Members Libby Dixon & Will Drake competed in this single day all-play-all season finale in bright (warm ~ish) sunshine.

Six Golf players descended upon Fylde Croquet Club to play the final tournament of the 2018 season, the missing ‘GC Millennium Level Play’.
Format was all-play-all, 19point single games which led (despite the official hoop order being stated on the Tournament Notice Board) to some very interesting routes used to play the required 10points!

Handicaps ranged from 2 to 12 and plenty of Fylde Members came down to watch & support the event, a very good day was had by those who attended
The manager’s worst nightmare unfolded during the final round with three combatants all conspiring to finish on four wins each, and each, having their single loss shared between them, so who beat whom didn’t help... to the rescue came ‘Net Hoops’; David Cornes and Frank Sharpes couldn’t even be split with them but thankfully, our own Libby Dixon was clear by a one hoop differentiator ahead of them both, so Libby is the 2018 NW Champion. Phew......

Southport beat Westmorland 5-2 to demoted us into bridesmaid slot in the league in their last game by the the narrowest of margins; 26/15 Vs 25/16 game differance..soooo close - good season.
 

Pendle‘s last game of the season was against the announced winners of the NWFCC Level Play Golf League, Chester Centurions. This match had been rearranged by request of Chester.
With groundwork’s delayed to accommodate; the two lawns prepared for the match were lawns 3 and 4. A big thank you to all the team who helped on Tuesday 4th get these lawns prepared.
The visiting team arrived shortly after 10.00am and it transpired that the teams were so evenly handicapped it looked like a good match would unfold.
The mornings play flowed easily and at lunch Pendle were 6 games up to 3.
Pendle were at an advantage, as during the morning other Pendle players had come to watch and support the team - A big thanks to Will, Keith and Karen for your support.
Many of the games were fairly even with 8 games going to 5 all, 2 to golden hoop which Chester won on both occasions and of the other 6, were evenly split.
Pendle won on the day 11 games to Chester’s 6, the last game not being played as David Crawford was unwell. This great win moved Pendle up from 3rd place in the NWFCC league to 2nd.

Both Libby Dixon & Garry Wilson earned their place in this Northern Regional KO by doing well in our internals last year.

At the end of day one, both or either could have still been in contention, but Sunday saw them fall behind Phil Nuttall(defending Champion) and Adrian Apps who take the Northerrn hopes with them to the National Final next week..

Bowdon is such a nice place to be when the sun shines - last day of meteorological summer but still 22^oC with blue sky...
After this loss, it's now possible for Southport to take the League title from us in their last game ( 6^th Sept) on game/goal differance..stay tuned.
 

Blue Sky (again..), warm 20^oC, reasonable surface & good firm Hoops - what's not to like?

The morning started with controversy with Southport captain John Haslam not wanting to see our handicap cards when offered and refusing to provide Southport's handicap cards when asked. The Pendle captain has decided not to take the matter further.

In the morning; Robin & Libby beat John & Peter +6t

Paul beat Ann +16
Garry lost to Derek -6.

After lunch..
Paul beat John +23 to continue improving his index points.
Libby held Peter at bay, and after sitting out for the best part of 90 minutes with only a few interspersed shots. she came back to take the lead, eventually beating Peter +2t.

Garry eventually put together a break to take the lead over Ann and ending up winning +6t
Derek beat Robin +21 with Robin hardly getting a look in, even though on base 8, Robin had 4 bisques to Derek's 14.
It was definitely Derek's day as the Southport player of note, his hitting in was exceptional, roquets up to 21 ft were rarely missed, 3 ball breaks were handled with ease and there was even an attempted peel! Keep up the good work Derek!

The lawns were slow as they had not been recently cut and the bald patches and slope made judging pace a bit tricky! In the morning the wind was blustery, however the afternoon was hot and sunny.

Some *Green* Grass was spotted after the recent rain.........Woop!

A single player from Lancashire travelled o'er the moor into Yorkshire to join t'others from Yorkshire, Tyneside, Nottingham, Anglia, Luxemburg & London - why? To contest the "Inaugural Yorkshire White Rose AC Tournament" at York CC over the weekend (11/12 Aug).
Rain was expected..nay! in Yorkshire - God's own County? Yeah, well it was forecast to be a wet weekend but not a drop fell on Saturday tix hours of play (9:15-20:55) but by the time we left the tournament dinner, the streets were moist with light drizzle. Overnight we moved into full down-pour mode but, wonder of wonders, it cleared up again before play resumed Sunday am, so we got away with another dry tournament this summer.

