NEWS

3rd WCF Women's World Golf Croquet Championship

A new section for YouTube Golf Croquet has been added to the multimedia page

4th December 2009

From our “Roving” Reporter

After the heavy downpours of this week it was with great trepidation that Lorna Ndawarda went to survey the lawns armed with her synchro-cozzy. Puddles were found outside the bar and in the back yard …

Spot the puddles

…BUT NO STANDING WATER ON THE LAWNS.

4th November 2009

Feeding the Lawns

Ian and Liz hired a fertiliser spreader today and distributed Winter Lawn Feed over all the courts. It is thought that this is perfect timing with the weather forecast predicting rain over the next few days.

28th October 2009

Mexico memorial

This year's Mexico Trophy was in aid of the restoration of the memorial at St Annes Parish Church. The restoration has now been completed and a re-dedication ceremony will take place on Sunday 6th December. Our Chairman will attend and extends an open invitation to all members of FCC and S&BCC to join him.

1st October 2009

NW FEDeration league completed

The final match in this year's programme has now been played and the final tables can be seen on the individual report pages.

Advanced Handicap Midweek Short Golf

11th October 2009

NW FEDeration league completed

The final match in this year's programme has now been played and the final tables can be seen on the individual report pages.

Advanced Handicap Midweek Short Golf

11th October 2009

tree-mendous effort

A magnificent turn out of members helped with maintenance on a wonderfully sunny fix it day two. Removal of the trees on the West boundary of lawn five will take several days but will, in the form of logs, provide heat through the winter for those kind enough to help the club with their skill and knowledge at such tasks. The removal of the trees will allow the wind to caress lawn 5 and softly dry it as the Sun shines onto the lawn for longer each day promoting healthy and vigorous grass growth.

11th October 2009

doing our level best

mind the step

A magnificent turn out of members helped with maintenance on a wonderfully sunny fix it day one. Two point one five cubic yards of soil was removed from under the lawn in front of the clubhouse to level the ground and extend the available playing surface. The drainage ditches were also cleared. The ditch along the North boundary of lawn one was filled in in an experiment to see if the good drainage will continue without it. If so we will have better options for lawn layout. Will we encompass three full lawns soon?

But then there is always something to put your efforts into perspective... isn't there?

10th October 2009

World Rankings as mallets hung up

FCC Advanced player reflect on their season. There are only three 'Wilson's in the rankings and at the end of the season they find themselves huddled together as a group! Lee continues to make progress. Only 54 players separate him from the top UK spot.

Min Games: 30 Min Grade: 1

Num	World	Name	Country	Grade	Games	Wins	Index	%wins	Last
55	117	Lee Hartley	England	2094	57	40	2059	70	Aug2009
113	258	Alan Wilson	Scotland	1702	65	36	1715	55	Sep2009
114	261	Peter Wilson	England	1695	69	31	1667	45	Sep2009
115	262	Liz Wilson	England	1693	67	33	1719	49	Sep2009

9th October 2009

Mexico memorial

1st October 2009

Ambassadors in cape town

Catherine and Philip recently visited Somerset West Croquet Club in Cape Town and presented them with our FCC emblem.

1st October 2009

Betty wins The Trevor Williams Cup

Outright triumph at the All England Finals at Roehampton wins this magnificent trophy for herself and the New Zealand Tray for Fylde CC. More to follow in the trophy section!

19th & 20th September 2009

Sweet Success

Betty was the runner up at the North West Area Finals held at Pendle and now qualifies for the finals to be held at Roehampton on the 19th & 20th September

7th September 2009

CA Bronze Merit Award for Ken

Ken achieved the Bronze Award at the Peels but it has only just come to our attention!

9th September 2009

Abdul wins the 2009 Millennium Golf

Catherine & Philip represented us this year and report from Heaton Park...

Abdul, representing Pendle and Craven was undefeated in all 7 matches and won the trophy. Catherine, who had triggered down to handicap 10 in the previous day’s play at Chester, came second with 5 wins, triggering a handicap of 9. Philip came third equal with 4 wins.

Although a rainy day was forecast, 8 players were greeted in morning sunshine for a great day of Golf Croquet at Heaton Park. All played all as the weather freshened with some short showers interspersed with sunshine.

In the first round Philip and Catherine beat both opponents. Catherine and Philip met in the next round with Catherine taking the game. In the third round Philip’s match with Abdul was full of incident and finished 5-4 to Abdul. Abdul had declared the game over and when he collected Philip’s pegs counted the score as 7-4. Philip, who had been busily focused on hoop running and keeping Abdul at bay, had lost track of the score and did not realise they had only completed hoop 9, with ten minutes of play and two bisques remaining. So, the correct score of 5-4 was recorded. Philip went on to win 3 of his remaining 4 games.

