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2 May 2025 - Clapp narrowly misses out on victory in his maiden tournament
Russell Robinson reports:
Three of our members, Liz Smith, Carol Huntington and Bob Clapp, joined 13 others from around the country on a gloriously sunny day for our ‘C’-level GC level-play tournament, for those of 7 handicap and above, part of the Croquet England National Series. 
Smith had the best return of the morning session, winning all three of her block games, two of which were tense tussles won at the 13th hoop. 
Clapp, playing in his first tournament, having learnt to play only last year, also qualified for the main afternoon knock-out by winning two of his three morning games against lower handicap players. 
Huntington followed her disappointment at the 13th hoop in her opening game with another loss in the second, but recovered to win her third.  This put her into the Plate competition where she fared better, finishing 11th overall, and her three wins against supposedly stronger opponents left her in positive “points” territory for the day.

In the afternoon, Smith was a comfortable 7-4 winner in her quarter-final, and Clapp the more so, completing a 7-1 trouncing of his unfortunate foe by hooping from 21 yards. 

This pitched Smith and Clapp against each other in the semi, where they traded hoops in a close battle up to 4-4 before Clapp eased into another gear to wrap it up at the 11th.  Smith therefore played off against Andrew Jackson for third place, which was another very close affair, leading to a long battle at the 13th which Smith ultimately won. 

Her five wins and one loss on the day were more than enough to reduce her handicap to a career best of 7.

The final matched Clapp up against Ian Prince of High Wycombe for the second time in the day, Prince having been the only player to have got the better of the debutant when they met at the group stage. 

Clapp played the better of the two in the early exchanges, and only a 20-year clearance by Prince stopped him from almost certainly going 2-5 down. 

After the game then levelled at 4-4, Clapp appeared to again establish dominance with a 6-5 lead and “first-up” advantage at the 12th. 

However he was unable to convert his chances at that hoop and the game went to another nail-biting finish at the “golden” hoop. 

Prince rather fortuitously hit a long approach shot through the back of the hoop leaving the ball six inches in front, blocking Clapp’s would-be winning hoop attempt. 

Although Clapp managed a difficult partial clearance, he was always second favourite from that point and after he failed with an angled hoop shot for glory, Prince tapped in to take the game and lift the trophy. 

Despite the valiant efforts by Clapp and Smith to keep the trophy at Phyllis Court (it having been won by Kevin Ward in 2023 and Pete Falle in 2024), it must be said that Prince, undefeated throughout the day was a worthy winner, certainly belying his ranking as the second-highest handicap in the field.

26 April 2025 - PCC 'Federations Shield' B Team (Advantage) beat James Death's Cheltenham
PCC 'FS' B   5 - 1   Cheltenham

report to come . . . 
PCC 'FS' B - Raghu Iyer (4), Rob Eagle (5), Jeff Smith (5), Helen Essa (6)
25 April 2025 - PCC 'C' suffer narrow loss to Caversham
PCC 'C'   7 - 9   Caversham

Phyllis Court ‘C ‘suffered and unexpected 7-9 loss to a resurgent Caversham team who won at the Heney club for the first time in the Southern Croquet Federation Advantage (handicap) league on Friday.

The ‘C’ got off to a tidy start, with Patricia Mulcahy, Hugh Crook and captain Rob Eagle all winning their first-round games for a 3-1 lead but then suffered a complete reverse of fortunes in the second round when only Helen Essa was victorious, as Caversham levelled the team match score at 4-4.

Caversham too that momentum into, what tuned out to be, the deciding third round in which only Eagle won for Phyllis Court, and when only Essa and Crook won in the last round, the damage had been done, and Caversham were rightly cock-a-hoop at their deserved 7-9 victory.

Despondent in the movement, Phyllis Court ‘C’ have a long season ahead with plenty of matches remaining to mount a league title challenge, but they do have a long lay off until their next match on 6 June against High Wycombe Kites.

Before then Phyllis Court ‘D’ have two matches in the same league, versus High Wycombe Kestrels and Blewbury ‘D’ on 16th and 30th May respectively.

PCC 'C' - Patricia Mulcahy (4), Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6), Hugh Crook (7)
Julia Green with the spoils of victory
(Photo by Jonathan Pendennis)
23 April 2025 - Green wins our National D-Level (10+) Series tournament - ahead of 13 other PCC players

Julia Green won a Phyllis Court dominated National D-Level (10+) Series tournament held at the Henley Club last week and now sits atop of the national points table for that competition.

