Llanfairfechan 8 Fylde 8

Llanfairfechan: James Thomas (1.5), David Harding (7.5), Fred Williams (11), Jane Turner (11).
Fylde: Peter Wilson (2), Liz Wilson (2.5), Barry Broughton (9.5),Alison Broughton (11).

Fylde visited Wales for their final game of the campaign. Both the Wilsons and Broughtons ventured down on the Saturday, returning Monday morning, staying in Llandudno and Conwy respectively. It was a fantastic weekend, comprising a look round Conwy Castle followed by a few drinks in the Erskine Arms, Conwy on the Saturday. A most enjoyable game of Croquet on the Sunday, Llanfairfechan were great hosts. Finished off by a fantastic Indian in Conwy on Sunday evening.

Llanfairfechan took an early lead in Round 1. Liz was the only winner beating Jane 14-11, Fred beat Peter 14- 5, David beat Alison 14-9 and Barry lost to James 10-9.

In Round 2 it was honours even, with Barry and Alison winning against David and James, 14-7 and 14-2 respectively. Both Peter and Liz had close encounters against Jane and Fred with both games timing out.

Time for lunch
Round 3 was honours even, with Alison and Liz beating Fred and James 14-6 and 14-4 . Both Peter and Barry were timed out in their games against David and Jane, losing 12-11 and 11-9. The score was now 7-5 to Llanfairfechan.

Could Fylde take the final round by storm and win the match? Not quite. Alison won her third game of the day beating Jane 10-6. Barry beat Fred 14-8, Peter beat James 14-8 and Liz lost to David 14-3.

So it was a draw 8 – 8, a fair reflection on the days play. A most enjoyable match was had by all.

Posted by Barry, 18th August

Fylde 12 Bowdon 4

Fylde: Alison Broughton (11), Benedict O’Connor (7.5) Liz Wilson (2.5) & Barry Broughton (9.5)
Bowdon: Mike Shelmerdine (3), Moke Flannery (5.5), Ros Pimlott (8.5), Robert Cutts-Watson (11)

Fylde chalked up a second win of the season in the 14 point on a hot and sunny day on the Fylde coast.

It was honours even after the first round with Liz (10-8) and Benedict (14-6) winning their games and Barry (11-12) and Alison (7-14) both losing. In round 2 Fylde won all four. Benedict winning 14-4 against Ros, Alison beat Mike S 14-7. Liz beat Robert 14-5 and Barry beat Mike F 14-6 Time for a well earned lunch under the shade of the crab apple tree.

The afternoon started as per the morning with honours even with both Liz and Benedict keeping up their 100% record. The red arrows made an appearance during the game, that’s my excuse for losing, too many distractions. The score was now 8-4 to Fylde.

Fylde took round 4 winning all 4 games Bowdon were great opponents and an enjoyable day was had enjoying in the sunshine.

Posted by Barry, 10th August

Chester 6 Fylde 10

Chester: Robin Tasker (2.5), John Hampson (8.5), Paul Taylor (8.5) & Sarah Clements (9.5)
Fylde: Alison Broughton (11), Benedict O’Connor (9.5) Ian Theakstone (5) & Barry Broughton (9.5).

Fylde chalked up their first win of the season in the 14 point on a hot and sunny day in Chester. Alison, a rookie in the team, stood up to the plate and won 3 out of the four games she played. On a personal note Im glad she didn’t win her fourth game, she would have been unbearable at dinner.

Fylde started off at a blistering pace winning all of the round 1 games . 4-0 to Fylde felt good. Could Fylde keep the pressure on. In round 2 Fylde won 3 out of the four. Benedict winning 14-10 against Jon, Alison very fortunately beat Robin 11-10. It was a golden hoop, all clips on rover. Robin had the first approach and rushed his ball 2 m to the side of the hoop. The question was should he play a croquet shot to get in front of the hoop and score the winner or split Alisons balls up, both of hers were hiding in the corner. He chose the latter, but missed a fairly short roquet and Alison took her chance and scored the hoop. Barry beat Paul 14-1and Sarah, their rookie beat Ian 14-1.

The afternoon after lunch was a different story: Round three was won by Fylde 3-1, with both Benedict and Alison keeping up their 100% record. Ian getting back to winning ways beating John 14-10. Barry was flagging in the heat and managed a very uninspiring 7-6 loss to Robin, both players not getting into their stride.

The score was now an unassailable10-2 to Fylde.

Chester took round 4 by storm winning all 4 games. Chester were great opponents, and it was great to see the rookies out there, enjoying the game in the summer sunshine.