A number of stoppages occurred in Catherine’s match with Paul and they had also lost track of scores. Thinking the score was 5-4 to Paul, with a minute or so remaining, Catherine managed to run the next hoop – thinking it was hoop 10. Paul then confirmed the score as 6-6. In the confusion, the pair had scored hoops 7 and 8 again, instead of 11 and 12. They agreed Golden Hoop to be hoop 3. After a tussle, both missing shots at hoop, Paul eventually took the match 7-6.

By the end of round 6, Abdul had won 6 matches and Catherine 5. The final match between the pair would decide the outcome of the tournament. The score was 5-3 in Abdul’s favour at hoop 9. Abdul scored the hoop and his ball ran some way to the left of Hoop 10. Catherine sent the yellow ball to the Hoop and using the last bisque, managed to place it into the jaws. With a tremendous shot, Abdul dislodged the ball. Catherine’s red ball had been sent earlier to the West boundary just in front of hoop 1. If she could miss the peg on the left there was a chance to get near to hoop 10. Disappointed at the wasted bisque with the yellow ball, she determinedly struck the ball diagonally across the lawn (just about 2 inches right of the peg) and incredibly lodged the red ball into the 10th hoop. Abdul then played his shot as Catherine walked back across the lawn. Catherine played yellow then after some confusion over ball order, Abdul smashed his blue ball from the North boundary at the red ball. The blue hit the upright and Catherine successfully ran the 10th hoop. Some minutes later, Abul ran hoop 11 taking the match 7-4.

23rd August 2009

Advanced league leaders

The advanced team has completed all their fixtures and are currently top of the league.

A screen capture of the moment from croquetnw.co.uk.

14th August 2009

The lean two

Philip and Ian have been busy again! They have designed and built this gazebo which is fully retractable and will provide shelter from the rain and sun. But mainly the Sun.

Here they are availing the shade and admiring the Boss's needlework.

14th August 2009

Terry wins handicap trophy

Playing The Machine in the final gave Terry a hatfull of bisques and he set out to peg with the first ball using very few. Lee shot and missed then Terry was off again only using a couple more to get partner through Rover and peg out with four standing.

12th August 2009

Lee wins bowl

Lee beat Peter +5 in the Final of the Bowl. A game of few turns with some good breaks, Lee pegged Oppo and Striker's ball out with partner on 4Back and Peter on 4. Peter gained an advantage and made some progress but it was a big ask and Lee took his chance, hitting in at the right time.

12th August 2009

E=MC2 BOMBSHELL

Our Hurlingham correspondent reports from the games room.

Despite long hit ins and fabulous break set ups the pairing of Leonard and Betty were beaten by worthy opponents. Losing four out of the five games -1,-2, -5 and -7. On the game versus Eugene and Jenny the Fylde contingent felt confident with a six hoop lead with twenty minutes to go only to lose -2 with Eugene hitting in, going round 6 hoops without fault and peeling his partner twice. The only winning game was +10 which included a partner ball peel by Betty. On the fifth game two back became a plagued hoop with eight attempts (from both opponents) sticking in the jaws. The final game lost -1 on time. There was a sixth game available but as another couple had withdrawn and a five hour car journey ahead Fylde left in the knowledge that the loss was not dishonourable. Not only was the company as amiable as usual and friends reunited, Leonard proved he was no Northern Numpty. In the break on the final day the Fylde team watched a timed chess game and Leonard was challenged to a 15 minute timed game. He relieved his opponent of his Queen within 6 minutes and achieved check mate in 8. He was invited to join the Hurlingham Chess team but had to decline on the grounds on living 200 miles away!

4th August 2009

World Championships

The 2009 Final is on YouTube:
Clip 1 Clip 2 Clip 3 Clip 4 Clip 5 Clip 6 Clip 7

These clips can also be found together with many more on our multimedia page.

28th July 2009

Search within this site

Our home page now includes a link to a this-site-only search engine.

But you can also try it here .