She made a stuttering start in losing to the much-improved Eva Kompanik 2-7 in her first game, as her club mate went on to win twice mor to win their morning block of four players.

After that Green did not put a foot wrong and qualified for the afternoon knock-out behind Kompanik, with victors over George Mowatt and Cathie McEntee, 7-4 and 7-3 respectively.

Phyllis Court players dominated that eight knock-out, with only Woking’s Stella Dutton, who looked to be the strongest player in the field, denying the host club a whitewash.

Dutton was swept aside easily 7-1 in the quarter-finals by Green in her best performance of the day and she was joined in the all-Phyllis Court semis by Maureen Ward, Philip Rowley and Des Walsh, who respectively beat Jonathan Pendennis 7-6, Lainey Summers 7-2 and Eva Kompanink 7-6.

On an increasing windy and cold afternoon, Green beat Ward 7-5 and Rowley got last Walsh 7-4 to set up a final which, by then, was too close to call.

Green seemed to have the momentum on her side and established a strong 5-3 lead before conceding hoop 9 to Rowley in favour of maintaining her lead with a first approach to hoop 10, but the Rowley came right back into it with an unexpected score from long range for 5-5.

Green converted her first approach to hoop 11 but then missed a crucial tournament winning clearance at hoop 12 allowing Rowley to tie again at 6-6.

Going to the last and deciding hoop, as befitted an excellently contested final, Green sent her first ball very long, Rowley didn’t manage to capitalise and the Green courted disaster by hitting Rowley’s ball in to an improved position from distance.

A few stokes later, Green took position instead of clearing, calculating that Rowley wouldn’t score from six yards and that paid off when he hit a hoop leg and, a clearance later, Green scored the winner from three yards.

The finalists and third and fourth places finishers, Ward and Walsh, all scored points towards the national D-Level Series competition, and together with other Phyllis Court players will hope to add to their tallies at linked tournaments around the country.

21 April 2025 - PCC '4+'score comfortable win in new National Inter-Club Bowl (Tier 3)
PCC '4+'   5 - 2   Swindon B

report to come . . . 
PCC '4+' - Patricia Mulcahy (4), Kevin Ward (5), Michael Marcel (5), Pete Falle (6)
19 April 2025 - 'Double Giant Killer' Falle beats Welsh national team captain on a remarkable day at Blewbury

report to come . . . 
16 April 2025 - PCC 'B' let strong lead slip and have to settle for a draw
PCC 'B'   4 - 4  High Wycombe B

A draw isn't a loss, but it sure was a disappointing result for PCC 'B' at home today, when they surrendered a 3-1 half-time lead to High Wycombe's higher handicappers who they had on the ropes.
Wycombe actually started the better, winning all four first games of the morning best-of-three singles matches, only to see Phyllis Court tie-up each match with second game victories.
Raghu Iyer was all over Wycombe captain Michael Bowker in their decider and won his match decisively 5-7, 7-2, 7-1, whilst Dianne Browne and Alastair Broom were made to work harder for their respective 4-7, 7-5, 7-5 and 6-7, 7-3, 7-6 victories.
Only Mike Fensome failed to deliver Phyllis Court a win, and he went down to Wycombe's Martin Dock 6-7, 7-3, 3-7, which gave the visitors some hope for the four afternoon singles matches.
Browne was the first to faulter for Phyllis Court when she went down 6-7, 5-7 in a typically fast paced match, but home confidence soon returned when Fensome made amends for his morning loss with a straight games 7-2, 7-6 win over Bowker to secure the draw and leave his side needing a win in e either of the remaining two matches, which were both balanced at one game all.
Both Broom and Iyer got ahead in those crucial games but the former was overhauled at the crucial hoop 9 and went down 7-5, 4-7, 4-7, and the latter got to withing half a ball of success when he stuck in hoop 12, was beautifully jumped by Dock and was hampered with his first approach stroke to the final hoop 13..
Iyer's woe was felt through the whole team for this was a match they they should have won and it remains to be seen just how important this missed opportunity will be come the end of this league season.
PCC 'B' - Mike Fensome (3), Raghu Iyer (4), Dianne Browne (4), Alastair Broom (5)
14 April 2025 - PCC '1+' make hard work of defeating game opponents in National Inter-Club Shield (Tier 2).
PCC '1+'   5.5 - 1.5   Camerton & Peasedown

