Open League

 PWLDGamesPoints
BOWDON BANDITS770092-2514
Bury761076-5012
Bowdon Sinners733158-687
Chester734057-696
Pendle Foresters724156-705
Culcheth725058-684
Pendle Tykes715153-733
Fylde704346-723


Handicap League

 PWLDGames
w-l-d
Points
SOUTHPORT870196-38-0215
Culcheth853081-57-0210
Chester842267-71-0410
Pendle & Craven843167-61-009
Llanfairfechan843164-60-029
Westmorland835059-76-016
Bury North825158-85-025
Fylde826063-77-054
Bury South815256-86-024

Llanfairfechan 10 Fylde 8

A long trip to North Wales was a great excuse for the Fylde croquet team to break their journey and enjoy an extra day/night exploring Chester before heading off on a miserable Saturday morning to Llanfairfechan for our final league match of the season. A quick check of the handicap cards showed a handicap error for a Llan player and this was quickly corrected before play commenced.

Llanfairfechan: Russell Crompton 10, Richard Hollas 11, Cath Dyer 12, David Emmins 12.
Fylde: Ian Theakstone 4, Betty Bates 4, Jan Smith 7, Cyd Harbottle 12.

Doubles:
Russell and David played Ian and Cyd with Fylde winning 2/7
Richard and Cath v Betty and Jan with Fylde winning 5/7.

Singles
Jan lost 7/6 to Russell, lost 7/5 to Richard beat David 4/7 and lost to Cath 7/3
Cyd lost 7/4 to Richard, lost 7/4 to Russell beat Cath 5/7 and lost 7/6 to David
Ian lost 7/3 to Cath, beat David 3/7, beat Richard 5/7 and lost 7/2 to Russell
Betty lost 7/6 to David, beat Cath 2/7, lost 7/2 to Russell and beat Richard 5/7.

We had been told that LLan's team were all beginners and Fylde gave away 85 bisques to 3 and these were used to great advantage by the home team.

We were given a lovely lunch of lob scouse followed by fruit crumble and cream before playing our final game and staring our long journey home.

Jan, 12th September

Fylde 14 Bury North 4

FYLDE: Ian Theakstone 4, Jan Smith 8, Cyd Harbottle 12, Geoffrey Lipshaw 12
BURY NORTH: Maureen Whittle 8, Jean Oldfield 9, Jill Freeley 11, Carol Hampson 11

Doubles
Ian and Geoffrey took on Maureen and Carol winning 7 - 4
Jan and Cyd played Jean and Jill winning 7 - 6

Round 1
Ian beat Jill 7-3, Jan beat Carol 7-4, Cyd beat Maureen 7-3 and Geoffrey lost to Jean 7-2.

Round 2
Ian beat Carol 7-6, Jan beat Jill 7-6, Cyd beat Jean 7-3, and Geoffrey lost to Maureen 7-5

Lunch.
Many thanks to Sue Elsmore who came and helped with our lunch, she was an absolute star xxx

Round 3
Ian beat Jean 7-6, Jan beat Maureen 7-5, Cyd beat Carol 7-5 and Geoffrey lost to Jill 7-6.

Round 4
Ian beat Maureen 7-6, Jan beat Jean 7-6, Cyd lost to Jill 7-5 and Geoffrey beat Carol 6-4.

Bisques Fylde 20 Bury North 33. Seven games decided at the golden hoop and one game timed out. A really good result for the Fylde team with both Ian and Jan winning all their games and Cyd breaking her duck with 3 out of 4 wins (and her doubles match) Geoffrey gradually improving during the day and finishing off his games with a win. Jan has now triggered handicap 7. A lovely day with no incidents of note, great atmosphere throughout with everyone saying how much they had enjoyed their games.

Jan, 29th August

FYLDE 9 PENDLE TYKES 9

FYLDE: IAN THEAKSTONE (4), ALAN MORTON (4), BETTY BATES (4)
PENDLE TYKES: KEITH TERRY (3), LIBBY DIXON (4), JANE BAILEY (9)

Conditions were perfect for this match and with Pendle arriving shortly after 9 a.m. we were able to make an early start. Fylde got off to their best start of the season by winning 5 of the first 6 games. Pendle fought back and at lunchtime the score was 7-5 to Fylde. However , Pendle continued playing well and with 3 games to play Fylde needed 2 wins to secure victory. All three games went to a tie break but Fylde could only win one and so the match was drawn.

