SOUTHPORT 3 FYLDE 4

Southport: Ray Lowe 1, Tony Thomas 5, Keith Roberts 6, Margaret Dalley 14
Fylde: Ian Theakstone (c) 9, Betty Bates 14, Alan Morton 14, Ken Harper 14.

Our final game this season took us to Southport on a fine bright day,although arriving a bit too early we helped to set up.The usual pairing of Ian and Ken soon saw off Ray and Margaret 26 - 16. Betty had a tough game against Keith but managed a win on time 21 - 18.However Alan lost in very quick time to Tony 9 - 26.After a very nice hot meal Ian faced Ray and with 8 bisques raced round to a 26 - 0 victory using a shambolic peel and peg out but Hey Ho they all count. Betty lost to Tony after being ahead most of the time 26 - 24. Ken took on Margaret losing 26 - 16. This left Alan needing to win against Keith a cat and mouse game ensued and a victory was ours as Alan won 20 - 26. So the final match gave us a further 2 points and enabled us finish 3rd in the league with 6 wins and 3 losses Well done to all of you who have participated and a special thanks to Catherine for all the background stuff that has to be done, we all know she would have loved to have taken part.

Posted by Ian, 1st October

FYLDE 5 SOUTHPORT 2

Fylde Lee Hartley -1/2, Ian Theakstone 10 (c), Peter Hallett 11, Betty Bates 14.
Southport Carol Lewis 3 (c), Brian Lewis 7, Eileen Gallagher 10, John Maudsley 10.

Ian and Lee played the doubles against Carol and John, an entertaining game but the opposition played a defence tactic which slowed it down but Lee livened it up by trying a triple peel to peg out Carol, it failed. So the game finished 12 - 26.

Peter had a close game with Brian and won 26 -22. Betty played Eileen and beat her 26 - 8 playing far better than her handicap suggests.

In the afternoon session Lee trounced Carol 26 - 2 Ian had a good win over Brian 26 - 14. Peter had a long drawn out game against Eileen but finally won 8 - 7 . Betty had a tight game with John but lost by just 1 hoop 21 -- 22. Overall a good win for us well done team.

Posted by Ian, 17th September

Bury Caesars 3 Fylde 4

Bury Caesars: Graham Saunders 9, Richard Harvey 14, Mac Hardman 14, Maureen Whitile.
Fylde: Peter W 1.5, Ian Theakstone 10, Alan Morton, 14 Ken Harper 16.

What can possible go wrong when going to an away match at a club that has two venues?

If you said the away side travel to the wrong venue, award yourself one point.

However if you said the home side set up at the wrong venue award yourself three points.

No points for saying both sides go to the wrong venue, that would not cause any problems.

Whitehead Park is a wonderful place. Established in 1883 with contributions from Lord Derby and a generous contribution from Sir Henry Whitehead it now has many facilities including a Pokemon Gym but is oddly devoid of any Pokemon themselves. The Croquet venue has a remarkably flat overall area but the actual surface was a bit lumpy and extremely challenging to play on especially in the rain. Our late arrival did mean we missed the worst of the rain and the rest of the day was warm and Sunny.

Peter & Ian beat Graham & Maureen +18
Richard beat Alan +5
Mac beat Ken +6

WP is a two fridge club and we had a wonderfully convivial lunch as we rattled around in the magnificently appointed 'kitchen of dreams'. An extra cruet set at the North end of the table would not be amiss saving the players legs.

Peter beat Graham +23 hitting everything.
Ian beat Richard +9 with a great first ball to Rover without bisques.
Ken beat Maureen +9 with a neat finish.
With the match won, Alan conceded to Mac to conserve energy for the All England weekend ahead.

Posted by Peter, 31st August

Fylde 6 Chester 1

Liz 1.5 and Peter 1.5 were drafted in to join Philip 20 and Ken 14.

In the morning doubles Liz manage to slow Ken down and bully him into excellent play to win over Paul Watson and Alan Clare. Philip beat Helen Brophy in a game in which she never got started.