On paper visitors Camerton & Peasedown from near Bath, should have been no match for a strong Phyllis Court line-up today, but on grass it was a very different story.
Only captain Andy Jones for the home side looked in good form, and even he was troubled more than expected by Camerton's higher handicappers who played to well above their grades.
Jones won his morning singes in straight games but both Mike Fensome and doubles pair Roger Goldring & Helena Fensome were held at 1-1 in their morning matches.
Goldring lost the number 1 players' head-to-head' match to fellow handicap 1 player David Richards, before Jones restored Phyllis Court's lead with another straight games win the the number 3 match.
Helena Fensome let the middle game go on her way to eventually winning her match 2-1, to take Phyllis Court to needing one more win for the team match victory.
Eyes then fell on Mike Fensome's deciding game in the number 4 match which he looked to be in control of at 5-4 up, until an ill-advised hoop attempt at hoop 10 with his opponent in the jaws, failed disastrously when he peeled the Camerton player for her score, and the advantage of first approach to hoop 11.
Fensome recovered that with an excellent centre-ball clearance at 11 that he had to make, but the game still went to hoop 13 when more close quarter hoop drama finally went Fensome's and Phyllis Court's way.
Having won the team match the hard way, the resumed doubles match was close to it's end, so was played out and also won by Phyllis Court at the 13th hoop, making the score-line a very flattering 5.5 - 1.5.
Phyllis Court will play Guildford and Godalming in the next round on a May date to be arranged.
PCC '1+' - Roger Goldring (1), Andy Jones (2), Helena Fensome (2), Mike Fensome (3)
13 April 2025 - Late call-up Raunkiaer gets 4th, and Falle is 10th at SCF Champion of Champions' (GC) 
Ruth Raunkiaer added 'late replacement player' to her duty as Tournament Referee, and finished a very creditable fourth, at the Southern Croquet Federation (SCF) 'Champion of Champions' GC tournament, played to Advantage rules, at Hamptworth today.
Phyllis Court's nominated representative was Pete Falle (a semi-finalist in our own Advantage competition last season) and he ended off the pace rather in tenth place.
The tournament was superbly managed throughout by our Andy Jones, who is the Secretary of the SCF.
 12 April 2025 -  Undefeated Robinson is the SCF 'Champion of Champions' (AC)  - retaining the Cup for Phyllis Court
Russell Robinson won the Southern Federation Champion of Champions association croquet (AC) tournament on Saturday for Phyllis Court, retaining the trophy won last season by Patricia Mulcahy.

Robinson (AC handicap 7) was undefeated in his five games to top the field of ten, who were all their respective club handicap competition champions of 2024, so his achievement marked him as the best of the best.

Played at Hamptworth CC, near Salisbury, this was Robinson’s first AC tournament away from the manicured playing surface at Phylis Court and he did well to adjust to the bumpier conditions at the Hampshire club.

He started against Mike Roberts (Basingstoke, HC 9), conceding one bisque (extra turn) in this tournament of half-length 14-point games, and controlled a dour game well to win 8-0 on time, mostly scoring one hoop at a time and leaving his opponent long hit-ins which he consistently missed. 

Robinson’s second game was against Andy Miekle (East Dorset, 4.5) and was another low scoring affair in which he was able to pull away when Miekle failed to run hoop 2 twice, allowing Robinson to keep back his 1.5 bisques until very late in the game to defend his lead, to win 7-3.

Joe King (Blewbury, -1) was the second lowest handicapper in the event, and when encountered by Robinson in the third round, it was a meeting of the only two undefeated players, and even with two rounds to follow, defeat would be terminal for the loser.

Robinson had the luxury of 4.5 bisques for this game and was lucky enough to win the toss and wisely put King in to play first, a ploy that worked when King missed on the third turn, and Robinson pounced, using 1.5 bisques to set up a four-ball break, which he took round to peg, with an all-round break of 12 hoops.

He added the deft touch of cross-wiring (hiding the opponent’s balls behind a hoop) leaving King only a very long shot to get back into the game, and when he missed, Robinson had an easy hit-in and felt very confident of repeating his previous all-round break with his second ball, using his 3 remaining bisques.

But croquet is a fickle game and having used one bisque to set up another 4-ball break, Robinson stuck in hoop 1 and then immediately missed a short shot and so took his final bisque but then broke down at the final hoop.

A very good defensive game was then called for, to limit King’s opportunities and King only managed one hoop on his final turn before missing an 8-foot roquet, and Robinson won convincingly 11-1.

Richard Coward (High Wycombe, 7) was next in Robinson’s firing line, and he was pleased to play a level game, which he controlled well to capitalise on Coward’s poor form to win 11-3.