There were 4 tie breaks of which Fylde won 1. Hoop of the day was Betty's 27 yard score at hoop 4 whilst beating Jane 7-3. Fylde player of the day and the match was Betty with 5/6 wins.

RESULTS
Ian v Jane 7-3,7-3
Ian Libby 7-5, 4-7
ian v Keith 4-7,6-7
Alan v Keith 4-7, 6-7
Alan v Jane 7-4, 5-7
Alan v Libby 4-7,6-7
Betty v Libby 7-5,4-7
Betty v Jane 7-3,7-6
Betty v Keith 7-5, 7-4

Alan, 18th August

Bury 10 and Fylde 8 Handicap

Despite a concerned phone call from the Bury South captain the previous evening due the the heavy rains the all clear was given early Saturday morning as we set off in glorious sunshine for our league match against Bury South at their Coronation Park grounds.

Fylde: Ian Theakstone 4, Janet Smith 8, Geoffrey Lipshaw 11, Cyd Harbottle 12,
Bury: Ken Eccles 3 (2), Judith Gaskell 4 Margaret Eccles 5 Sheila Bruckshaw 5

Doubles
Ken and Judith v Ian and Jan
Margaret and Sheila v Cyd and Geoffrey.

Despite a sudden shower, Fylde got off to a good start winning both doubles matches 7/6 and 7/3

Singles
Round 1 and the sun came out to play as well !
Ken beat Geoffrey 7-2, Judith beat Cyd and Margaret beat Ian, both at golden hoop 7-6, and Jan won hers also at the golden hoop 7-6

Round 2
Ken beat Cyd 7-4, Judith v Geoffrey went to time with Judith winning 6-4. Jan beat Margaret 7-5 and Ian beat Sheila 7-5
Lunch time saw both teams level on 5 games apiece.

Round 3
Ken beat Jan at the golden hoop 7-6, Ian beat Judith 7-5, Cyd lost at the golden hoop again 7-6 and Geoffrey beat Sheila 7-3.

Round 4
Ken beat Ian 7-3, Jan beat Judith 7-5, Margaret beat Geoffrey and Sheila beat Cyd at the gold hoop yet again.

Unfortunately Fylde were unable to overcome their opponents despite having 88 bisques between them. Seven games were decided at the golden hoop with Bury winning 5 and Fylde 2.

There was some confusion regarding how far a ball has to travel through the hoop from the non playing side before it can be used to score from the playing side. This point was also the subject of discussion recently at another league match.

Geoffrey's handicap will now have changed to 12.

Jan, 15th August

PENDLE FORESTERS 9 FYLDE 9

PENDLE FORESTERS: Jonty Parkinson (2), Paul Dowdall (2), Geoff Whitaker (7)
FYLDE: Betty Bates (4), Ian Theakstone (4), Alan Morton (4)

Breezy and overcast conditions for this match . Fylde got off to a poor start winning only one game in the first six with only Alan beating Jonty 7-6. Fylde then got going and fought back to win the second round 5-1 to take the match score to 6-6. In the final round Alan beat Geoff 7-3 ,7-3 and Betty beat Jonty 7-6 to secure the draw.

Hoop of the day went to Ian with a 20 yard hoop run in his 7-6,7-3 win over Jonty. There were 5 tie breaks of which Fylde won 3. Alan had the best of the day with 4 wins from 6 games for Fylde but Paul had the best match performance with 5 wins from 6 games

Betty v Jonty 4-7, 7-6
Betty v Paul 3-7, 2-7
Betty v Geoff 7-3, 7-2

Ian v Jonty 7-6, 7-3
Ian v Paul 4-7,3-7
Ian v Geoff 5-7, 6-7

Alan v Jonty 7-6, 6-7
Alan v Paul 7-5, 4-7
Alan v Geoff 7-3, 7-3

Alan, 6th August

Fylde 8 Pendle 10

A cloudy start to the day but the rain stayed away and despite being breezy the afternoon was really quite nice.

