Author: nigelmartin

Our first team played its final Division 1 match in the Croquet North GC League away against Bamburgh on Friday 23 August.

Fortunately the wet weather had disappeared by the time we arrived, but the strong winds continued (with lots of sun) for the rest of the day,

Unfortunately, it took our team of Andrew, Dave, Nigel, and William a good while to get used to the lawns at Bamburgh, so that we comprehensively lost the first two sessions (although all the games were very close). Thereafter we had the better of the the results, but not enough to overcome the deficit, so that we lost the match 10½ – 7½.

Many thanks to Bamburgh for their hospitality, especially the excellent home-made scones topped with home-made Scottish(!) raspberry jam.

Our quarter-final match in the 2024 Murphy Shield competition took place against Chester on Thursday 18 July on their lawns at Westminster Park, Chester.

The morning session ended all square with each side winning one of the singles and the double being tied at one game each with the3 deciding game being deferred to later if necessary.

The afternoon matches also finished even 2-2, so with the match tied at 3-3 it was necessary to play the deciding game in the doubles. This turned out to be a tense affair with both sides ganging and losing advantage, but Chester eventually prevailed 7-5 and so go on to meet Watford in the semi-final.

Many thanks to Chester for their warm hospitality (and for providing very warm weather too), and to Andrew, Nigel, Roger and William for making up the team.

The Division 3 match took place at Belsay on Friday 28 June, where our second team narrowly lost to their second team 8-10. Many thanks to Kathleen, Ken, Richard and Susan for making up the team.

Congratulations to our team of Andrew, Nigel, Roger and William following their victory over the team from Branston in the latest round of the Murphy Shield competition.

This was the second time we have played Branston, who hail from just south of Lincoln and again it was played at York as a convenient mid-way spot. The York lawns are also kept in very good condition in spite of fears over the activities of local urban foxes!

With 3 of the 7 matches going to the decider in the best-of 3 format, it was actually closer than the match result indicates.

The weather forecast was for rain from late-afternoon, but all were relieved to have proceedings over before then.

Many thanks to Branston for a good match and to York for their hospitality.

Our first match in the Croquet North Division 1 GC League took place on Saturday 25 May when we beat our visitors Auckland by 16 games to 2 at the Riverside in Chester-le-Street.

Congratulations to our team: Andrew, Peter, Roger, and William.