23rd July 2009

Peter wins the midgeland trophy

Lee reports from the manager's perspective

Entrants: Betty, Peter, Ken, Liz, John Ansted, Philip, Geoffrey, Ian & Catherine
The 9 players were greeted by early morning drizzle but this soon cleared and, apart from a short shower shortly before lunch, the weather was mercifully fine with occasional bursts of hazy sunshine. To ensure everyone got at least 2 games the competition started with 3 all play all groups of 3, with the top 2 in each group and the 2 3rd best players qualifying for the quarter finals. These games saw Peter gain revenge on defending champion Betty for last year’s final defeat, and John gain his first competitive win by beating Philip. Due to the uncertain weather forecast the barbecue was shelved this year and lunch was held in the clubhouse during which the draw for the quarter finals was made. This saw wins for Peter, Ken, Ian and Catherine in largely uneventful games. However this was just the calm before the storm. There was a certain amount of shenanigans in the first semi-final between Peter and Ken, with 2 balls left behind in contact with each other as neither wanted to give the opponent the advantage, Ken conceding a fault when a ball hit by Peter hit him on the foot, and the referee called several times to adjudicate on shots. After all this it went to the golden hoop which went the way of Peter so he was back in the final for the second year running. Another ding dong battle ensued in the other semi final between Ian and Catherine. Again there was some controversy, with some hold ups caused due to following the first game, and again it went down to the golden hoop which was won by Ian.

The final saw Ian armed with 5 bisques and as expected he used these to get an early lead. However Peter fought back and it was nip and tuck all the way. The game looked destined to go the way of the semi finals and hence it was no surprise when the score reached 6-6. Ian had first shot and initially lined up to aim at the wrong hoop, only to be alerted by yelps from the crowd. Aiming for the correct hoop his shot was wayward, though it could have been improved by use of his remaining bisque. Crucially Ian had forgotten about this and he ceded the advantage to Peter who shortly after ran the winning hoop to win the trophy, thereby going one better than next year, with Ian’s last bisque still standing forlornly in the ground. Thanks to all those who turned up and I trust everyone had an enjoyable day.

19th July 2009

Jamboree Handicap Winners 2009

Saturday: Terry, Ken, Leonard
Sunday: Ken, Leonard, Ian

NW Federation Chairman David Barrett and Championship Manager Terry Foster present Ken with the trophy. Terry did not play on Sunday so missed out on the picture.

On Saturday we won all 3 matches. Terry won all 3 of his games, triggering a handicap reduction to 11. Ken also won all 3 games with Leonard winning 2.

On Sunday the team, playing in Blue as always at this event, won both matches. Leonard completed a great personal weekend winning both games, with both Ken and Ian contributing 1 win.

This is the third time we have won this trophy, click here for the full report .

28th June 2009

Jamboree golf team contributes to sucess

Overall results from the NW Federation Championships 2009

Team	Advanced	Handicap	Short	Golf	Points	Position
Bowdon	1	1	5	7	14	1
Southport	4	4	1	5	14	2
Chester		3	4	6	13	3
Fylde		5	3	4	12	4
Bury	2	2	2	1	7	5
Culcheth				3	3	6=
Crake	3				3	6=
Llanfairfechan				2	2	8

Table courtesy of croquetnw.co.uk

Holiday absences prevented us fielding an Advanced team this year

7 teams competed over the two-day Golf event. On each day, the humid morning conditions gave way to heavy rain and a return to sun in the afternoon. Having mastered the North Lawns on Saturday (much better condition than 2008) the teams moved to the smooth, faster South Lawns on Day 2. This enabled better continuity of play.

More...

28th June 2009

The Longman Adventure Comes To An End

Nottingham 5 Fylde 2

Nottingham: Michael Finnegan(5), Nigel Hames-Keward(7), Clive Goode(18), Peter Moore(20)
Fylde: Terry Vernazza(12), Betty Bates(14), Ken Harper(18), Alan Morton(20)

Terry reports from NCC

The Fylde team arrived in sunny Nottingham determined to do well despite the absence of its star player and captain Martin Bradshaw. However, the handicap system is based on bisque difference and this proved to be to Fylde's disadvantage during the day. In the morning, Terry and Ken faced Michael and Nigel in the doubles and had bisques in hand. After a few early exchanges, Ken managed to run six hoops using some of his bisques. Nottingham replied with Michael taking his ball to rover. Terry responded in kind, advancing his ball to the same position. Play then alternated between Ken and Nigel, but Ken eventually ran his ball through rover, followed by Terry running the final hoop and pegging out. In the singles, Betty had to give six bisques to her opponent who was playing very well, hitting long roquets and running difficult hoops. Despite a long battle, she was unable to stop Peter from winning the game. Alan had the benefit of two bisques but again his opponent, Clive, was playing well above his handicap and was the eventual winner on time. Terry and Betty started their second games before lunch while the final morning game was played out. Terry found excellent form and used his bisques to advance one ball to peg and the other to 2-back before lunch, without reply from Michael. Betty also had a good start and built up a large lead over her opponent Nigel. After an excellent cooked lunch, play resumed and Terry rapidly completed his game, winning 26 - 0. This tied the match at 2 -2. However, Betty's opponent rallied and after a long battle with both players near to completing, Nigel overtook Betty to win the game +3. In the other two games, the player's handicaps cancelled out, so no bisques were available for any player. Peter Moore continued to show good form and established a healthy lead over Alan. Alan continued to battle and rallied near the end, cutting into the deficit. However, time ran out, Alan losing to Peter by 7 hoops. In the final game, Clive Goode again showed form well above his handicap level and built a commanding lead over Ken. However in the later part of the game, the tide turned and Ken mounted a magnificent comeback, slowly gaining hoops and shutting his opponent out. Unfortunately just as Ken got both his balls to rover, Clive finally managed to peg out his final ball. So Fylde's 2 1/2 year unbeaten run in the competition came to an end. Thanks must go to Nottingham who were excellent hosts, making us very welcome and providing an excellent day's croquet. Best wishes to them in the future rounds

