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Saturday and Sunday 1 and 2 October 2005

Finals Weekend

This is the time when all the competitions which are held throughout the year reach their final stage and the trophies sit out waiting to be claimed.

Saturday morning brought a rare treat for spectators. The Club's best two players met in the Advanced form of Association Croquet. Marcus Evans, 20, fresh from his success at the World Championships played Kriss Chambers, 23, who has recently returned to Croquet after gaining his degree. The early stages were tense with both players making mistakes and the initiative changed several times. In the end it was Kriss who hit a vital long shot and took the game beyond the reach of Marcus. Kriss was particularly pleased to receive the trophy as it was donated by the late Roy Dyer when Kriss won the first Advanced Play Final in 1996.

On an adjacent lawn, Jim Field and Jim Gregory were battling it out on a competition designed for high handicaps. Jim Field entered the competition in May but his handicap has since plummeted and he was the clear favourite. However, due to a tactical error on his part and dogged determination and steady play by Jim Gregory, the game did not go as expected and Jim Gregory won +4.

In the afternoon, Marcus Evans met Peter Dyke in the Level Play Golf Croquet. Peter has had an excellent year in Golf but made it more difficult for himself by playing the wrong ball when the scores were close so Marcus retained his title by winning +3. In the Golf Doubles, Gwyn Doyle and Andrew Buchanan played Jim Gregory and Vera Casson. The game was close and fiercely competitive with Jim and Vera eventually winning +2.

Next to face Jim Gregory was David Hunt in Short Croquet. David played well but needed to use valuable bisques when he failed to run hoops so Jim won the game +9.

At the same time, Marcus was making very short work of the Club Singles Final in which he played Jim Field. Marcus won +12 in less than an hour. It is a great achievement for Marcus with a handicap of -1½ to win this competition as he faced more than 20 bisques in some of the qualifying matches.

Marcus then played Jim Gregory and a forest of bisques in the Handicapped Golf Final. In spite of the bisques, Marcus won +3 and headed off to London to play for Nottingham in the national Club Final.

In his last of 5 matches in the day, Jim Gregory faced Brian McCausland in the handicapped One-Ball Final. This was Brian's first appearance in a Club Final and the fading light made it even more memorable. Brian won +2 as the moon came out!

Sunday morning brought Jim Gregory out again, this time to contest the LARS plate against Ian Telfer. Jim used his bisques well but when Ian Telfer eventually got on to the lawn after several missed long roquets, he showed his class by putting excellent breaks together and won +7.

Pat Long and Greta Stringer had 2 games, first the Level Play One-Ball then the Ladies Singles. The One-Ball was a relaxed and fun game which Pat won +7. For the Ladies Singles, there was a large audience and much more tension. In the early, stages, the game could have gone either way but Pat established a big lead and won +19.

Also in the afternoon, Jim Gregory was still on his feet playing Brian McCausland in the Over-50s Final. This had been a difficult Final to reach with 20 entrants for the competition. Both players were keen to win but it was Brian who took the trophy home after a +11T victory.

Rob Royffe won the High Bisquers competition +8 after a spirited fight from Sheila Ware. Andrew Terry won the Beginners Competition +7T with Jinx Newley runner-up. Andrew and Jinx are both promising new players.

The weekend was rounded off with an American Supper and presentation of the trophies by Club President Bob Mann. Jim Field was named Most Improved Player with runner-up Jim Gregory. The Ladies' award for improvement went to Linda Shaw with runner-up Pat Long.

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