The welcome was typical White-Rose Northern and the friendly banter/chat was engaging all weekend, Good venue with unlimited tea & coffee (with Biccies & Cake) covered by the entry fee but marred slightly by limited or no parking nearby - plan carefully if you plan to visit.

A fun & welcome addition to the northern tournament scene - recommended, but book your place early.

Oh nearly forgot - the bloke from Lancashire won, but he was wearing white!

Blue skys with a light breeze to maintain comfort, but boy were the courts fast...

Weather - blue skys still with us, although we finally got rain yesterday, so today the surface was .... still brown..
 

Report from Chris Alvery (who managed the event - his first!):

Hosted at Pendle the tournament consisted of 15 Players taking part in a flexible Swiss format. Although the sun finally appeared in the latter stages of Sunday afternoon, the tournament was played in the dry with all lawns in use.

Day one was dominated by Sue Pritchard of Westmoreland and Roger Schofield of Pendle, each winning all 3 matches and finishing top of the leader board.
Restart of play on Sunday saw the two leaders playing each other with Sue taking the lead.

After a total of 75 matches, 3 players finished with 4 wins; Paul Kenworthy of Bury placed 3rd having lost to Sue the previous day.
The two finalist were Barry McKenzie of Bowdon and Sue Pritchard. Play-off required..They played a 2 ball break decider starting at corner 4 with hoop 4 being their first target. This was won by Barry who took home the Millennium Trophy and Sue was awarded the Runners-up statuette and a reduction in her handicap.
Many thanks to Pendle for their hospitality.
 

The afternoon matches were hard fought and contested to the end. Robin lost to Sue -6 on time, Robert beat Chris +6 on time, and Paul beat Carol +21. The last match to finish was a nail biter between Garry and Geoffrey with Geoffrey in front by 4 hoops Garry was on the lawn as time was called.... He hit in and ran 5 hoops to take the game 22-21 on time. A great day's croquet!
 

The match was played in sunny, torrid conditions - approaching 30 degrees!
Everyone found the conditions a real test of skill and patience; that is, the lawns were fast but highly unpredictable. As a consequence all games went to time and there was only one peg-out* (and that was in a timed turn!).
 

Long Hot Summer from our childhood contines - courts are now mainly straw coloured with very little green to be seen - running really fast - just perfect for croquet....
but the vistors ran away with the victory....tish!

Report from Liz Wilson:
Under baking hot skies with the lawns getting faster and yellower and more difficult by the minute 12 competitors battled for the 7 trophies on offer.
An outstanding performance by Joe Lennon from Glasgow saw him win the Low Handicap Block and the overall Egyptian Trophy.
The Advance Event was won by Terry Vernazza (Newcastle) with the C Class Advanced event going to Ian Hall from Penrith.
The High Bisque Handicap Event was won by Wendy Spencer-Smith who had travelled all the way up from Watford.
The Doubles Trophy was re-gained by the Peters (Hallett and Wilson).
Fastest Game went to Peter Wilson and Most Games played to Bob Thompson (Pinchbeck).

All games were played in good spirits and much laughter was heard over the four days.
Smartest Sun Shade prize to.... (it’s a mystery!)... The manager was VERY jealous.
We look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Long long summer rocks on and a vist to Greenodd in sunshine! What a turn round from last week - Bisques make such a differance.
Paul Dowdall beating both Jim & David Lloyd.
Catherine Parnell beating David Lloyd & John.
Robert & Robin scraped the Doubles +1t, whilst Robert was tanked -22 by Jim (receiving 4 BISQUES) & Robin beat David Williamson +11t.

'Don't take a knife to a gun fight'.....Beautiful sunny day, Notts were terrific company but even home advantage couldn’t save us - We was slaughtered

The weather for last Wednesday continued in the vain of the previous week very hot and dry. Lawns 3,4 and 5 were chosen to play on as 1 and 2 were particularly parched. The mornings play flowed in Pendle favour with Keith and Will having very close games, 7/6 , against Keith Woodward. At lunch everyone decided to take the opportunity to cool off inside the clubhouse.
In the afternoon the heat began to be felt by everyone and after some games refreshments were needed.
The teams enjoyed an afternoon tea of cake, washed down liberally with tea.