21st June 2009

Double whammy for boss and the machine

Playing at Pendle Lee picked up the A class runner up trophy while Liz won the B class event with 4/5. Liz's play on day two was superb and resourceful.

Lee reduced his handicap to minus one half and his play attracted a lot of interest from the other sub scratch players. It will surprise the writer if Lee is not invited to play in some National events very soon.

7th June 2009

All fylde final

Lee & betty both entered Southport's May Handicap Tournament. There were 2 groups played over the weekend with the top 2 in each group going through to the semi-finals on bank holiday Monday. Both Lee and Betty finished 2nd in their groups. Lee played Brian Lewis in the semi-final, beating him 26-0, and Betty beat Eileen Gallagher +5 on time, resulting in an all-Fylde final. Betty made a positive start as expected but eventually ran out of bisques giving Lee the chance to catch up and win a tight ending by +4, thus winning the trophy for the 3rd time in the last 4 years.

3rd June 2009

Ken paired with Gail

Ken reports from the Peel Tournament at Southport between May 7th - May 10th 2009

It was with some trepidation that I approached this Tournament knowing that I would be playing from a Handicap of 20, the highest permitted at this event. The wind blew continually, the rain came in bucket loads and occasionally the sun shone, but the croquet continued. The play was split into Men Singles ( 10 players ) and Mixed Doubles ( 8 pairs ) In the singles I played above my normal standard winning 4 out of my 5 games all within time and one in one and a quarter hours ! The game I lost was to Abdul who went on to win the Singles with 5 wins leaving me a surprised runner up. I put my improved form down to three factors, 1. I have studied a book on tactics 2. At every hoop I could hear Lee telling me to follow through 3. And at every other shot there was Liz saying Slow down ! In the Doubles I was lucky enough to be paired with Gail Curry the current Gazette editor and a one time minus player now on Scratch. Her game is based on phenomenal rushes precisely positioned. We won our first two rounds but unfortunately lost in the final largely due to my habit of missing easy roquets at critical times. So runner up again. I have to say here what an education it was to paired with Gail. Her tactical thinking was a revelation. So after all my efforts, my Handicap was cut to 18. This must have been because I beat Don +17 and still had bisques standing. What a mistake ! Finally Southport Croquet club and the managers Don and Diana did an excellent job and as for the catering , that was superb. Altogether an excellent tournament with the usual bunch of friendly and helpful people.

3rd June 2009

Fylde Win the Mexico

Report 1: As recently as one year ago no one could have envisaged that we could produce as many as seven playable lawns and as many as 17 players! But we did it! The weather was kind – arguably too kind as we had to send out an urgent request for gazebos, parasols and sun screen. The annual charity event vs Southport for the “Mexico Trophy” was this year to be hosted by us for the first time. It all started rather down beat as with little over a week to go Southport could only find four players. A little gentle persuasion by Southport’s John Taylor increased this number to 16 which little old Fylde managed to match by bringing in a beginner and two friends All players were charged £10 for entry plus lunch and teas with the profits going to the Mexico Memorial Appeal Fund. The event included a golf croquet competition (6 players per team playing 5 games of doubles all ably managed by Cath Morton), a short croquet competition (8 players per team playing in two blocks of four – all play all – managed by Alan Morton) and a combination of one-ball and advanced doubles (4 players per team - managed by Peter Wilson) to keep the big boys happy. The golf competition produced a score of 7 -7 with every player on the Fylde team a star in the captain’s eyes. The advanced one-ball was won by Fylde with a match score of 9-7 with Liz winning all four of her games. The advanced doubles finished one game all. The total match score was then standing at 17 -15 – still quite close. Then the short results started to pour in and wow did they do well. Top marks to Leonard (4/4), Betty (3/3) and Peter Hallet (2/2) who finished on 100% wins and well done to Norman who won 2 out of 3 despite hardly ever picking up a mallet. Congratulations also to Philip who won his first ever game. YEH! The short competition score finished at 20 -12. Final score on the day 37 games to Fylde and 27 games to Southport. Liz was presented with the trophy by Martin Bradshaw and a cheque for £340 was presented to Marion Coupe from The Lytham Civic Society All agree the star of the show was the new water boiler. Amusing happening – Norman walking across a lawn with Liz stopped in horror at what we had done to his beautifully painted hoops after only 8 weeks use – only to discover that it was the set we had borrowed from Southport!

