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.

Our second team welcomed newcomers Jarrow i on Wednesday 15 May at Chester-le-Street for our first Division 3 match of the Croquet North GC League in 2024.

Our team of Arthur, Derek, Madeleine and Natalie got off to a sparkling start winning all the morning games, After lunch, Jarrow got more accustomed to our lawns and put up a spirited display managing to share the spoils. So the final score was a win to Durham: 13.5 to 4.5.

Our match against Branston in the national Inter-Club Murphy Shield competition has been arranged for Thursday 13 June and will take place on neutral territory at York Croquet Club.

Our second team will be entertaining Jarrow in their first match of the 2024 season on Wednesday 15 May. As a result there will be no no roll-up play that day, although spectators will be very welcome.

Played on Thursday 25 April 2024 at Chester-le-Street

Durham was pleased to welcome Pendle for the first competitive match of the season, with the lawns in very good shape after the winter treatment by the council groundsmen.  The teams were:
Durham: William Steadman (1), Andrew Carpenter (2), Nigel Martin (3) and George Cansino (7)
Pendle: Paul Dowdall (2), Libby Dixon (3), Mike Bradbury (4) and Andrea Widdison (6)

During a cold and cloudy morning, William and Andrew beat Paul and Libby in the doubles 7-4, 7-6, Nigel beat Andrea 7-1, 7-2, and Mike beat George 7-5, 7-4; leaving it 2-1 to Durham at lunch.

Following heavy rain over lunch time, the skies cleared to give a sunny afternoon where the spoils were shared with Paul beating William 7-6, 4-7, 7-5, Andrew beat Libby 7-3, 7-5, Nigel beat Mike 7-6, 7-4, and Andrea beat George 7-5, 7-4.

So a victory to Durham by 4 matches to 3, accompanied by much appreciated homemade cake and biscuits.

We have again entered the Murphy Shield competition (national club knock-out competition with restricted handicaps) and will be playing our Preliminary Round match against Pendle at Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street on Thursday 25 April.

This involves the use of both lawns and is an all-day match (a doubles and two singles before lunch and four singles after lunch – each match the best of three level-play games). As a consequence, there will be no club roll-up play that day.

Spectators are, of course, welcome.