Category: News

Please note that, due to a home Division 2 league match against Tyneside on 15 July, there will be no regular roll-up play that day. Spectators are, of course, very welcome to help cheer on the team.

Having lost the first two of our Croquet North Division 1 matches this season, our team of Andrew, Dave, Peter and Tony stopped the slide with a comfortable 15-3 win over Tyneside away at their lawns in Exhibition Park in Newcastle.

A quick look at the Croquet North web site shows that, although we are third, we have won as many individual games as the second team and nearly as many as the top on, showing how close the league is this season.

On Tuesday 4 July, eight of us went down to Bishop Monkton for our return friendly, and had a very close match. 

At lunchtime we were level on hoops, but took a decisive lead in the next set with Libby and William racking up a 7-0 win.  This lasted until the last set when Roger and William lost 7-2.  Luckily Kathleen and Dave, and Libby and George won their games to ensure a victory by 128 hoops to 127!

We have several matches coming up in the next 2-3 weeks, one of which affects normal club play.

On Saturday July 1, in Division 1 of the Croquet North GC League, we have a home match against Bamburgh, which has always proved a competitive event. This League match means that we shall be using both lawns at Chester-le-Street, so normal club play that day will not be available, but spectators are always welcome.

This is followed by two away matches in Division 1, first on Saturday 8 July against Tyneside at Exhibition Park in Newcastle in a match rearranged from May, and secondly our first ever match against Backworth on Wednesday 12 July.

In between on Tuesday 4 July, we have our return friendly away to Bishop Monkton near Ripon.

Altogether a busy month ahead.

Our club is hosting Bishop Monkton for one of our regular friendly matches against the Yorkshire club on Wednesday 24 May. Consequently there will not be any general play that day.

The Croquet North Golf Croquet Leagues have now started with the addition in Division 1 of Backworth, but sadly with the loss of Belsay in that division.

The first game for Durham was in Division 1 where we hosted Auckland, in a very close match that Auckland won by the narrowest of margins 9½ – 8½. The team was Andrew, Dave, Peter, and Roger.

Our Division 2 team of George, Kathleen, Madeleine, and Richard have played the first Division 2 match away to Alnmouth Greens and came away with a 10-6 win. Congratulations to them especially given the “challenging” nature of their greens.

We have been informed that the Council wishes to close the greens from 19 September so that winter maintenance can begin.

This means that the final day for croquet there will be Saturday 17 September.

If there is interest in continuing, we shall talk to the Auckland Club at Chilton about repeating arrangements that we have had in the past.

The Chester-le-Street lawns are being used for the Turner Goblet, Croquet North’s GC Open Singles competition) on Saturday 10 September, which means that the lawns will be unavailable for roll-up play that day.

The annual John Cotes Trophy competition took place on Thursday 18 August with a good turnout.

The eventual winner was Peter Tymms who beat Nigel Martin 7-4 in the final. William Steadman won the Plate competition.

Our team of Roger Carpenter, Tony McCann, Nigel Martin and Peter Tymms travelled north to Alnmouth to play our final Division 1 league match of the 2022 season.

The rain gods decided to have their say for the first set of games, but thereafter things dried up and by the afternoon conditions were comfortably warm.

Durham started well and got to the lunch break with a 6-3 lead. With the ground drying out, gauging the nuances of the Alnmouth greens seemed to get more difficult, and the afternoon session was tied. So overall it was a 10½ – 7½ victory to Durham.

Many thanks to Alnmouth for their hospitality, including a mention for the chocolate cornflake buns topped with smarties – delicious.