PWLDGamesPoints
FYLDE972039-2314
Bowdon Firs963034-2912
Pendle & Craven743027-228
Bowdon St Marys945029-308
Crake Valley844027-308
Birkdale945026-378
Chester734028-216
Southport734023-266
Bury Caesars835024-326
Bury Peelers725019-274

FYLDE 5 Birkdale 2

Birkdale: Tony Thomas, 5, Keith Roberts 6, Terry Foster 9, David Key.
FYLDE: Peter Wilson 1.5, Ian Theakstone 10, Alan Morton, Betty Bates.

Peter & Ian Beat Tony & Terry +15
David beat Alan +1
Betty Beat Keith +15
Peter beat Tony +11
Ian beat Keith +3
Alan beat Terry +8
David beat Betty +1

The team was well supported with Liz catering, Philip washing up, our Chairman lending support and Lee commentating. Many thanks to Birkdale for a wonderful day of friendly competition.

Alan scored the winning point by pegging out blue.

Alan, Betty and Ian were all in play while we needed just one more win to secure the league, it was Alan who had the honour.

Non playing captain Catherine writes:
Well, we've only gone and done it!
Thank you all so much! Each one of you contributed to that win today, taking out all the guessing!
The doubles team and Betty kept the belief alive up to lunch. Then Peter made short shrift to reinforce the team's strength for the afternoon. Alan committed to the win with no partner ball to reassure and pegged out in style to confirm the win. Then Captain Fantastic put the icing on the cake! Well done. Just fantastic performance. I almost wish the season wasn't over, Nah, Just kidding!

Ian, 6th September

SOUTHPORT 3 FYLDE 4

SOUTHPORT: John Haslam 0.5, Carol Lewis 3, Brian Lewis 7, Eileen Rossiter 16.
FYLDE: Ian Theakstone 10 (c), Betty Bates 12, Ken Harper 14, Philip Bass 20.

A very pleasant day for a change, Ian and Ken took on Carol and Eileen and although we had 3 bisques they were soon used up on some very tight hoops However, it turned into a long game which we lost 19 - 11. John played Philip who had plenty of bisques but John's Handicap position showed as he still managed to win 23 - 21. Betty played Brian and managed to secure our first win 22 - 11. We needed to win some games now if we were to keep our position in the league.Ian couldn't help even with bisques against John and lost 26 - 17. Betty played a blinder against Carol winning 15 - 26 and Ken also proved a worthy winner pegging out 21 - 26 . Now it was 3 apiece with the final game being in the hands of Philip, Eileen with her bisques gradually creeping ahead but Philip kept on going, and with the rest of the team with their hearts in in their mouths watching every shot Philip kept on going. Finally the time ran out with Philip placing balls in the corners. Eileen's time turn shot missed. Philip won 19 - 20 and the match was ours. Well done team.

Ian, 6th September

Fylde 5 Bowdon Firs 2

Fylde: Ian Theakstone, Peter Hallett, Nathan Baker, Philip Bass.
Bowdon: Steve Reynolds, Barry Keen, Chris Evans, Bob Hunter.

In the morning session, Ian and Peter (B/B both on peg) bt Barry and Bob (R/Y) in a nail-biting finish. At time, Barry was on the lawn playing Red (on peg). Barry had already roqueted yellow in the turn, leaving it in the jaws of Rover. Barry went to B/B to gain position behind Yellow to do a scatter shot to level the score. However, placement wasn't good and he was unable to score the point. Philip pegged out to beat Steven in just over 2 hours. Nathan pegged out Chris.

3-0 at lunch. In the afternoon, there was a little drizzle but the day was mainly fair.

After lunch, Ian got Black and Blue round to peg. Barry was some way behind but managed to get to peg with his first ball, leaving B/B at distance. Ian used his last half bisque to split Red and Yellow. He just missed his rush to peg though, giving Barry the opportunity to ged to peg and peg out. A very good performance from Barry, considering he lost 6 games in a row on the same lawns over the Jubilee Tournament on the previous weekend.