Going into the last round, Robinson was ahead of the field on four wins, one ahead of King and Tim O’Donnell (Hamptworth -1.5) on three, so Robinson’s game with the latter became the de-facto tournament final, because victory for O’Donnell would bring him level on game wins, and the title on the ‘who beat whom’ tie-break.

As in his third-round game, Robinson was fortunate to win the toss again and he made O’Donnell play first, hoping to repeat the same line of play used to see off the other low handicapper, King.

O’Donnell duly narrowly missed his third turn hit-in on the east boundary and left a double target which Robinson hit, giving him control of the game cheaply, and he set-up a break with 1 bisque (of his 4.5 entitlement).

Robinson used another bisque on his way to the peg, and following a missed long hit-in by O’Donnell, Robinson took a half bisque, to set up a 4-ball break and then a full bisque to begin, what turned out to be, a splendid winning turn to peg-out without needing his final bisque.

This was the only time Robinson had pegged out in the day, and he had saved his best until last, limiting the star player to just three strokes, and O’Donnell extremely gracious, recounting how he had won the same tournament as an improving seven handicapper in similar circumstances in 2017.

Southern Croquet Federation Chairman and tournament manager Peter Allan also remarked that he too had done the same, as he presented the cup to Robinson, who is clearly moving upwards in the sport.

11 April 2025 - Undefeated Eagle leads PCC 'C' to victory in traditional SCF Advantage League Opener
PCC 'C'  11 - 5  PCC 'D'
Rob Eagle won all four of his games this afternoon as he captained PCC 'C' to a comfortable victory over PCC 'D' lead by Ruth Raunkiaer.
Helen Essa was only one hoop away from achieving the same feat but was beaten by that single point by Carol Huntington.
There was some good play on show in this encounter and both teams can expect successful seasons ahead on this evidence.
And is not long before the next match in this Advantage League - PCC 'C' will entertain Caversham at Phyllis Court on 25 April.
PCC 'C' - Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6), Pete Falle (6), Liz Smith (8)
PCC 'D' - Ruth Raunkiaer (7), Carol Huntington (9), Ramsay Adams (9), Daphne Spiers (11)
9 April 2025 - Our Charity One Ball heat raises over £ 300 for the Alzheimer's Society
 
Report of a lovely day in the sun - to come (shortly) . . .
6 April 2025 - Mike Fensome beats the favourite and just misses the final by a single hoop, on Day 2 of our National A-level (0+) Series tournament
                         - Roger Goldring wins the Plate event
Mike Bilton (Gainsborough) won the Main event (Photo by Patricia Mulcahy)

Phyllis Court’s Mike Fensome rolled back the years to produce the surprise performance of the weekend to get to withing one hoop of the final at the national A-Level (0+) Series tournament jointly hosted at High Wycombe.

He and club mate Patricia Mulcahy started at the two bottom seeds in the 16-player event, with national ranking numbers well below the rest of the field, having won converted places from the reserves list due to withdrawals, so it looked like being a hard weekend for the pair.

However, both had presented very different credentials by lunchtime on Saturday with two wins each in their first three games, to surprise playing rivals and home supporters on the sidelines and following the results on-line.

Playing at Phyllis Court, Fensome was the model of consistency and used home knowledge of the run of the courts to take scoring positions time and again; a precision that brought the reward of four wins from seven and fourth place in his block, to qualify for the main knock-out on the second day.

Also qualifying from Phylis Court, though rather more predictably, was Frieth’s Rick Lilley who won his first four before surprisingly falling away later in the day.

At High Wycombe, Mulcahy was on excellent form, and she picked up the same qualifying four wins, that included crowing rights over of Phyllis Court clubmates Andy Jones, who also qualified and Roger Goldring who didn’t.

Coming back from injury, Helena Fensome did well to last the long day, but her two wins consigned her to the day two consolation plate event alongside Goldring.

Sweeping the board at High Wycombe, was the top seed Ian Shore and he looked a hot favourite going into the second day on his home courts, which took their bi-annual turn to host the main event knock-out.

Fensome’s fourth place qualification, saw him pitted against the undefeated Shore, which looked to be a tall order for the Phyllis Court man, but he made short work of the job, and defeated Shoe 7-4, 7-3.

Mulcahy went out in the first round 1-7, 6-7, to the eventual winner, Mike Bilton from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, Jones lost to Wrest Park’s Leas Heard 6-7, 7-5, 4-7, and Lilley never got going in a 2-7, 1-7 loss to last years winner Paul Gun from Wingrave.

