Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Club GC tournaments 2023

It was a case of "third time lucky" for this popular annual tournament for club members as the prospect of heavy rain and strong winds had caused two unwelcome postponements.

Sixteen entrants enabled manager Richard Keighley to draw eight pairs from the hat and to split them into two blocks of four pairs to play on an "all play all basis" for the morning session.

In Block A, a promising start was made by Judith Pengelly & Eddie Fisher who defeated Bill Ironside & Chris Harrison 7-6 in their opening game. Marilyn Robinson & Richard Skidmore were also successful at the expense of Terry Collis & Anna Watson, winning 7-3, but subsequent games led to Marilyn and Richard topping the group on hoop difference over Terry and Anna.

Block B was closely contested with both the pairings of Rose Gillett & Michael Tideswell and John Watson & Peter Aspinall recording two wins and having the same net hoops. Rose and Michael won the group on a "who beat whom" basis. Winners of one game each were Tim Brewer & Viv Heard and Gill Brewer & Richard Keighley.

The finishing order was determined on a cross-block basis. Rose & Michael beat Terry & Anna and then Marilyn & Richard to win the tournament.

1. Rose & Michael

2. Marilyn & Richard

3. Terry & Anna

4. John & Peter

5= Bill & Chris, Judith & Eddie

7= Gill & Richard K, Tim & Viv.






Singles tournament     11 June

© Wrest Park Croquet Club  

Winners Rose Gillett and Michael Tideswell

Time for tea. l-r Tim Brewer, Eddie Fisher, Anna Watson, Terry Collis, Viv Heard, Judith Pengelly, Peter Aspinall.

Reports on both tournaments by manager Richard Keighley

Doubles tournament     3 August

Temperatures peaked at 29 degrees whilst the 12 players were taking their lunch during this popular annual one-day tournament. Participants had been seeded and divided into three blocks of four players on an all-play-all level play basis.

The top four comprised the three block winners and the best placed runner up. This led to semi-finals between Les Heard and David Ball and George Collin and Ross Bagni. Both Les and Ross won their games 7-6 to reach the final which many had predicted before play began. Les continued to find his best form and won 7-4 to lift the handsome trophy, which had adorned Ross’s mantelpiece for the past year.

The “runners up” block comprised Terry Collis, Richard Skidmore, Richard Keighley and a very welcome returnee, Peter Aspinall, who had beaten Ross 7-6 in the morning.  Richard K beat Richard S and Peter continued his giant-killing acts by beating Terry 7-5. Peter beat Richard K in their final.

Feeling the heat, the “also rans” limited their games to good wins by Viv Heard over Tony Meredith (7-6) and John Watson over Chris Harrison (7-6). Tony avoided the wooden spoon by beating Chris 7-6.

A traditional tea and cake ceremony brought proceedings to an end. Les was presented with the trophy and a group photo was taken with the impressive beds of ox-eye daisies in the background.

A good time had been enjoyed by all.

l-r: Peter Aspinall, Tony Meredith, George Collin, Terry Collis, Viv Heard,
David Ball, Richard Skidmore, winner Les Heard, Chris Harrison,
John Watson, Richard Keighley. Photo by Ross Bagni.