Posted by Barry, 17th July

Fylde 5 Southport 11

Southport – Tony Thomas (3), Bill Nicholl (4.5), Gail Moors (5.5) & Eddie Green (11).
Fylde – Betty Bates (4.5), Phil Snowdon (4.5) Ian Theakstone (5) & Barry Broughton (9.5).

After two away defeats on the bounce, Fylde were hoping to bounce back with a home win, but it never materialised on a cold windy day with the temperature reaching the dizzy heights of 13 degrees.

Fylde started off with honours even in Round 1 with Fylde winning 2 out of the four games. In round 2 things things didn’t go Fylde's way they lost all four games, although three of the games were timed out.

Fylde rallied in Round 3, winning three of the four games, Barry beat Gail 14-13, after pegging Gail out and inadvertently pegging himself out also. A one ball game of cat and mouse ensued with Barry just managing to scrape through . It was now 7 – 5 with 4 to play.

Unfortunately In round 4, all games went Southport's way and the final result became 5 -11 .

Southport were great opponents, and a good day was had by all. Weatherwise it felt more like October than “Flaming” June, with everyone layering up. Hopefully when Fylde head to Chester on the 17th July fortunes will change and summer may have arrived.

Posted by Barry, 10th June

Westmorland 9 Fylde 7

Possibly the finest setting in the NWFed!

Westmoreland – Roger Brooks (-0.5), Norman Winter (5), Phil Hyman (8.5) & Mike Hodgson (8.5).
Fylde – Liz Wilson (2.5), Ian Theakstone (5), Alan Morton (7.5) & Barry Broughton (9.5)

We headed north on a fairly sunny day to the lovely walled gardens of Levens Hall.

Fylde started off well in Round 1 with Fylde winning 3 out of the four games. All were hard fought games with Alan beating Roger 12-11 in added on time peeling his partner ball through rover followed by his strike ball .

In round 2 things things didn’t go Fylde's way they lost all four games, although all games were closely contested.

Round 3 wasn’t much better re the score, Barry was the only winner beating Phil 14-6. It was now 8 – 4 with 4 to play. Win the next 4 it would be a draw, Come on Fylde!

In round 4 Liz stepped up to the plate and beat Roger 14 – 7, Alan beat Phil in a timed out game 11 – 8 and Barry beat Mike 9-7 also in a timed out game, it was now 8-7 to Westmorland. The big question, how was Ian doing on the other lawn. The answer came through, after radio silence, unfortunately he lost 14-6 to Norman. so close.

Westmorland were great hosts and it is always a pleasure to play on their lawns, although like most lawns after this spell of wet weather it was hard work. After two away defeats this season, Fylde have there first chance to get points on the board in their home game against Southport on 8th June.

Posted by Barry, 29th May

Pendle 11 Fylde 5

The sun was shining from start to finish and it was a lovely day on the lawns - at least for the home team!
We draw in the first round with Liz beating Robin (7) 7-14 and Ian beat Paul ( 1/2) 9-14.

In the 2nd round Ian was our only winner and in the 3rd round Pendle had a full house.

Round 3 saw Peter vs Paul and having pegged Paul out he was doing a good job of hiding and creeping round until he blobbed hoop 4 which unfortunately was also Paul's hoop. He hit in and finished.

In the final round Alison was lulled into a false sense of security by Andrew (10) who won the toss and then used 4 bisques trying to set his initial break up and then gave up.

Alison took her first ball to peg and then Andrew came on and proceeded to peel his balls through the first 2 hoops.

Good play by the Pendle team and a good atmosphere Andrew cut from 10 to 8 by the Fed Handicapper - which he was delighted about Well done to Ian winning 3 games.

Posted by Alison, 18th May

Bury 10 Fylde 6

Ater what seemed a long journey, approx. 1 hour 30mins, over the moors…..we have become too reliant on the Sat Nav, we finally arrived at Whitehead park. Thankfully it was a dry day, although cold.

It started off well with Ian on Fire he beat Richard Leach 14-4 in a blistering 45 minutes in the first round and Fylde were 3-1 up, so in a good position. In round 2 things were a little tighter, and the session was drawn 2-2, so fylde were still 2 games in the lead.

The tables turned in round 3, Barry went to “golden hoop” against Ken and lost 10-9, Ian kept up his blistering form beating Phil 14-1, Philip also lost by one point. It was now 6-6 all to play for. In round 4 Barrys game against Phil went to “golden hoop” and he lost marginally 8-6 and catherine’s game against Margaret was a very close affair again going to golden hoop, with Catherine having first chance to close out the game, but Margaret managed to rescue the situation and win 10-9. All 4 games were lost in this round.

All in all it was an enjoyable day and great to be back playing.

Posted by Barry 24th April