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Boss report
Question : How many croquet players does it take to remove a fence post?
Answer : At least four at once and the fence post won! - although it is buried for later archaeologist to discover!
The fix it day went very well with the usual well supported Fylde turn out.
First to arrive was far country member Abdul. A number of jobs were in mind.
Abdul started to scarify the new lawn but it proved to wet and this job has yet to be done.
Alan and Betty started pruning back the leylandii which are trying to take over the new lawns and Geoffrey,
Leonard and Marilyn in part destroyed and in part reclaimed the perimeter fence. Ken, Geoffrey and
Alan moved a quantity of grass cuttings from the corners and spread them under the South boundary hedge.
We now have enough area for a full sized full lawn on the new tennis courts.
Meanwhile Philip and Peter started on the ongoing trench warfare and were soon joined by Abdul.
Philip and Abdul did a sterling job with the ditch which is now half way to France!
Two new trenches were marked out across the main area and the turf was removed thanks to the loan of the turf cutter from Christine Baguley. All this remains to be excavated. Refreshments and pavilion cleaning was in the capable hands of Cath – not a mean feat given the number of mucky members! At the end of the day all the evidence was destroyed by Geoffrey.
Thank you everyone.
22nd November 2008
Alan and Cath in Maui
Alan and Cath continued their travels with a visit to Maui Croquet Club.
See photographs of them in Maui here .
Read about what they got up to in Maui and about the plaque they presented here .
11th November 2008
Fix it day 22nd november
Please come along to help.
We will be working towards a new lawn configuration for next season.
This is the subject of a discussion and all members are asked to SIGN IN to enter the forum.
This will see a full lawn with corner 1 where short lawn 2 corner 1 was. This area is draining very well at present. A ditch will be dug on the East boundary of this lawn running towards the corner of the indoor courts where there is an existing drain. This will be left open during the winter and if it improves the drainage it will be covered for the season. We have permission to remove the broken tennis net posts separating lawns 5 and 6. This will provide a second full lawn with corner 1 where corner 4 used to be on lawn 5. Both full lawns will also function as 2 short lawns. The remaining area ( where short lawns 1 and 4 used to be) will be large enough for two more short lawns. There will also be room for a third short lawn at the north end of the new full lawn ( Where short lawn three was but the other way on). However these areas are currently the wettest and it remains to be seen if the proposed ditch will provide enough drainage to keep them open during wet weather.
1st November 2008
Martin on Radio Lancashire
Stephen Lowe interviewed Martin on the telephone today.
Listen to Martin on the Longman Cup 2008
Listen To Radio Lancashire Live Now
18th October 2008
CA DIPLOMA FOR BOSS
The Croquet Association honoured Liz's achievements by awarding her their diploma.
The President of the CA presented Boss with the diploma at the AGM in the beautiful surroundings of the Terrace Room of the Hurlingham Club.
Liz announcing her belief that the diploma is a mandate for 'even more bossyness'
The citation was written by FCC Chairman, George Warcup in collaboration with the FCC Committee:
Liz has been a member of the club for almost 20 years and during that time has dedicated herself to the Club and sport of Croquet. Soon after joining, she began to take an active part in running of the club, becoming treasurer and running annual beginners' courses. Her teaching methods are lively and fun and she keeps the social side of the club active which we believe contributes to the success in obtaining new members who stay with the club and develop as players. Liz served on the North West Federation Committee for several years and his post brought her into contact with the larger world of croquet and the best players in the region. Liz brought this knowledge back to the club and used it to help each and every member improve as players. Over the past six years the club has grown from only having one short lawn team in Federation leagues to having five teams covering all the four disciplines of the game, and this is because of Liz's drive, enthusiasm and coaching skills. She now holds the position of Match Captain and recently became a Grade one Association Coach. Liz has also been a member of Pendle and Craven for many years and has managed several tournaments there and often will assume RoT duties.
11th October 2008
Longman Cup retained
Masterminded by Martin 'On Fire' Bradshaw, Fylde remain unbeaten in two years after beating Parsons Green to join Hurlingham (1960), Oxford University (1980) and Northampton (1994) as the only clubs who have successfully defended the cup in its eighty one year history.
5th October 2008
Drains
Our neighbour has given us a lot of help in discovering more about the drainage of the lawns. A drain has been located taking the water from the lawns straight into the culvert without going into the ditch. A hole was dug on lawn 4 corner 4 and when the drain was eased open the water began to flow away rapidly. Perhaps the problem is that these drain pipes are below the clay layer and so the water takes a long time to seep through the clay into them. Another ditch has been discovered running towards the road from lawn 2 corner 1 to the East of the indoor courts. This is completely blocked and overgrown. We are trying to make some contact with the adjacent owner to see if we can clear this ditch.
