FIXTURES & RESULTS 2008
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Advanced: Fylde 6 Pendle 3 ( +21 F)
The match was played in a three man format at Pendle's request. A little wet under foot the rain stayed away all day. After a good showing at the Easter tournament, Lee took Fylde's number one position ( by 1 index point!) Peter played number two and, after Liz (tummy) pulled out, Andrew came in as number three. Pendle fielded Filsak, Schofield & Ahmed and were the weaker side by 1.5 HPs. Each Fylde player scored two victories and each became involved in one match having a tight ending with all clips near or on the peg. In each of these games fortune favoured Fylde giving a final scoreline that does not reflect how close the match was.
Posted by Peter 12th April 2008
Short: Southport 11 Fylde 5
Fylde:
Lee, Betty, Geoffrey, Ian
Southport:
Brian Lewis, Simon "Wolfie" "Wolfman" "Wolfster" Wolf, Eilleen Gallagher, David Key
The first short lawn match of the season saw Fylde travel to Southport, who due to the wet nature of the ground
had to mark out different lawns on the morning of the match to those normally used. The match started in overcast
conditions which clearly played to Fylde's advantage as we won the first set of games 3-1, the best win being by Betty
who won +7 after pegging her opponent out. With the sun beginning to break through Southport fought back and only Lee
won his second round game for the visitors leaving the score evenly poised at 4-4 at lunch. Beef casserole followed by
homemade trifle or tiramisu was then enjoyed by all, but perhaps too much by the Fylde team. A combination of this, and
the quickening lawns due to the sun which was by now shining brightly, saw Southport romp away in the afternoon, winning
all but the last game to finish which was won by Betty.
Posted by Lee, 13th April 2008
Handicap: Bury Caesars 3 Fylde 3
Bury Caesars:
Tony Phillips, Len Forkin, Mac Hardman, Graham Saunders
Fylde:
Lee, Betty, Ken, Ian
Our first handicap match of the season started in light rain and the forecast was for it to stay that way if not for the rain to increase. Hence the morning's doubles was a soggy affair. Betty and Ken at least had the good sense to lose early whereas Lee and Ian dragged it out to time, though with the consolation that they beat Tony and Graham +6 to leave the match all square at lunch. As often happens in croquet as soon as we sat down for lunch the rain ceased and the sun came out. Happily this carried on into the afternoon and the singles began in bright sunshine with perfect peace and quiet as the park was still deserted. This wasn't due to last though as quite early in the games the serenity was broken by the arrival of half a dozen policemen, a couple of police dogs, and the police helicopter hovering overhead. It turned out that some youths had stolen a car and they had been tracked to the park where they had abandoned the car and tried to make their getaway. Fortunately for us the forces of law and order were right on the ball and they were apprehended, one of them hiding in the undergrowth, without any major disruption to the serious business taking place on the lawns. Bury took an early lead with Graham blitzing Ian, who was making his handicap debut, with bisques still standing. Lee soon levelled things up by beating Tony +6 despite having had a ball pegged out.
Betty then gave Fylde the lead by beating Len for the third time in her short career, this time +7. However Mac wasn't far behind in pegging out, just before the rain returned, and hence the match finished as a draw.
Posted by Lee, 27th April
Advanced: Fylde 5 Southport Sandgrounders 4 (+20S)
With Liz recovering from an operation, the match was played in a three man format at our request at Southport. Very warm weather and with plenty of sunshine was the forecast and this was what we got. Sandgrounders fielded Carol Lewis, Keith Roberts and Simon Wolf who is a fast improver. Lee and Peter both lost close games in round one and we never recovered from this 20 point swing. Lee and Andrew won two games each and Peter's win was +1T in a twenty minuet time turn needing a peel after being behind against Simon from the start. Liz came along to watch from a sun lounger and provided a wonderful buffet lunch for everyone. Although the match score was 5-4 to us, Carol's two wins over lower handicap players (+2 & +2) ensured Sandgrounders the net points in the league.