Fensome’s dispatch of Shore had really put the cat amongst the pigeons, and when he won the first of his best-of-three game semi-final 7-4 against Heard, his outsider tag had been well and truly discarded.

Heard won the second game 5-7 and the third went all the way to the deciding thirteenth hoop, where an accidental touch of his ball in linin-up by Fensome, was cruel way to seal his fate, when it gave Heard a simple tap in for the win 6-7.

Fensome and Gunn agreed to not to play-off third place at the end of an exhausting two days, and Lilley, Jones and Mulcahy finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

In the consolation Plate event at Phyllis Court on Sunday, Goldring recovered well from his previous day’s woe and his five wins were one better than the rest and enough for victory in that event and Helena Fensome again lasted the day to finished in thirteenth overall.

 

All the results detail is on  - here is a link - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/england-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe

(Note: Helena Fensome, competes under her Finnish name Helena Jansson)

Roger Goldring won the Plate event
(Photo by Chris Roberts)
5 April 2025 - Underdogs Patricia Mulcahy & Mike Fensome enjoy great Day 1 at our A-level (0+) Series tournament
 
Mulcahy and Fensome both enjoyed fabulous days and scored four wins to qualify unexpectedly for the main knock-out tomorrow (to be held at High Wycombe CC).
And both did it from bottom seed position in their respective blocks - which was quite a feat!
Also qualifying were Andy Jones and Rick Lilley, giving Phyllis Court half of the main qualifying field eight.
Roger Goldring and Helena Fensome had poor days and their two wins apiece, which  sees them heading to the Phyllis Court for the consolation Plate event tomorrow (Sunday)

 

The results from both venues will be posted on 'Croquet Scores' in as close to real time as I can manage.

Here is a link - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/england-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe

(Note: Helena Fensome, competes under her Finnish name Helena Jansson)

4 April 2025 -   There is good croquet for spectators to enjoy on Saturday & Sunday at Phyllis Court  

 

The Croquet England National A-Level (0+) Series Tournament

Saturday 0930 - 1730 (approx.)

Sunday    0900 - 1700 (approx.)

 

Come to watch, support and learn as accomplished players with handicaps ranging from 4 to 0 compete at Phyllis Court and joint hosts High Wycombe on both days.

 

At Phyllis Court tomorrow, the top seed is Switzerland International player Peter Payne (0), and the 7 players trying to clip his wings include Phyllis Court's Rick Lilley (1) and Mike Fensome (3), and good lock to them.

At High Wycombe tomorrow, we also wish good luck to Phyllis Court players, Roger Goldring (1), Andy Jones (2), Helena Fensome (2) and Patricia Mulcahy (4).

Who plays at which venue on Sunday, will depend on Saturday's results, and it is very likely that some of our clubmates will looking for your support at Phyllis Court.

 

The results from both venues will be posted on 'Croquet Scores' in as close to real time as I can manage.

Here is a link - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/england-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe

(Note: Helena Fensome, competes under her Finnish name Helena Jansson)

 

The weather forecast is good, so I look forward to seeing keen spectators this weekend!

30 March 2025 - Mulcahy & Lilley pass course exams as Provisional Club Coaches
Congratulations to Patricia Mulcahy and Rick Lilley who today passed their 'Becoming a Coach' course and exams at The Chiltern Academy at High Wycombe CC.
They are are now have Provisional Club Coach status and will achieve the full qualification once they have completed five coaching sessions observed by an existing qualified coach.
Mulcahy and Lilly will be a great asset to our already strong coaching set-up at Phyllis Court.
 
30 March 2025 - Please support our Charity One Ball - on Wednesday 9 April
Our heat of Croquet England's annual charity fund raising competition is our first tournament of the season.
The chosen charity this year is the Alzheimer's Society and we will be collecting donations from players AND NON-PLAYERS on the day - all support will be very welcome.
 
30 March 2025 - 'Summer' season starts on 1 April - remember to WEAR WHITES! - please come along to our celebration gathering in the evening.
60 plus members have already expressed interest in attending a Season Launch social get-together at 1900 in the Regatta Bar.
Please do join us if you can.
 
30 March 2025 - Angus McKibbin R.I.P.
​

It is with sadness that I have to tell you that our long-standing member Angus McKibbin passed away on the 19th March, following a long illness.

He had been supported wonderfully over very many months by his wife and fellow member Dee, together with their family, to whom we extend our sympathy at this difficult time.