7th September 2008
Longman cup cancelled
Our home quarter final with Nottingham has been washed out leaving our members with some spare time.
see the video.
6th September 2008
Phillip's last ditch effort
Phillip, with encouragement from Ian and Liz, has been devoting some time to deepening and clearing the drainage ditch running away to the West.
The stream is now running freely from the Western edge of our lawns to the culvert under the road. The water level does not appear to be rising and so we believe the culvert is not blocked.
28th August 2008
Betty wins Pendle Trophy
Two weeks of cloud and rain finally gave way for the start of the Pendle August Handicap Tournament. Conditions were damp underfoot for the morning but improved over the bank holiday. A cosmopolitan field of twenty players with handicaps ranging from minus a half to twenty four gathered for the flexible Egyptian event. Games were played without time limits on the first two days. Going into the last round Betty was playing for the overall winner trophy, but she lost that game. However her performance leading up to the final gave her the High Bisquer's trophy.
25th August 2008
Expert in the field
As a personal favour we were visited by a couple of farmers who are experts in the field of land drainage. Luckily the lawns were waterlogged at the time and the full extent of the problem could be seen. Our friends noticed that the ditch at the South end of the lawns drains West but that it is blocked where it passes underneath the new road. They advised us that unblocking this is the responsibility of the Highways Authority and that we should have no difficulty in arranging this to be done at no cost to the club. Once the ditch is flowing again the water level will drop to below that of our lawns and we should have no further trouble. It was also noted that all the rain falling on the roof of the indoor tennis courts is channelled under our lawns towards the ditch. Because the ditch is blocked these drains fill up with this water and it has nowhere to go except to leak out and flood the lawns. So we actually have water accumulating on our lawns from an area twice the size of them. We will be making contact with the Highways Authority as soon as possible.
18th August 2008
LOGO AVAILABLE
'1st Class Kids' on Highfield Road (almost opposite Garton Rd), Blackpool now have our logo set up and ready for stitching! They will sew it onto anything you care to take in for £2.50. You can also buy fruit of the loom polo shirts (£7.99) or sweat shirts (£10.99) or anything else in their catalogue and they will apply the logo. They have all sizes and styles in for you to try first
18th August 2008
Lee wins the Bowl
Lee beat Liz +6 in the Advanced Tournament.
30th July 2008
RIPON SPA TOURNAMENT WIN FOR ALAN
Alan won 4 out of 5 games and with a superior hoop difference qualified for the final of the Tuesday Tournament. He played Michael Glenn from the Auckland Croquet Club in the final. Alan started well capitalising on a wrong ball fault by his opponenet and then led 2-0 but Michael won hoops 3 4, 5 and 6 to put him 4-2 in the lead. Alan fought back to tie the game at 5-5 and then clinched the match 7-5. Alan's prize for winning is a 2 night stay at the Ripon Spa Hotel.
30th July 2008
Betty wins the midgeland
Fourteen players contested this one day Golf Croquet tournament managed by Lee.
A block event was followed by a BBQ lunch and then a KO tournament.
In the semi finals, Peter beat Liz and Betty beat Lee. Then it was all one way traffic in the final with Betty's long game and one handed jump shots on tip top form.
28th July 2008
Longman quarter final
We now know it is Nottingham in the quarter final. Our previous meeting with Nottingham was played away at the same stage of the competition in 2003. So this is our chance for some revenge. The winner of the match will book a place at the finals weekend at Wrest Park on 3rd and 4th October.
27th July 2008
DAVE WINS THE SCOTTISH OPEN
Congratulations to Dave Nick, our finest far country member, who has won the Scottish Open. Read the SCA report.
21st July 2008
Ken plays Pendle
Ken took part in four days of croquet in generally damp conditions along with thirteen other players undertaking a mixture of League, Egyptian and Doubles events. Click here to read Ken's report.
21st July 2008
Website milestone
The latest statistics show that these pages are being read by over fifty different people each week. Firefox users may like to visit the Webmeister's page for some further information.
8th July 2008
Millennium golf at heaton park
Alan writes: Eight players contested the trophy which looked like a small Koh-I-Noor diamond. Alan won 4 from 7 finishing joint second. Had he beaten Alan Mayne (Bowdon) in a tie break in the final match he would have been joint first but Alan Mayne won the trophy. Cath enjoyed playing at Heaton Park and won 2 from 7. The match between us was a hard fought game closely watched by the Referee of Tournament. At the conclusion of the tournament there was a huge thunderstorm which completely flooded the lawns.
