was afraid of his partner! Barbara eventually hit in and finished for a good win. The other game got off to a promising start but went down hill badly. Bob got the first chance of a break early on and went round to peg, leaving his own ball on the lawn. This gave the opposition a contact although against "B" level players who are unlikely to play two all round breaks without error it is quite a good tactic as it leaves partner with nothing more difficult than a four ball break to peg. However, Ray was not having a good day! As expected, the Bowdon pair did not make the most of the contact and Southport soon found themselves with the innings, however, Ray was not having a good day! After a series of one hoop breaks and clangs, lasting a couple of hours, he managed to haul himself to one-back, by which time it was raining persistently. His partner, getting frustrated and wet, went for the radical option and pegged his ball out! Alan got ahead of Ray, who was not having a good day; Lorna went to the peg and pegged out leaving a one ball between Alan and Ray. Ray now played better and got to within one hoop of Alan but had a poor positional shot for penult and handed the initiative back, he was not……………..! Ray ran penult, Alan ran rover, Ray took position, Alan took position, Ray ran rover but couldn't see Alan or the peg, he was ………………!! Alan won +1 nearly on time. After a very
nice lunch and a few glasses of wine the singles got underway.
Bob played Alan, John played Lorna, Ray played Sylvia and Barbara
played John. Bob finished first, beating Alan 26tp seventh turn.
John played a tidy game to beat Lorna and Barbara also had a good
win against John. Ray however was not having a good day! Despite
Sylvia being seven handicap steps below him she was hitting and
he wasn't. She was running hoops and he wasn't, she was having
a good day and ……………… The inevitable
eventually happened and Ray lost, but Southport won the match
4 - 2 so well done everyone. Even Ray, who provided ample ammunition
for joviality on the way home. B LEVEL TOURNAMENT The club held
a B level tournament on the 4th and 5th of August. This is the
third year we have run it and once again it was over subscribed. Twenty players
took part eighteen of whom were visitors. The club was represented
by Barbara Haslam and Keith Roberts. Our other two players who
are in the handicap range of 1 to 6 were not available to enter. The final took
place over tea so the gallery could enjoy watching. The play off
had extra spice as it was a husband and wife contest. There was a big "Thank you" from everybody for the wonderful lunches and teas provided by Margaret Flemington and her helpers. Bob Burnett wins the Scottish Open Two Southport players travelled to Edinburgh on the 21 - 22 July to contest the Championship of Scotland. It was a strong field including six minus players. In the first round Ray Lowe beat Fergus McInnes +11 and Bob Burnett beat bill Spalding +14. From the quarter finals on, in the main event, all rounds are best of three and the two Southport players were drawn against each other. The first game went to Bob +25 but Ray fought back to take the second +11, Bob clinched the win with +15 in the third game. Bob went on to the semi-final whilst Ray now moved into the plate competition.
Ray won two of his three games in the plate to qualify for the plate semi-final where he beat Martin Stephenson +6 in a tight game. He now moved on to the final to meet his old rival Dave Nick. Despite Dave being a minus 1.5 Ray is his bogey opponent and has a good record against him. Ray played well and came out the winner +15, to take the Edinburgh Plate and his CA silver badge. Bob played Chris Dent in the final, a repeat of the 2003 event. Chris had played well to knock out the number one seed David Openshaw in the semi and the final promised to be a close run thing. But Chris had left his best croquet in the semi and Bob won 2-0, +17, +14. Bob received the "Moffat Mallet", the oldest croquet trophy in the world, for the second time although as last time he had to give it back as it is not allowed out of Scotland!
Glasgow Summer Weekend 2007 This year's Summer Weekend handicap tournament, held as usual on the level but slow-paced lawns of Kelvingrove, had a smaller entry and a narrower handicap range than in recent years. Three of the eight players had a handicap of 5 - Fergus McInnes, Bill Spalding and Alan Wilson; on either side of them were James Hopgood on 4 and Jamieson Walker on 6; and Terry Foster (9), Joe Lennon (10) and Melanie Foster (11) made up the tail of the distribution.
Lee Hartley wins May Handicap Tournament The UK may
have had a wet Bank Holiday weekend but Southport again hosted
an excellent handicap tournament. It may have been a bit damp
at times but this did not detract from the enjoyment of 24 players
who attended this popular event. Manager Barry Keen expertly managed
a Knock Out and a Swiss.
Congratulations to Don Williamson who qualified as a Golf Coach 31st March/ 1st April - Ray Lowe wins 6/6 at Millenium 'B' level event at Heaton ParkTHE NEIL WILLIAMS MEMORIAL TROPHY & THE MILLENNIUM CUP In glorious sunshine, and a cold wind, two of Southport's croquet players competed at Heaton Park last weekend in the North-West Federation's premier invitational event. The event is split into two competitions, the "A" being the Neil Williams Memorial and the "B" the Millennium Cup. There were nine competitors in the "A" and eight in the "B". With an "all play all" format this gave the players eight and seven game respectively over the two days. The plan was for the "A" event to get five games played on Saturday leaving just three, and an early start home, for Sunday. The plan for the "B" was four and three. The lawns at Heaton Park were quite good although still showing signs of early season maintenance. Ray Lowe got off to a storming start on Saturday winning his first three games. His fourth game, scheduled for Saturday, had to be postponed until Sunday when his lady opponent refused to go out into the cold wind and went home to Lytham instead. Bob Burnett played his five games on Saturday winning three. His losses were to Ian lines, who was TPing effortlessly, and Brian Storey in an almost error free game (one missed lift shot each). On Sunday Ray resumed where he left off despite a frustrating time with a diminutive Liverpudlian nicknamed "Dangermouse". At lunch he had another two victories, 5/5 with two to play! His nearest rival, Dangermouse, had just one loss so Ray needed at least one win from his last two games. He duly won the next one and so became uncatchable although his last game, against Peter Wilson, was the most memorable. Two balls had been pegged out leaving Peter on two back and Ray on four. Peter seemed to be well in command until Ray had a series of ridiculously long hit ins. It finished with Peter in front of Rover and Ray in front of four back; Ray ran four back and took position at Penult; Peter ran rover and went to south boundary (level with four);Ray ran Penult and hovered in middle; Peter shot at peg/Ray, missed and finished on north boundary; Ray took position at Rover; Peter shot, missed finished on south boundary; Ray ran Rover through to Peter …….. Bob won two of his three games on Sunday. His only loss coming after completing a triple peel and attempting a promotional peg out back through the jaws of rover which had been peeled posthumously. It went disastrously wrong and although being on Peg and box against one and four back he only had one more long shot in the game. His opponent played a flawless three ball to peg followed by a flawless two ball to finish. An enjoyable weekend was had by all the competitors who got the season off to a great start with some high quality croquet. Congratulations
to Ray Lowe on taking the Millennium Cup and also a handicap reduction
to 1.5 Early Start Two members
of the club got the season off to an early start by playing in
the charity One-ball tournament at Northampton on Saturday 17th
March. The event attracted a strong field with two minus twos
and a MacRob team member. Although no trophies were brought home
an enjoyable days croquet was had, in glorious weather. |
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