Fylde; Jan Smith 8, Catherine Bass 8, Philip Bass 10, Cyd Harbottle 11.
Pendle; Jonty Parkinson 0, Keith Terry 4, Libby Dixon 5, Will Drake 6.

Doubles;
Jan and Catherine took on Jonty and Keith. This game went to time with a result of 6/5 to Fylde Philip and Cyd played Libby and Will. This game also went to time and resulted in a win for Pendle 2/6.

Games;
Jan beat Libby 7/6, lost to Will 5/7, lost to Keith 3/7 and beat Jonty 7/3
Catherine lost 6/7 to Will, lost 4/7 to Libby, beat Jonty 7/2 and lost to Keith 5/7
Philip beat Jonty 7/5, lost to Keith 6/7, beat Will 7/5 and beat Libby 7/5
Cyd lost to Keith 6/7,lost to Jonty 3/7, beat Libby 7/5 and lost to Will 4/7

The Fylde team faced another team of low handicappers and battled valiantly but despite pockets full of bisques were unable to match the experienced Pendle team including 92 year old Will playing with a fabulous unique metal mallet. Many thanks to Jean and Liz who helped with our lunch. Our burgers with fried onions, salad etc received lots of fabulous comments and a round of applause.

Jan, 21st July

FYLDE 9 BOWDON SINNERS 9 LPG

FYLDE: Alan Morton (4), Ian Theakstone (4), Janet Smith (8).
BOWDON SINNERS: Chris Evans (5), Ros Pimlott (7), Roger McCall (10).

The weather was sunny with a cool wind and Ian was well prepared wearing his waterproof jacket with hood up and sweaters hidden from sight. Although he felt cold, his form was quite hot winning 4/6. Janet played well to win 3/6 and Alan added the other 2 wins. The match was even in every round with both teams winning 3 games in each set of 6 games. Longest hoop run was 21 yards from Ros and Chris ran hoop 13 with an angled shot from the North boundary to defeat Alan in a tie break. We earned our first point of the season with a well earned draw but Chris with 5/6 had the best performance in the match.

RESULTS
Ian drew with Chris 5-7, 7-4
Ian drew with Ros 4-7, 7-3
Ian beat Roger 7-6,7-3

Janet drew with Ros 6-7, 7-1
Janet beat Roger 7-3,7-6
Alan drew with Ros 7-3, 5-7
Alan drew with Roger 4-7,7-4

Alan, 15th July

Fylde 9.5 Culcheth 8.5

Fylde : Janet Smith 8, Philip Bass 10, Cyd Harbottle 11, Sue Elsmore 12.
Culcheth : Bob Connop 0, Anne Connop 5, Keith Woodward 7, Brian Clarke 8.

A fine but breezy day for our re-arranged match against Culcheth. Only Brian from Culcheth arrived on time as he had heard on the travel forecast that the motorway had been closed due to an accident and took an alternative route. Unfortunately the rest of the team spent several hours on the motorway and didn't arrive until almost lunch time. After several phone conversations with their team captain it was decided that we would start our games against their only team member present.

First game of Brian v Philip saw Brian take an early lead but Philip battled back but ran out of time narrowly losing 5-6.

Next game was Jan v Brian with Jan beating Brian 7 - 1. With the rest of their team finally arriving we managed to get through another couple of round of games before breaking for lunch. Lunch was to be a barbecue but the Fylde team would never win any gold stars for barbecuing and the sausages did looked slightly well done !!!!!!!! but there was a lot of banter about them and Bob is under strict orders not to release the photo of them. Despite this they were nearly all eaten and the spuds and pud were good lol.

After the break it was decided to play the doubles games. Jan and Sue took on Bob and Brian. This game went to time and Bob scoring the winner with the very last shot of the match 5-6 Philip and Cyd took on Anne and Keith and their game went to time as well with Anne also winning the game with the last shot. 4-5

Fylde managed to gain a slim lead needing to win one of the last three games for victory. Philip obliged by beating Anne 7-5

Results :
Jan beat Brian 7-1, Anne 7-4, Bob 7-6 and lost 4-7 to Keith
Philip beat Keith 7-6, Bob 7-3, Anne, 7-5 and lost 5-6 to Brian
Cyd beat Anne 7-6, Brian 7-6 and lost to Bob 6-7 and Keith 5-7
Sue Beat Brian 7-3, Drew with Anne 6-6, and lost 4-7 to Bob and 5-7 to Keith.