7th July 2008
Terry Wins Milennium Handicap Tournament
Image courtesy of Pendle & Craven CC
Terry, pictured here with runner up John Lucas, becomes the third Fylde member to have won the Northwest Federation's Millennium Trophy. Held at Pendle & Craven this year the twelve contestants Battled through constant rain on day one. Terry went into the second day with 3/3. Sunday was dry but extremely windy. So strong was the wind that the ball stops were occasionally being moved. Terry won both the remaining games, beating Robin Delves in the final. Our other representative, Leo Ainsworth, finished fourth equal.
21st June 2008
New lawns opened
The two new short lawns have been white lined and cut. The Boss hit the first ball and declared them a bit slow at the moment, but further cutting will improve them she added.
6th June 2008
Mexico Trophy
Southport and Birkdale Croquet Club played Fylde in a charity tournament with all funds going to the Southport Lifeboat fund. It is intended that this will become an annual event played at Southport and Fylde year on year about with the funds next year going to the RNLI via the Lytham Life Boat. A Southport member has donated a trophy known as the Mexico trophy which commemorates the great lifeboat disaster of December 1886 when the boats of both Southport and Lytham capsized with the loss of twenty seven crew whilst going to the aid of the barque Mexico.
1st June 2008
Lee wins pendle
The Pendle & Craven B Level Advanced Tournament final was an all Fylde affair between Lee and Peter. After a bright start, Golden Boy's hoop running deserted him and the Machine warmed up changing down to a well oiled handicap 2 as a result. See the match report on P&C's website.
19th May 2008
Freemasons on the lawns
The Freemasons will be trying Croquet on the 15th June. Please come along and help with the event. Contact Ian, Betty or Liz.
9th May 2008
Style in the fylde
There was a large turn out of members in white today to meet the photographer and journalist from the glossy magazine 'Style in the Fylde'. Several members were interviewed and many photographs taken while games were played in the late evening sunshine. Keep an eye open for the next issue in a few weeks.
30th April 2008
You can not be serious
Read Daisy Root's Blog here.
30th April 2008
Defence of the longman starts at bowdon
After a round one bye we meet Bowdon in the Longman Cup. The full draw can be seen here.
17th April 2008
Lee wins trophy at pendle
Pendle's Easter tournament was a difficult opener of the season with Easter coming so exceptionally early this year. Snow and rain delayed play on more than one occasion, but Lee overcame these obstacles picking up the Low Bisquer's Trophy and gaining a handicap reduction to 2.5 in the process. Betty made an encouraging start to the season playing all four days and finishing in a respectable mid table position.
12th April 2008
LAWNS MARKED
Four short and two full lawns were marked out by Norman, Liz & Peter. The hoops were set and marked. White lines should be applied in the next few days.
21st March 2008
FIX IT DAY
There was as good turn out on a cool spring like morning. The lawns were repaired and cleared. Ball stops checked over and the equipment locker fitted out to accommodate the new hoops and balls. An area on the South boundary has been cleared, levelled and covered. This will provide a seating area and possible site for the gazebo during matches.
17th March 2008
CHANGE TO GOLF LAWS
The Laws of Golf Croquet 2008 (3rd Edition) come into force on 15th March. Alan will be contacting team players with a synopsis of the changes.
12th March 2008
CHANGE TO ASSOCIATION LAWS
A new edition of the laws is to be issued soon and the changes will take effect from 15th March. The club will be providing some coaching on the new laws as soon as possible and all members will be contacted with the date. Meanwhile some selected new laws are discussed in the ref's blog.
9th March 2008
GOLF CROQUET HANDICAPS
There has been a change to the handicapping system for Golf Croquet. From the start of this season each player must make a one off adjustment to their current Golf handicap by adding 4 to it. The Golf Handicaps will now span 12 to 0. Note that the highest handicap previously allowed of 6 now becomes 10 in the new system and the new range allows this to go up by 2 more to 12.
8th March 2008
SEASON STARTS 30th MARCH
Work days have been arranged for the 16th and 24th March between 10am and 4pm in order to prepare the lawns for the start of the season. Please attend and lend a hand if you can.
29th February 2008
ABDUL IN CAPE TOWN
Abdul has been selected to be one of the referees the World Golf Croquet Championship being held in cape Town between the 8th and the 16th of March.
Follow the tournanemt at the offical site here.
23rd February 2008
CA TOURNAMENT CALENDAR
The CA has produced an online calendar database thingy where you can explore the tournaments which are planned for the year ahead. Click here to view.
17th January 2008
YOUTUBE CROQUET
Take a look in the Information page for a new section of YouTube videos.
9th January 2008
FRIDGE INSTALLED
A fridge has been donated to the club and is now installed in the clubhouse.
15th December 2007
ARCHIVED
The 2007 news was archived.
11th December 2007