Posted by Peter 10th May
golf: Fylde 8 Bury Norths 14
FYLDE:
Alan, Betty, Cath, Geoffrey
BURY NORTHS:
Susan Hardman, Barbara Giller, Bob Whittle, Maureen Whittle
Playing conditions were good as the doubles matches started. Bury won the opening two games by 7-6.
Alan and Betty had got to a winning position in their game with Hardman and Giller. Alan
had won hoop 4 with an 18 yard shot but a misplaced attempt by him to position his ball in the jaws of the final
hoop allowed Bury to shoot at the hoop and win the game. In the second round of doubles, we gained their first
win with Betty and Geoff beating Giller and M Whittle 7-6. In this game, Geoff
won three consecutive hoops with angled shots from several yards. At lunch , Bury led
by 4 games to 2 with Betty and Cath picking up a 7-5 win over Giller and Whittle.
We halved the first round of singles with Betty beating Giller in a tie break 7-6.
Alan also beat Giller in a tie break to keep us in contention. Bury now led by 8 games to 6.
The third round saw the match swing in Bury’s favour as they won three of the games. Round 4 saw the shot of the
day with Bob Whittle scoring a 30 yard hoop in his 7-5 win over Betty. Fylde now needed to win the last four
games to force a draw. It was too big a task with only Cath winning her game in a tie break 7-6 win over
Barbara Giller. Betty was our best player by winning three singles and two doubles matches.
Posted by Alan, 10th May
Handicap: Bowdon Firs 2 Fylde 4
Bowdon lawns that had somewhat longer grass than normal greeted us on a very hot and humid morning - without doubt this helped us considerably. Bowdon were all single figure handicaps bar one, so extra quantities of timber were brought in to cope with the demand for bisques. Martin and Ken were involved in a very cagey start to their game against Liz and Sheila. We built up a decent lead with Martin eventually reaching rover. The second half of the game became a little bogged down with much defensive work; eventually time brought a Fylde win +12. Betty and Alan had a very close game against John and Rupert and it was anyone's to take as time approached - +1 on time gave a very pleasing 2 - 0 lead. After lovely home-cooked ham et al and Liz's divine trifle, we were greeted at the start of the singles by a thunderstorm. Alan and Ken struggled somewhat against the wiles of Sheila and Rupert, but Betty socked it to Liz, a very experienced player, who was swept aside +23. Your captain, having got well ahead with both balls, allowed John to come back but at last got to peg +14. We were all tickled to bits with this away win - let's hope this bodes well for our Longman Cup clash with Bowdon.
Posted by Martin, 11th May
GOLF: Southport 16 Fylde 6
FYLDE: Alan Morton, Cath Morton, Philip Bass, Catherine Bass
SOUTHPORT: John Mawdsley, Jennifer Mawdsley, Jean Nolan, Eileen Rossiter
Fylde slumped to their second defeat of the season in cold and showery conditions at Victoria Park last Saturday.
Fylde made a good start in the doubles with the Morton’s beating the Mawdsley’s 7-5. Southport brought the scores
level as J Nolan and E Rossiter beat Philip and Catherine Bass 6-4 despite Philip Bass winning hoop 6 with a 14 yard shot.
Southport won the next two doubles but Fylde fought back with Alan Morton and Catherine Bass beating J Mawdsley and E Rossiter 7-5.
Cath Morton and Philip Bass won the final doubles game 6-5 after being 4-1 behind. Again Philip Bass’s hoop running set the platform for the win.
At lunch, Fylde had competed well to tie the match at 3-3. The afternoon singles were a disappointment to the Fylde team.
Alan Morton started well by beating J Mawdsley 6-4 but then Fylde lost six consecutive games to take the match score to 9-4
in Southport’s favour before Philip Bass won 6-5 against J Nolan. Fylde were still in with a chance to win the match in the remaining 8
games but Southport kept up the pressure by winning 7 of those games with only Alan Morton adding a consolation win. On the day Southport
played well and were too good for the Fylde team.
