PWLDGamesPoints
Chester770032-1714
FYLDE761033-1612
Westmorland743028-218
Bowdon Griffins734025-246
Bury6*24019-234
Southport725021-284
Pendle & Craven725020-294
Bowdon Earls6*15011-312
* Void Matches:
Bury v Bowdon Earls

Southport 2 Fylde 5

Weather forecast - rain, wind, pestilence, plague and locusts not far behind. Relegated to the North Lawns (known to NW Fed Jamboree veterans as The Cage) due to flooding on the South, we togged up in all possible waterproofs and commenced our final match mindful that league-leaders Chester were at Pendle for theirs. They win and it's all over; they lose and we win, due to a better goal difference the league is ours!

The rain splattered morning singles had Ian pitted against Keith who was a doughty adversary all day. Ian battled away and even though he lost Keith did not peg out. Leonard's gentle approach to the game got him off and away with a comfortable win over Margaret. The doubles had Fylde taking and holding the lead over Tony and Alan with Terry and Martin prevailing on the slightly less wet of the two lawns. 2 - 1 up at lunch, during which the elements were at their worse.

Gosh! A whole afternoon without rain with sun later on. Margaret found Ian too much of a handful with him pegging out well before time. One more point needed and Terry and Tony were toing and froing before Terry imposed himself within the time limit to seal the deed. Meanwhile your captain was toiling against a very accurate Keith who led from halfway and ran out the victor, and Leonard had a dogged game with Alan but commendably achieved his second win of the day.

An excellent win. Well done and thanks to all who took part this season making an excellent defence of our title.

Stop press from Earby: Chester 2 - 1 up at lunch but the elements prevented any more play and the match was abandoned to be re-played! Oh my goodness the suspense. Watch this space.

Tony Thomas & Alan Farrell lost to Terry and Martin -6
Keith Roberts beat Ian +4
Margaret Dalley lost to Leonard -11
Tony lost to Terry -10
Keith beat Martin +14
Margaret lost to Ian -12
Akan lost to Leonard -5

Posted by Mart, 13th September

Chester 4 Fylde 3

Sunny morning, team in good spirits, bit of a slope here, bit of a slope there, in fact a multiplicity of nuances. Not to be daunted we threw ourselves into it. Betty got a grip on her game with Gareth, and while he rallied she prevailed. Leonard was not so fortunate with John reaching the holy grail in style. By the time the doubles participants all woke up it was almost lunchtime, with little all-round progress until David and Janet accelerated away from Martin and Ken. Home side 2 - 1 ahead; all to play for.

What a close afternoon (weather as well). Ken found Janet in sparkling form, but the other three games were tight affairs. Betty got the better of John, and Martin moved ahead of David before he (David) mounted a rear-guard action but too late. All square and with time running out Gareth discovered he could play after all and crept past Leonard. A very tight finish in this top-of-the-table match.

David & Janet beat Martin & Ken +9
Gareth lost to Betty -3
John beat Leonard +12
David lost to Martin -2
John lost to Betty -6
Janet beat Ken +13
Gareth beat Leonard +2

Posted by Mart, 2nd August

Fylde 5 Bury 2

A golden summer for British sport is in progress. Only yesterday a British winner in the 100 metres (already qualified for the big O) at the World Junior Athletics. Bradley Wiggins with Team Sky continues to dominate the Tour de France; and can our world golf no. 1 Luke Donald bag his first major down t'road next week? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, slightly down the scale, but not much, your Midweek team are dishing it out on the immaculate Midgeland Road lawns. More appropriate thanks and praise could not be forthcoming for our excellent lawn maintenance team who are transforming our little bit of heaven on the Fylde coast (never mind the golf). Now if anyone has a solution to the bunny problem let them speak now.

On paper this match was well balanced on handicaps. In the morning Peter H came up against a resilient Graham who prevailed. Mac took the opportunity to deny Ken of one of his balls, Ken having gone to peg. But Ken battled on, succumbing only after time was called. Geof and Bob in the doubles seemed to have problems with the pace of the lawns, Ruth and Martin being ahead from the start. 2 - 1 down at lunch.

All to play for and Ken was fast out of the traps beating Geof with time to spare. We took the lead after Mac found Peter too hot to handle, and Ruth applied the killer blow against Bob. Martin wrapped things up by squeezing past Graham. Four wins from four with three games to go - well done all.

Martin & Ruth beat Geof Young & Bob Whittle +18
Mac Hardman beat Ken +1t
Graham beat Peter H +19
Martin beat Graham +6
Peter H beat Mac +7
Ken beat Geof +10
Ruth beat Bob +6

Posted by Mart, 11th July

Griffins 3 Fylde 4

Whilst quite a lot of the world was starting another working week, we were bullying off in south Manchester under rather leaden skies but no rain (or Sun). Lawns green and not at as fast as they can be, but even so quick enough. Some tree felling was required for the morning singles, with Alan and Leonard in receipt of multiple bisques. Leonard got his head down in his game with Rupert grinding out a comfortable win. Alan used his forest to give himself plenty of early lawn time against Charles, but the latter was able to eventually get his game in order and himself to the winning post. Terry and Martin were also giving away a fair amount of fibrous material to Carol and John. With clips on hoops 3 and 4 the game became rather marooned in defensive play (doubles - don't you just love it!) then the home duo broke out before the away pairing started to pull themselves together. Fylde just managed to get level before time with Terry covering himself in gold leaf at the extra hoop to gain an unlikely win. 2 - 1 to Fylde at lunch (yummy).

