Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Mary Rose

21 August    v Chester (away)    Won 4-3

Bryan Harral (1) & George Collin (1) beat Jerry Guest (½) and James Hawkins  (½) +5

John Bevington (1) beat Dennis Graham (3½) +12

Terry Mahoney (1½) lost to Mark Lloyd (1) -19

Bryan Harral lost to Jerry Guest -11

George Collin lost to James Hawkins -26TP

John Bevington beat Mark Lloyd +8

Terry Mahoney beat Dennis Graham +11

Dennis and Jerry kindly offered to put us up on Saturday night, so we travelled up in the afternoon and arrived in Chester to what can only be described as a Roodee awakening – the eponymous racecourse is a furlong or so from the city centre and there was a meeting that day, so the streets were full of teetering totty in short skirts and fake tan and it was hard to choose where to look next. After booking in at Lower Bridge Street we managed to get a table at Francs for dinner, after which George took us on the guided tour. Terry then set off to Jerry’s and the rest of us settled down for the night.

Chester’s four lawns are in the grounds of Westminster Park, and they have a new clubhouse which is shared with the adjoining bowls club. The clubhouse was supplied by Cleveland SiteSafe (see their advertisement in the recent issue of the CA Gazette). It is well appointed and impressively secure, and a good example of the sort of thing we might consider for the future.

The lawns have a fall from north to south of about for feet and took a little getting used to. In the morning singles Mark was the first to finish, but John then beat Dennis and we watched the conclusion of the doubles. George resumed his peeling and managed two, getting into a tangle after the rover peel, but he and Bryan extricated themselves to get home +5.

After a splendid lunch George found himself on the receiving end as James completed a triple. Terry beat Dennis, but Bryan then lost to Jerry so it was down to the last game. John had got one ball round, but Mark repeatedly hit in when he had set up for the first hoop. Both players made stuttering progress and nerves began to show as short shots were missed. Mark was in play with one ball on rover against peg and penult when John took a natural break, returning to find that Mark had failed 2-back, and this opportunity was duly grasped to give us the game and the match. Terry then drove us back in air-conditioned comfort as the sun set.

We are now through to the final at Surbiton on 1 October, which will be our eighth final appearance since 1989:

1989   lost to Bristol 2-5

1995   beat Nottingham 4-3

1998   lost to Nottingham 3-4

1999   beat Sussex County 4-3

2001   lost to Bowdon 3-4

2002   beat Medway 4-3

2004   beat Surbiton 5-2




The clubhouse, showing the heavy steel covers for the doors and windows

© Wrest Park Croquet Club