The Fylde team all try to fit on one snapshot

Report 2: With Southport fielding the Haslams, Ray Lowe and Alan Farell against Fylde's Dave Nick, Bob Burnet and the Wilsons the quadruple banked one ball all play all chaos was always going to turn into a barracking master class. Although there is no raised dais at Fylde on which to sit, general discussion and advice was always readily available from the gazebo littered with empty cans of Boddingtons. From here players were able to give the other games (rather than their own) the attention they deserved. The one ball was the ideal warm up for the doubles. Dave got four clips as usual but the general strategy was to get in the box ASAP in order to retire undisturbed to the gazebo and empty more tins and barrack. LOL

31st May 2009

Radio Lancashire drop in

Listen To Radio Lancashire Live Now

Radio Lancashire's van dropped by at 16:00 today and was greeted by Mart and Terry.

click here to listen to the broadcast.

28th May 2009

golden machine

Playing in Pendle's Advanced Tournament, Lee set his sights on a CA gold award. His first chance was well executed all the way around but a stroke of bad luck left him attempting the peg out from seven yards and missing with the front ball. But on the second day there were to be no such mistakes and he put the first of what must be many TP's on his card in fine style.

17th May 2009

Lee breaks into top 100

Following on from becoming scratch and just missing out on some silverware while representing Fylde CC in the Neil Williams Memorial at Heaton Park, Lee has achieved the landmark of breaking into the top 100 in the CA rankings. These do change quite rapidly but the Machine is currently tucked in at number 94.

12th May 2009

New Dawsons

The lawns sub committee and the chairman were down at the lawns today ensuring that all “sharp edges” around the tennis court lawns are covered and protected. The new Dawson balls are in green containers.

Please use them – there is no need to keep them for best but the Match Captain’s suggestion is that one set of first and one set of second colours should be available for the full lawn on club nights as their rushing properties will be more useful over the big distances. Obviously the four sets should be used for matches.

high bisquers trophy

Betty picked up the High Bisquers Trophy in the John Beech Memorial Tournament held over four Easter days at Pendle.

Peter Dowdall presents Betty with the trophy

More photographs and a report of events may be read here

21st March 2009

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

27th April 2009

Orange carrots & green lawns now open

Norman has done another remarkable job colour coding the hoops again this year.

The lawns have all been marked out and are ready for play as of today.

By unanimous vote, Phillip was asked to strike the first ball and open the season.

21st March 2009

Lawn report

Preparations for the season continue The concrete has been removed from the new lawns on the tennis courts and the holes have been filled in and turf layed. Lawn sand with fertiliser and moss killer has been applied. These new lawns will be scarified next weekend – 21st March and help in the form of mower pushing and grass carrying would be appreciated. The old lawns are now undergoing treatment. The proposed new lawn one has been scarified and mowed and will be treated on Sunday. The outlying edges will continue to be scarified, mowed and treated during the next week. The large pile of compost has been “distributed” over the newly created banking leaving a free space for this year’s grass cuttings.

Watch the action - click here.

18th March 2009

lawn report

During the last few days since the ditch was extended there has been a great deal of rain. Several visits to the lawns during this time have been made and the reports are extremely favourable. Water drains very quickly from almost every part of the lawn. The shallow part of the ditch on the West boundary has been deepened slightly and this has improved the already very good situation further.

16th December 2008

Chairman retires

After eight years George has retired as our chairman. Everyone at the club would like to thank him for his tireless efforts and support which he gave so freely.

12th December 2008

Liz and Alan on Radio Lancashire

Stephen Lowe interviewed Liz and Alan in the studio today.

Listen to part 1

Listen to part 2

Listen To Radio Lancashire Live Now

6th December 2008

ARCHIVED

The 2008 news was archived.

12th December 2008