3-1 Fylde. The other games were going slowly. However, Nathan made few errors to win his game against Steve. 4-1 Fylde and amidst relief the match was won.

Chris' Brown on peg was a magnet to Peter. As soon as Pink got to peg, Peter busied himself trying to peg out Brown. Chris managed to get Green some way ahead though and, eventually won the game. Bob was saving bisques for a final flurry, when Philip was some way ahead. Philip kept leaving balls in difficult positions and kept two bisques and Bob's bisques dwindled. At time, it was 18-14 Fylde. Philip has triggered 20 after winning five in a row.

Yeah!

Catherine, 1st August

Bowdon St Marys 0 Fylde 6

Bowdon: Francois Garcia, David Holland, Graham Abraham, Leo Fletcher.
Fylde: Ian Theakstone, Peter Hallett, Ken Harper, Philip Bass.

In the morning session, Ken and Ian bt David and Leo in the doubles. Peter bt Francois and Philip bt Graham. 0-3 up at lunch and all to play for to keep top spot in the League.

After lunch Francois just beat Ian, Peter, Ken and Philip beat David, Graham and Leo respectively taking the score to 1-6. It was discovered that in the match between Francois and Ian, Ian had played with insufficient bisques. The game was later adjudged Void by the NW Fed League Manager.

Catherine, 19th July

Fylde 3 Bury Peelers 4

Fylde: Lee (-0.5), Ian (11), Betty (12), Philip (22).
Bury: Paul Kenworthy (2), David Barrett (2.5), Barbara Young (5), Malcolm Daines (6) .

A fine, sunny day saw us visit Coronation Park to play the Bury Peelers all-stars. In the morning singles Betty played Paul, who hit in 4th turn and went round to 3 back. However that was the last hoop he scored as Betty quickly took control from that point. Lee and Ian played David and Barbara in the doubles, and despite Lee pegging Barbara out David managed to finish +5. Philip got to peg and rover against Malcolm but then ran out of bisques. Malcolm levelled in his time turn, and then won on golden hoop to put Bury 2-1 ahead at lunch.

Lunch was very nice, though with it being at Bury I don't think I need to elaborate further.

In the afternoon singles, there were wins in double quick time for Ian, Philip and Paul with the loss of only 3 hoops between them. This made the match score 3-3. However despite her best efforts, Betty was unable to contain man of the match Malcolm who eventually won +8 to give the match to the home side.

Lee, 13th July

CRAKE VALLEY 4 FYLDE 3

FYLDE: Nathan Baker (12), Betty Bates (12), Peter Hallett (14), Alan Morton (14)
CRAKE VALLEY: Jim Alcock (7), Ivan Wheatley (9), Ian Smith (20), Dave Williamson (20).

The unbeaten run for the AC Handicap team ended in a narrow defeat at Crake Valley. The weather forecast was for a wet day but fortunately the rain kept away. Crake won the first of the singles with Jim beating Peter 26-13. The doubles team of Betty and Alan started well enough but a sequence of bisque taking at Hoop 1 with the second ball left them needing to hit in regularly if they were going to win the game. Ivan and Ian gradually took control and were coasting but a late break by Betty provided a more respectable score line with the Fylde pair losing 11-17. Nathan continued his good form by beating Dave 18-5. The afternoon singles all went to time . Jim beat Nathan 20-16 with Jim needing rejuvenating cups of tea to win a tense game , Betty played well but hoop running was a problem and so Ivan beat Betty 25-9, Peter had a golden hoop win against Ian 16-15 and Alan , always in control, beat Dave 22-6. Thanks to Crake Valley for their hospitality.

Alan , 13th June

Fylde 5 Caesars 2

Fylde: Peter Wilson (2), Nathan Baker (12), Betty Bates (12), Ken Harper (14)
Caesars: Tony Philips (2.5), Graham Saunders (7), Richard Harvey (14), Bob Whittle (18).