Report from Peter Wilson:
We were lucky to have thirteen entries this year. Apart from the opening of play each day, thirteen allowed for very little sitting out. Sunshine, no breeze, tight hoops. Good to see many returning players who have had time out with injury including Dave Nick and Lee Hartley who both added to their TP tallies.
The only problem was how to award three equally weighted trophies at the end of the tournament given the usual demands of flexibility and voracious game appetites - Paul Hands to the rescue (CROQUET, January 1990, Issue No. 207, pp 26-27).

So it ran as a KO plus a combined F4 & F5 with the modification that every game was equally weighted. We had the luxury of no time limits which was well received by everyone.Several two and three ball endings were played out which may have otherwise been time affected.

With the favourable conditions everyone took all the games they could get, being ‘ready to play’ straight away. At least that is until after lunch on Sunday. At that point some players quite correctly took a dvantage of the ‘resting’ slot to see how things might unfold (Or had they simply seen the weather forecast?).
However the Jeremy Dyer Trophy Winner Chris Martin (Meadows) took a brave gamble and opted to be ready to play although his next opponent would be a minus player. Winning that game in fine style secured the trophy. Well played. With only a few final games in play, a sudden and heavy thunder storm brought many of the non critical games to an abandoned end.
The Chris Clarke Trophy went to Paul Rigge (Pendle & Craven) this was intended and fulfilled for the best handicap 1 or below performance but fittingly could also double as the KO runner up.

Photo narrative: Having been diligently returned from the Uruguayan Embassy Croquet Department The manager Peter Wilson presented the beautiful David Openshaw Claret Jug to Lee Hartley from Fylde Croquet. Photos; Liz Wilson.

Paul Dowdall & Andrew Webb lost to
John Haslam & Alan Pidcock
Peter Wlson Beat Don Williamson

Peter Beat John
Andrew lost to Alan
Paul D Beat Don

Summer continues but we are out of this year's CA "FA Cup" competition at round one.

Beautiful summer day, blue sky & 23 C – fast closely cropped courts.
We travelled down to Bury and the rounds went to script, all games going the way of handicap order for PR & WD, only Keith excelled winning all 4 of his games against matching Hcp’s.

Then the wheels fell of PR’s wagon, he peeled DB’s ball through H2 from 3yrds attempting a clearance. Scored H4 for the opposition with a failed jump and again missed-cued jumps at H8 AND H10 – PR got felled (a bit like the missing fir – brought down by storm damage) with DB’s very solid play.

Heat wave continues..so under bright blue sky Liz & Paul D played (and won) against Jerry & David, but Andrew lost his morning singles with John - So one all at lunch.
Afternoon session; Liz managed to get to the peg with a win +7 just before time, Andrew went down again but Paul D won +1t with a *golden* hoop - sounds better than saying 12-11 win in the time turn, still a overall win to us!

The doubles team of Robin Delves (12) and Peter Dewhurst (12), playing Sue Pritchard (16) and David Lloyd (8), a pairing of equal bisque value, made an excellent start with a +19 win.
This was fallowed up by Garry (10) beating Ivan Wheatley (6) +18. However, as we waited for the outcome of the final morning match, it looked like a very long shot for a further Pendle win. Mike Hayward (18) of Westmorland was already on peg and penult with Paul Dowdall (9) on 6 and 1. A few turns later Mike had both balls on peg. Paul took one ball to peg and pegged out one of his opponent's balls. At times nail biting, Paul finally took his back ball to peg and won 26-25, to applause from both his team mates and opponents.

The 3-0 lead at lunch became 3-1 as Robin went down to Mike +23. Mike used his bisques to great effect, barely giving Robin a look in.
Garry secured the fixture for Pendle by beating David +23.
Ivan regained some of his form to beat Paul +8 and Peter brought the team home to a 5-2 win by beating Sue +8.

No game went to time and the early finishes allowed us to have a very welcome pint at The Maypole, Long Preston on the homeward journey.

What a day! Our *new* Mary Rose team did us proud. The weaker of the sides on paper, we took lunch leading 2-1 and soon gained another point thanks to our 'press-ganged' player, Garry.
Our Captain took us over the winning line, with the remaining two dead rubbers following later.

A New venue was tried for the Presentation Dinner and it seemed to be a popular choice. Sixteen members turned out on a very wet evening to celebrate all the Club's successes last year - good deep runs in all of the national tournaments, most finishing as beaten finalists but in one, the Longman Cup, Robin's Team grabbed the silverware.