Posted by Alan, 17th May
Mexico Trophy
The Southport sunshine graced day one of the Mexico Trophy which was a series of Advanced, Handicap and Short matches played with a view to raising money for the Southport lifeboat which is independently funded. The home team offered hospitality to many of our members overnight and an al fresco buffet breakfast for the second day which unfortunately turned wet as the morning progressed.
Play on the second day was a three team game of Blue Moon, a variation of Croquet with Trivial Pursuit questions to be answered along the way. But the rain spoiled the party and after lunch we travelled home.
Southport & Birkdale's website will have more news about the event.
We were delighted to have recruited Dave 'Quarryman' Nick to our club this season to give us a fighting chance in the Advanced matches, but the trophy :
has been won by Southport on this occasion. The home side were very encouriging to our beginners and offered help at every opportunity.
Posted by Peter, 1st June
Short: Llanfairfechan 7 Fylde 9
Fylde:
Lee(c), Terry, Betty, Ken
Llanfairfechan:
Georgina Llewellyn, Jack Pattenden, John Hunt, Joyce Pegg
Fylde got up bright and early, well early anyway, to make the long day trip down to North Wales.
The trip was relatively uneventful with the highlight being the RAC man at the Chester services asking us which cricket team we played for.
Arriving in good time we were treated to a tour of the building site that is the current home of Llanfairfechan as their new clubhouse,
which looks like it will be state of the art (in croquet terms), is still in the process of being built.
The first set of games were shared with Lee beating John and Terry beating Joyce. Fylde stepped up the pressure in the second
set of games with good wins for Lee over Jack and Terry over Georgina. Betty also won but Ken got beat in probably the game of the day,
losing a 2 ball ending to John after unfortunately pegging his own ball out in the act of pegging out John's ball. Hence a fine lunch was
had with Fylde leading 5-3. The afternoon sets of games were then shared, with wins for Lee and Terry in the first set, and Betty and Ken
in the last set of games, Ken winning the last game of the day to give us our first short lawn victory of the year 9-7. Very unusually all
of the games finished within time which allowed for an early finish to the match. Some speedy driving by Terry, and a totally uneventful
journey home, meant we got back well in time to have some tea before settling down to watch Doctor Who.
Posted by Lee, June 7th
Midweek: Fylde 3 Pendle 3
Fylde played host to Pendle in the first mid-week game of the season. In the morning doubles Liz and Ken took on Andrew Webb and Robin Delves in a careful game which they won +8 as the visitors struggled to get to grips with the lawn. The other doubles pairing of Martin and Ian took on Abdul and Peter Dewhurst. They narrowly lost -2 on time. In the afternoon Martin played a steady and cautious game to beat Abdul +19. Ken lost to Peter Dewhurst -4. Ian, playing the experienced Robin Delves, demonstrated great skill for a beginner taking his first ball to peg in 40 minutes using only 8 of his 16 bisques. The second ball did not behave itself however and Robin pulled back to level leaving just five points each to score as the bisques ran out. With all balls for the peg Robin missed a rush on his partner ball and accidentally pegged out his strike ball. Ian kept his cool and pulled off a spectacular win. Liz played Andrew but lost -3 as time ran out. The result a 3 -3 draw.
Posted by Liz, June 11th
Advanced: Fylde (+4) Bowdon Saints
In the morning Lee & Peter lost by 3 to Ken Cooper (-0.5) and Mike Steer (5) but Liz & Mart beat David Walters (0.5) and Mike Sandler (2.5) giving us a 6 match-point lead. Bowdon's lawns were immaculately turned out and running reasonably fast.
Lee runs 5 while Liz plays a break on lawn 2
In the afternoon singles, Liz played very well and scored 11 match-points beating Mike. The remaining games went to Bowdon with Fylde only getting fifteen hoops in all those games put together. However we came out winning the match by a slender 4 match-point by virtue of the handicap differences. Many thanks to Bowdon Croquet Club for accommodating the match during their busy period.