Jan, 9th July

BURY EAST 13 FYLDE 5 LPG

The team departed on time and had a trouble free run to Coronation Park. They were well aware that the temperature would be around 30 Celsius and so prepared themselves for a day of ' It ain't half hot mum'. An early start whilst the temperature was bearable seemed the best option. Bury prefer the games to be played as a set of two matches and Fylde made a reasonable start by winning an equal number of games. However , as the day progressed , Bury took complete control of the day and won comfortably by 13-5.

Janet had the best of the day with two wins and just missing out on 2 tie break results .

Thanks to Bury for their hospitality and Air Conditioning in Cars.

BURY EAST: David Barrett (1), Ken Eccles (3), Margaret Eccles (6)
FYLDE : Alan Morton (4), Ian Theakstone (4), Janet Smith (8)

RESULTS:

Alan v David 2/7,2/7
Alan v Ken 7/5, 4/7
Alan v Margaret 4/7,4/7

Ian v David 1/7, 7/6
Ian v Ken 2/7, 4/7
Ian v Margaret 7/6, 5/7

Janet v David 4/7, 3/7
Janet v Ken 7/3, 6/7
Janet v Margaret 7/6, 6/7

Alan, 1st July

CULCHETH 11 FYLDE 7 LEVEL PLAY

The 8-15 start time from Wesham was a wise choice as we surveyed the grid locked M55 due to an accident. So a slow drive to the M6 and a 9-35 arrival at Culcheth gave us a slow start to a long day. With only one lawn available, games were played out of sequence so we never sure how well we were doing. The playing conditions and weather were excellent. Culcheth kept control of the match with Fylde keeping within touching distance throughout the match. Eventually, we came to the final two games with Fylde needing to win both to earn a draw. Both games were lost so Culcheth were comfortable winners.

FYLDE: Alan Morton (4), Ian Theakstone (4), Janet Smith (8).
CULCHETH: Bob Connop (2), Mark Frayne (9), Keith Woodward (10)

RESULTS:
Bob Connop 5/6 wins
Mark Frayne 2/6 wins
Keith Woodward 4/6 wins
Alan Morton 3/6 wins
Ian Theakstone 3/6 wins
Janet Smith 1/6 wins.

5 games went to tie break with Fylde winning 3 out of 5.
Thank you team for your efforts on an unusually hot day.

Alan, 10th June

Handicap league: Chester 12 Fylde 6

Chester: Dennis Holman 6, Roger Haigh 8, Peter Bingham 8, Sandy F.Maddock 10
Fylde: Jan Smith 8 , Catherine Bass 8 , Philip Bass 10 , Cyd Harbottle 11

Doubles
Jan and Cath took on Dennis and Roger winning 7/4.
Philip and Cyd played Peter and Sandy losing 7/4

Round 1
Dennis beat Philip 7/4, Roger lost to Cyd 4/7, Peter beat Jan 7/2 and Sandy beat Catherine 7/2

Round 2
Dennis beat Cyd 7/5, Roger beat Philip 7/4, Peter beat Catherine 7/3 but Sandy lost to Jan 3/7.

While we were eating, the sun appeared but quickly disappeared as play resumed replaced by an icy wind.

Round 3
Dennis lost to Catherine 4/7, Roger beat Jan 7/3, Peter beat Cyd 7/3 and Sandy beat Philip 7/3.

Round 4
Peter lost to Philip 6/7, Sandy beat Cyd 6/2 and the games between Dennis and Jan, and Roger and Catherine 5/5 draws.

The Fylde team struggled to come to terms with Chester's challenging lawns but managed a win apiece. The highlight of the afternoon was Catherine being re-united with her favourite coat that she had 'lost' at least three years earlier. It had been hanging in the pavilion all this time and despite several visit to Chester she had never noticed it before.