Afternoon singles: Leonard and Alan were up against John and Carol respectively and both were given a hard time by the home players who prevailed. Terry used his few bisques against Charles fairly early on, and with Charles having some problems with hoop running, Terry ran out a comfortable winner. Martin got ahead early in his game with Rupert and another win was secured to give Fylde a 3 - 4 win. Well done folks; three out of three.

Results:
Carol Steinburg & John Saxby lost to Terry & Martin -1T
Charles Harding beat Alan +8
Rupert Webb lost to Leonard -12T
Charles lost to Terry -12
Rupert lost to Martin -11
Carol beat Alan +16
John beat Leonard +14

Posted by Mart, 11th June

Fylde 5 Bowdon Earls 2

Fylde : Terry Vernazza (7), Ian Theakstone (12), Leonard Ainsworth (20), Ruth Rendle (20).
Bowdon Earls: Francois Garcia (3½), Patrick Cheyne (12), Helen Hudson (16), Chris Evans (24).

Clear blue skies and bright sunshine greeted the Bowdon team for their match at Fylde and it remained warm and sunny all day. Ian Theakstone revelled in the conditions and put together several good breaks to defeat his opponent, Helen Hudson, well within time. In the other singles game, Leonard Ainsworth and Patrick Cheyne had a much closer game. Both players used their bisques well and scored several hoops. However, Leonard eventually established a good lead and held on to win + 8 on time. In the doubles game, there was a much greater tactical battle, with Ruth and Terry managing to give Fylde an early lead. However, Francois responded with a very good break which enabled the Bowdon pair to take control of the game, eventually winning +5 on time.

In the afternoon games, Ian was again showing good form beating Patrick Cheyne +12 well within time. Terry used his bisques well to establish a good early lead over Francois. Play then see-sawed between the two players, but Terry prevailed and pegged out on the time turn. Ruth also had a close game with Chris Evans. The lead kept swapping as the two players used their bisques, until Ruth moved well ahead to win + 11 on time. In the final game, both players scored a number of hoops with the use of their bisques. Helen managed to forge ahead towards the end of the game and Leonard was unable to make up the deficit, giving Helen a +7 win on time. A beautiful day for playing croquet and a good win for Fylde.

Terry Vernazza and Ruth Rendle lost to Francois Garcia and Chris Evans -5
Ian Theakstone beat Helen Hudson +14
Leonard Ainsworth beat Patrick Cheyne + 8
Terry Vernazza beat Francois Garcia +12
Ian Theakstone beat Patrick Cheyne +12
Leonard Ainsworth lost to Helen Hudson -7
Ruth Rendle beat Chris Evans +11
After their wins today, both Terry and Ruth triggered a handicap reduction.

Posted by Terry, 22nd May

Fylde 7 Westmorland 0

Fylde: Liz Wilson (2), Terry Vernazza (7), Martin Bradshaw (8), Ken Harper (14).
Westmorland: John Shakespeare (10), Ivan Wheatley (12), Jim Allcock (16), David MacInnes (20).

This was Fylde's first midweek game of the season and the sun was out, helping the lawns to finally dry out after the weekend deluge. In the singles, Ken was playing Jim Allcock. Although Jim had a lot of lawn time as he used his bisques, Ken kept in touch and slowly pulled in front. he eventually pegged out to win +9 well within time. Martin was slow to get into his rhythm and his opponent Ivan Wheatley started to pull ahead. However, Martin responded and eventually put a good final break together to overhaul Ivan and win +3. Liz and Terry were giving a lot of bisques away in the doubles and played defensively to start. John Shakespeare took his ball round to penult and tried to help David to make progress. Terry hit in for the home team and took his ball round in two breaks. Liz then put together a good break to enable Fylde to win +11. Lunch in the sun followed with an excellent plum crumble to set the players up for the afternoon games.

Terry was in excellent form, taking both his balls round in single breaks. He eventually pegged out to win +15. Ken had a similar game to his morning match, keeping in touch while his opponent, David MacInnes, used his bisques. Ken then surged ahead to win +14. John Shakespeare with 8 bisques built up a commanding lead against Liz and with a ½ hour to go was on peg with both balls whilst Liz was on rover and 2! John pegged out one of his balls but Liz kept calm and clawed it back pegging out to win the game. Martin and Jim were also having a close game and with 15 minutes to go were only separated by two hoops. The innings changed hands several times before Martin pulled ahead to win +7.

Liz Wilson and Terry Vernazza beat John Shakespeare and David MacInnes +11.
Martin Bradshaw beat Ivan Wheatley +3.
Ken Harper beat Jim Allcock +9.
Liz Wilson beat John Shakespeare + 1.
Terry Vernazza beat Ivan Wheatley +15.
Martin Bradshaw beat Jim Allcock +7.
Ken Harper beat David MacInnes +14.

Posted by Terry, 3rd May