The heavy overnight rain drained away before play started. Ken and Peter beat Richard and Bob +14, Nathan beat Tony +9 and Betty lost to Graham -12

During lunch the Sun appeared and the lawns became a lot faster for it. Tony got a flyer getting to peg and Rover in about half a dozen turns, carefully keeping Peter apart. Eventually Peter took a ball round and pegged Tony out but could not prevent a -13 loss.

But the remaining games went our way; Nathan beat Graham +12, Betty beat Richard +5 and Ken beat Bob +3.

Many thanks to Bury for such a pleasant days Croquet.

Peter, 31st May

Fylde 4 Pendle 3

Pendle: Garry Wilson (10),Robin Delves (11), Paul Dowdall (14), John Snowden (18)
Fylde: Betty Bates (12), Peter Hallett (14), Nathan Baker (14), Ken Harper (14)

Demon Delves The wet and cold weather did not dampen the spirits of the two teams. The matches were played in good humour and the spicy meatball lunch welcome after such a cold morning.

The first round singles were against Peter and Garry who tussled throughout the whole of the game finally resulting in Peter winning 26 - 19. Nathan played against Paul who both played well until the bisques ran out and then it became a more defensive match with a final score of 19 - 11 to Fylde. The double pairings of Ken and Betty against Robin and John never got off the ground with Fylde unable to get a break together until Ken got his eye in 20 minutes from the end. Despite Fylde continually splitting up their opponents Demon Delves hit in relentlessly , making 20 yard roquets look like a walk in the park. John dutifully did as Robin instructed and Pendle won the game 23 - 10.

The afternoon’s games consisted of Peter playing against Robin. There were some great roquets by both players, however Robin just had the edge winning 26 -19

Ken played Paul in a battle of wills, with both players capable of some good breaks. The bisques were used quite quickly and Ken retained his early lead as Paul uncharacteristically missed short roquets, on one occasion jumped a ball in error to give away his set up break. The score resulted in Fylde winning 26 - 7

In the match Betty versus Garry . Betty missed lots of long roquets by mm and failed to get a break together. When Garry approached the peg to do his rover peel Betty had only scored five hoops. Garry failed on his peel but pegged one ball out. Betty manipulated the balls creeping around the lawn and took hoops, each time moving Garry’s ball from the central quadrant. Garry windscreen wiped a number of times and eventually won the game 26 - 12 Nathan played John with a picket fence of bisques between them (16 in total), the game was a neck and neck tussle throughout where the result could have gone either way. Nathan dug deep and eventually won 22 - 19 on time, much to relief of the Fylde supporters who knew how crucial it was for the match.

Captain Betty remarked how well all the team contributed, not only in terms of playing but setting and clearing up (without being asked). A special mention should also go to the members who came down to support and in particular Philip Bass who did the lunch time drying up and made everyone a welcome cup of tea.

Pendle remarked that they couldn’t have lost to a nicer team!

Betty, 25th April

Chester 3 Fylde 4

It was blowing a gale and freezing and those lawns are a challenge!

Doubles in the morning Peter and Philip only got 6 hoops. P blue stayed on Hoop 1.
Nathan won his singles.
CB only got 8 hoops. Completely wrong strategy. Played like Short Lawn ooh err.

Beef stew.

Afternoon, Nathan won. CB double banked had 7 hoops to Helen's 3 for about two hours. Calmer use of bisques. Philip lost his game. CB thought Peter still playing. CB game dragging on. Helen started getting hoops gradually 7-7. Audience gathering. Then she got ahead 10-8. CB quite a few long roquets but missing 3 yards! Helen ahead 11-10. CB managed to draw level 11-11 after cat and mouse. Both on 5 and 2 back. Then CB managed some good roquets and made 2 back. Clock sounding. Split Helen up. Regrouped. Helen took aim but topped the ball which fell short. Yeah!

In clubhouse, asked Peter his score ( thought he'd had a bad day...) he'd won! Glad I didn't know when I was playing!!! We're all exhausted! Yeah!!

Thanks to the Chester team of Elmyr Hughes (captain), John Dawson, Helen Brophy and Mike Miller for their hospitality.

Catherine, 11th April