Jan, 24th May

Handicap league: Westmorland 12 Fylde 6

Westmorland : Mike Hayward (5), Dave Edwards (6), Mike Hodgson (8), and Elaine Newman (9)
Fylde : Janet Smith (9), Cyd Harbottle (11), Geoffrey Lipshaw (11), and Sue Elsmore (11)

Doubles : 1. Mike and Elaine v Jan and Sue. Westmorland beat Fylde 7/7
2. Dave and Mike Hodgson v Cyd and Geoffrey again Westmorland won 7/2

Singles : Round 1. Mike beat Geoffrey 7/4, Dave beat Sue 7/5, Mike Hodgson lost to Jan 7/5 and Elaine beat Cyd 7/4
Round 2. Mike lost to Sue 7/3, Dave beat Geoffrey 7/6, Mike Hodgson beat Cyd 7/4 and Elaine lost to Jan 7/1

Welcome to Fylde Croquet

At the break Westmorland were in the lead 7/3

Round 3. Mike beat Cyd 7/2, Dave lost to Jan 7/6, Mike Hodgson beat Sue 7/4 and Elaine beat Geoffrey 7/3
Round 4. Mike lost to Jan 7/5, Dave lost to Cyd 7/3, Mike Hodgson beat Geoffrey 7/2 and Elaine beat Sue 7/3

Apart from a visit during the day from Alan and Kath (who tried to photobomb our photos) not too much out of the ordinary happened. Janet triggered handicap 8 after her 4 wins and Cyd and Sue both winning a game each 7/3.
We finished the afternoon with a quick look in the souvenir shop, well it would be rude not to !

Jan, 10th May

FYLDE 7 CHESTER 11 LEVEL PLAY

FYLDE: Alan Morton (4), Janet Smith (9), Philip Bass (10)
CHESTER: David Boyd (3), Sally Slater (7), Christine Thomas (8)

Fylde opened their season with the visit of Chester. The playing conditions were cold, blustery but remained dry for the match.

ROUND 1
Fylde got off to a good start winning games 2-1

ROUND 2
Chester responded by winning this round 2-1.

ROUND 3
A clean sweep for Chester 3-0 to take a 6-3 lead into the lunch break.

ROND 4
Fylde hit back with a 2-1 win to close the gap to 7-5

ROUND 5
Another 3-0 win for Chester which clinched the victory.

ROUND 6
Only pride to play for ,Fylde again won the round 2-1.

HOOP OF THE DAY
Janet ran Hoop 10 from the South boundary of Lawn 3, approx. 28 yards , in her 7-3 win over David.

RULE QUERIES.
A moving ball had outside interference from an outside agent. A chair had blown over and was struck by a moving ball. As the ball was heading out of play the outcome of the stroke was not in doubt so the ball was positioned where it would have come to rest on the boundary.

RESULTS
ALAN V DAVID 4-7,7-3
ALAN V SALLY 7-6,2-7
ALAN V CHRISTINE 7-5,7-3

JANET V DAVID 7-5,7-3
JANET V SALLY 3-7,7-6
JANETV CHRISTINE 4-7,2-7

PHILIP V DAVID 3-7,4-7
PHILIP V SALLY 6-7, 5-7
PHILIP V CHRISTINE 2-7,3-7

Alan, 28th April

Handicap: Fylde 5.5 Southport 12.5

Fylde: Catherine Bass 8, Janet Smith 9, Philip Bass 10, Sue Elsmore 11
Southport: Tony Thomas 4, Rod Sutton 9, Chris Winnard 11, Derek Lunt 12

Beautiful sunny day on the Fylde to welcome an all male team from Southport.

1st doubles team of Catherine and Sue took on Tony and Derek. The game went to time and after the 8 extra balls the scores were level. The teams then (incorrectly) played the golden hoop with Southport producing the winner. 2nd team were Jan and Philip against Rod and Chris. Southport had the upper hand through-out the game with Rod executing 3 successful jump shots to win the game.

Singles games
First round went well for Fylde with Catherine, Jan and Philip all winning their games Second round things went downhill with only Catherine winning her game and Jan getting beaten at the golden hoop. At lunch it was discovered that the first game should have been a draw and not gone to the golden hoop. This left Southport just one game in the lead and all to play for.

The teams were treated to a fabulous casserole which was very much appreciated (thank you Liz).

3rd round Everything went Southports way with Fylde losing all 4 games. 4th round only Philip won his game but two other games went to the golden hoop.
The games were all hard fought with a lot of close scores but more importantly a lot of good humour and frivolity.

Jan, 24th April