Peter was up against Robin Tasker (Chester’s rapid improver who had just had his handicap cut from 14 to 10 by their Club Handicapper). Peter managed to outwit Robin by pegging him out. The three ball ending proved too difficult for Robin.

In the afternoon Ken took on Helen and won, Philip played Robin and won, Peter took on Paul Watson and won. Only Liz managed to lose to Alan Clare giving him 5 ½ bisques. Good company, lovely weather and a good result.

Our non playing captain provided us with a sumptuous luncheon.

Posted by Liz, 13th July

Bowdon Firs 3 Fylde 4

Fylde: Lee Hartley (-1/2), Ian Theakstone (10), Ken Harper (14), Philip Bass (20)
Bowdon: Barry McKenzie (5), Janet Guthrie (9), Lorna Frost (9), Steve Reynolds (9)

Sunshine and showers were the order of the day for our trip to Bowdon. A couple of the showers were pretty heavy, but as I wasn’t on the lawn at the time then they didn’t bother me in the slightest. As ever the home team had the advantage in the morning as we acclimatised ourselves to the alien conditions. Ken was the first to finish, comfortably beaten by Barry. The other games went to time. Lorna and Steve used their bisques to get ahead, but when they ran out Lee and Ian then managed to sneak into the lead. However as time ran out a couple of decent hit-ins by first Steve and then Lorna allowed the home side to win +1 on time. The final game to finish, also on time, saw Philip win a war of attrition against Janet +2 and hence at lunch we were behind but not white-washed.

Following an excellent lunch, the afternoon singles showed the benefit we had gained from playing on the lawns in the morning. Philip was the first to finish, making short work of Steve with a +21 thrashing. Barry was going well against Lee until the lawn manager scuppered his chances. For some reason North is now South and South is now North on lawn 1. So after running what used to be 4-back, but is now in fact 2-back, Barry progressed serenely up the middle until after running penult when I pointed out the error of his ways. He never really recovered after that, and once he had run out of bisques Lee took his first ball round to peg, leaving Barry cross-wired at hoop 1, and then finished off the game on the next turn +11.

The other two games both went to time. Ken had a much better game in the afternoon against Lorna, and with not long to go it was peg and rover for Ken against peg and 4-back for Lorna. However Lorna had the innings and managed to peg out shortly before time was called. So the match came down to the final game of Ian vs Janet, or as I like to think of it Aunt Emma vs Aunt Emma. This was nip and tuck all the way, with never more than a hoop or two in it. Towards the end Ian gained the innings and managed to do a hoop here, a hoop there, followed by a 2 hoop break (and a nose bleed) as time was called, leaving him 5 hoops ahead with a bisque still to use. Janet missed her shot and the Fylde team were victorious. All that was left was to return home safely, which we did via a short detour on the road to Chester when the driver missed the turn off.

Posted by Lee, 24th July

FYLDE 5 BURY PEELERS 2

Teams
FYLDE : Alan Morton (14),Betty Bates (14), Ken Harper (14), Philip Bass (20
BURY PEELERS: Paul Kenworthy (2), Ken Anderton (5), Barbara Young (8), Margaret Anderton (11)

Fylde won their first match in this league by beating unbeaten Bury Peelers. The playing conditions were dry and sunny. Fylde got off to a very good start with Betty beating Barbara 26-0 in less than an hour. Ken also made a good start against Paul by taking his first ball to peg however, Paul did the same and a 3 ball game ensued with both player's clips at Hoop 1. Paul's experience earned him a 26-21 win. In the doubles ,Alan and Philip made a good start with Alan getting his ball to Rover with 5 bisques still available to Philip. He made a steady start and then with both players hitting in, enabling progress to be made so that with 5 minutes to play, Fylde were 7 hoops ahead. Then Alan declared a striking fault which allowed Margaret to gain the innings and in her time turn she managed to run 5 hoops before breaking down leaving Fylde with a 21-19 win.