Posted by Peter, June 15th
Handicap: Fylde 5 Bowdon St Mary's 1
Fylde:
Terry Vernazza, Leonard Ainsworth, Betty Bates, Ken Harper
Bowden:
John Lucas, Ros Pimlot, John Larmouth, Chris Lewis
Bowden arrived bright and early, having set off early to avoid the traffic problems on the M6. With a prompt start and good weather conditions,
the teams settled down to the morning doubles games. Despite having spent the early part of the morning visiting chemists to find a migraine treatment,
Betty soon found her rhythm, and Leonard was also roqueting consistently over long distances. T
he lawns were proving difficult to judge and both matches went to time, Betty and Ken winning 25 – 15 and Leonard and Terry winning 15-10.
After a good lunch, Betty continued her good form and despatched her opponent 26-11 well within time.
Leonard also pegged out before time and Terry won +7 on time, continuing the winning streak for Fylde.
The final game was a tense battle, Chris Woods, from Bowden, eventually winning with a golden hoop after time.
Posted by Terry, June 14th
Longman Cup: Bowdon 1 Fylde 6
Having escaped the first round for the second year running, Fylde's fearless foursome started their defence of the Cup on the sylvan lawns at Bowden. Leonard Ainsworth and Betty Bates had a nip and tuck battle in the morning doubles achieving a highly creditable win by two hoops. Terry Vernazza took off in fine form in his morning singles and was unstoppable winning quickly 26 - 2, whilst Martin Bradshaw's match was a dogged affair to start with but he pulled ahead to win 19 - 14. Three up at lunchtime but with the already fast lawns speeding up in hot sun. Bradshaw after a slowish start warmed to the task winning the first of the afternoon singles 26 - 8. Vernazza meanwhile, not quite as dominant as the morning, was always looking good and prevailed 26 - 13. The other two singles were both close affairs and gutsy performances ended with a single hoop victory for Bates and Ainsworth only missing out by three hoops. A 6 - 1 win bodes well for the third round.
Posted by Mart, 15th June
Golf: Fylde 3 Chester 3
The morning doubles were completed in continuous rain. At 1.45 p.m. The captains inspected the lawns . Puddles of water had formed on both lawns with hoop areas affected. A playability test was undertaken by myself and I was unable to hit a ball the length of Lawn 1. It was agreed to wait 30 minutes to see if the rain would stop. With heavy rain still falling ,the match was abandoned at 2-15 p.m. with agreement by both captains.
Posted by Alan, 21st June
Jamboree
Liz & Peter managed second in the Advanced section. Lee, Ken & Ian, Betty Catherine & Phillip, Allan & Cath comprised Golf & Handicap teams over the two days and finished mid table.
We finished in overall 4th place only beaten by those clubs fielding teams
in all events (We were a short team short for the first time in many years).
Prior to presenting the trophies, the chairman of the Northwest Federation pointed out that this tournament is the only social tournament in the country where all the disciplines come
together under one roof. This was greeted with a loud round of applause and cheering.
Apart from one short downpour, the weather stayed dry for the two days and some suntan lotion was also required. The friendliness of Southport & Birkdale's club members, their help in providing accommodation and all the hard work put into this giant event make it a very special week end.
Posted by Peter, June 30th
July 5th Bowdon Home
July 6th Bury Peelers Away
July 9th Pendle Away
July 12th Southport Home
July 13th Bowdon Cannons
July 16th Southport Away
July 19th Southport Duke's Folly
July 19th Chester Home
July 26th Pendle Away
July 27th The Midgeland Trophy
July 28th Bowdon Griffins Away
August 2nd Culcheth Home
August 9th Bury Souths Home
August 21st Chester Away
August 30th Chester Home
September 6th Bury Home
September 7th Crake Valley
September 10th Bury Away
September 13th Bury
September 13th Llanfairfechan Home
September 13th Pendle Away
September 27th Crake Valley Home
