Chester 4 fylde 5

Chester: Derek Bell-Jones 2.5, Helen Brophy 3.5, Sarah Clements 5.
Fylde: Alison Broughton 5, Barry Broughton 5, Robert Bentwood 8.

Fylde arrived early at Chester after a very smooth journey - early enough to be there before the home team, some of whom cut it a bit fine ! After helping to set the lawns up we were able to have a knock up and soon discovered how fast the lawns were running… even faster than Bowdon!

Alison really struggled to get to grips with the speed of the lawns and despite some excellent hit ins and roquets couldn’t keep her balls on the lawn with the croquet shots. Barry and Robert both fared better winning their 1st round matches.

Close games in the 2nd round with Robert winning again 8-5 and Alison losing 7-6, both teams finding the lawns hard to handle. Our 3rd and final round, as Chester were only able to muster 3 players, saw another win for Robert and after time a win for Alison at last with a score of 6-4!
Well done Robert - that’s another Mars Bar I owe !

Posted by Alison, 29th May 2026

Fylde 8 Bowdon Weekenders 8

Fylde: Lee Hartley 3P, Betty Bates 1.5, Barry Broughton 5 , Derek Matthews 8.
Weekenders: John Lambie 4, Mike Dale 6, Alison Acton 7, Philip Thompson 7

Fylde hosted the Weekenders in the AC Short Croquet league this weekend. The weather played its part with the rain holding off all day and we even managed some blue sky and intermittent sunshine.
A good start for Fylde winning 3 out of the 4 games in the first round. The tables were turned in the 2nd round with Bowdon winning 3 out of 4 meaning all level at lunchtime.

After lunch Fylde were in top form again, taking 3 games meaning we needed at least 2 wins in round 4 to win overall. However those tables were turned again with Bowdon taking 3 wins to draw level.
Well done to Lee winning all 4 of his matches - I owe him a Mars Bar 🙂

Posted by Alison, 15th May 2026

Bowdon Weekdayers 11 Fylde 5

Bowdon: Nigel Matthews 4P, Ken Cooper 3P, Charles Harding 2P, John Bagnall 3.5.
Fylde: Betty Bates 2.5, Barry Broughton 5, Alison Broughton 6, Robert Bentwood 8.

Playing Bowdon is always a tough draw but especially for the first match of the season. It was a lovely sunny day and as expected the lawns were running fast and true. We were playing with brand new sets of Invictus balls, donated in memory of a former club member, Colin Irwin. Betty struggled to get to grips with these super shiny balls and her inability to rush the balls meant that she got annoyed with herself, losing both morning games. She fared better post lunch and the match against Ken was better although scrappy with both players getting stuck in the hoops. At one point Betty rolled to the left of hoop and she opted for an angled jump shot which paid off.

Robert enjoyed visiting his old stomping ground but like all of us found the lawns tricky to judge. Alison was able to find the pace early on and enjoyed hitting in straight lines ! She was wired by Nigel which helped her final hit in, winning 14-2. She then lost the next 2 games before coming good again against Charles. Playing brown with her green ball for hoop 6, a roquet managed to lodge the green in the hoop so she was able to peel them through and finish off. Barry felt he lost 2 matches because he used his bisque’s irrationally, unused to playing against minus players.

Posted by Alison, 20th April 2026