Lunch Fylde 2 Bury P 1
Betty again gave Fylde early success with a 26-0 win over Ken again in just over an hour. Alan clinched the match with a 26-0 win over Paul. Philip then completed three consecutive wins by beating Margaret 26-4. Ken was the unlucky one today as he went down 26-15 to Barbara.

Captain's Note: A personal thanks to my team mates whose contribution to the organisation of the day made my match day much easier.

Posted by Alan, 18th June

Fylde 2 Bowdon St Mary's 5

Fylde; Ron Welch (10), Peter Hallet (12), Betty Bates (14), Philip Bass (20)(Captain).
St Mary's; Dave Holland (4.5)(Captain), Graham Abrahams (8), Adrian Apps (14), Brian Rust (18).

The weather was nice and warm (24 deg C) and sunny as we looked forward to a good contest with Bowdon St Mary's. Bowdon turned up early and the games started promptly at 10 o'clock. Bowdon got off to a good start and led 2 - 1 at lunch time having secured the 2 singles against Ron and Betty. Peter and Philip played well together and managed to secure a good 26-11 win over Dave and Brian in the doubles game. After a splendid lunch (many thanks to Catherine Bass for all the prep work) it was all to play for. To keep us entertained during the afternoon, a kid's outside disco at the SSTC club house fired up which rivalled last week's Pendle's Field Fest concert. Philip won his match against Brian 17-10 and there were really close matches for Betty against Adrian (19-20) and for Ron against Dave (25-26) - that's how it goes sometimes!!

The detailed scores were:
Peter and Philip v Dave and Brian 26-11
Betty v Graham 17-26
Ron v Adrain 3-22
Ron v Dave 25-26
Peter v Graham 12-26
Betty v Adrian 19-20
Philip v Brian 17-10

Posted by Philip, 9th May

Pendle 5 Fylde 2

Well what a bizarre day. Went to Earby to play croquet thankfully the snow had disappeared, but it did drizzle down all day. Earby held its first year of Field Fest which was tribute band day, we could hear the commentary loud and clear. Queen were rubbish, Elton John was just about on key but didnt sound like him at all. Barry White was good as was Tom Jones, Wham and Gary Barlow, unfortunately it was a bit off putting during one match, especially when the sheep in the next field joined in with JesseJ, a note in one of her songs seem to hit the right note with them and everytime the chorus came the sheep baa'd in the same note, like a blinkin' backing group it was well weird! Now off to get a nice warm bath. At least I won one.

Alan also won a hard fought battle against Garry Wilson 26-17. Philip and Lee played in the doubles against Garry and Catherine, unfortunately, got beaten 20-12. It was a closely fought game between Philip and Paul Dowdall, when a wired ball in the closing action, cost Philip the game 26-22. The lunch was good and everyone enjoyed the banter about bizarre mallet design.

The detailed scores were:
Catherine P & Garry W won against Philip & Lee. 20-12
Roger S won against Alan 26-16
Paul D lost to Betty 17-19
Roger S beat Lee 26-0
Garry W lost to Alan 17-26
Catherine P beat Betty 25-17
Paul D beat Philip 26-22

In the game Betty versus Paul Dowdall, Betty played apallingly for the first hour, making every mistake imaginable - missing short roquets, bevelling, off the lawn, under hitting, chiselling the lawn, lifting head etc. At one point Betty was eight hoops behind then started chipping away at the lead, probably helped by the music of Queen's 'Under Pressure'... On his second ball Paul Dowdall was out of bisques then did 11 hoops in one turn (I beleive he did a similar turn against Philip). Betty soldiered on. At time turn Betty was one hoop in front with a ball a little too far away for comfort from 3 back, but she decided to go for the cavalier shot knowing if she missed Paul could only make one hoop at most from his nearest ball if the hoop was missed. Luckily the shot was taken and she scored, balls were then hidden so Paul was unable to make a roquet in his final turn. Phew..

Posted by Betty, 1st May