A memorial gathering has been arranged for invited friends and will take place shortly.

 

Angus was a lovely fellow with a dry wit that would often cause a smile and was always good company, in croquet circles and beyond.

He was a long serving Captain with British Airways, a career that he shared alongside several other croquet members and partners.

Angus and Dee lived in Northern Ireland, and they maintained a home there for many years after moving to Henley in his retirement.

They both joined Phyllis Court, quickly joined the Croquet Club, and before long-established good skills and decreasing handicaps, as well as a keen rivalry between them.

This came to a crescendo at the end of the 2023 season when they met in the 'McKibbin Final' of the Advantage Singles season-long competition.

With absolutely no regard to how long he was going to have to do the washing-up for, Angus beat Dee to list his name in our 'roll of honour' history.

Farewell Angus, you are missed and fondly remembered.

 

Chris Roberts

28 March 2025 - Last Call for entries for our Season-Long Competitions
The entry deadline is 31 March.
21 March 2025 - Circulation of Team Fixtures & Internal Tournaments dates today
See our Calendar (button in main menu above)
19 March 2025 - Phyllis Court’s Colman & Roberts win GC Handicap Doubles  - and - Roberts wins Western Province Championship, in South Africa
Frances Colman & Chris Roberts with the Western Province Championships
GC Handicap Doubles trophy & Roberts with his Open Singles
Championship salver                            (Photo by Neil Mchardy)
Phyllis Court Croquet President Frances Colman and Chris Roberts enjoyed a terrific finale to their five week South Africa trip with further success last week at the Western Province Golf Croquet (GC) Championships.
The pair matched their earlier achievements in the Association Croquet (AC) Championship with victory in Handicap Doubles event and Roberts also won the Open Singles event.

Colman & Roberts played exceptionally well in the doubles, with calm precision play, where the lightest of touches was most often required on the glass-like fast courts of the Somerset West Club, about an hour east of Cape Town.
Centre-ball clearances and maintaining control of the striker’s ball was all important for the Henley pair who picked-off all four of their block opponents in turn, ending undefeated in that first phase of the event.

The reached the semi-finals at the end of an exhausting day on Sunday where local pair Andrew Lewin and Trevor Burton were dismissed 10-6.
The final was delayed until the last day of the tournament, when Colman and Roberts were more troubled by the 40 degrees heat than their out-of-sorts opponents, Peter Johnson and Mike Moore whom they demolished 10-3 in revenge for their earlier elimination in the Open Doubles event.


In the Open Singles, Roberts had a disastrous start, losing to Jim Field (handicap -1, Nailsea) and then really unexpectedly to higher handicapper player Jeanie Cotton from the False Bay / Fishhook club.
Roberts recovered to win his remaining four games easily, including racking-up two 7-0 results has he built up his net points tally, which was important in order to finish 3rd rather that 4th in the block, thereby avoiding favourite Neil McHardy (-3. Kelvin Grove, S.A.) until the final.
Roberts nearly allowed Fishhook’s Wayne Cotton an unlikely victory in the quarter-final when the South African came back from 9-4 down before Roberts got over the line 10-9.
Roberts had his tail up on the finals day, and following the morning's handicap doubles victory, he roared away from Field in the semi taking a 6-1 lead on the way to winning 10-7.
Roberts expected a real test in the final against South African International McHardy, whom he'd never beaten in a best of three match, but come that test the Henley man could do no wrong.

He established a strong lead in the first game to win 7-2 and expected a back-lash from McHardy in the second, but some untypical short clearance misses gifted Roberts a crucial two hoop lead and a strong run through hoop 7 allowed that lead to extend at hoop 8.

McHardy put up a good fight at hoop 9, at which Roberts eventually took the tactical decision to concede the score, in order to prevent McHardy engineering a double-score chance, and living on his lead, Roberts won the next for a 10-3 victory to win the Western Province GC Championships salver for the first time.

16 March 2025 - Phyllis Court Team to travel to Latvia for the European Club Teams Competition

 

Phyllis Court Croquet Club will break new ground this season with a first ever club match on foreign soil, with the welcome news this week, that they have secured a second team in the European Club Teams Competition.

Whilst their first selection has known for some time that they will be hosting a European heat on 7-8 June, a withdrawal has led to the opportunity to field a Phyllis Court B team at the heat in Latvia, at the Ikskile Club, on 24-25 May.

Phyllis Court B will face the unexpected challenge of hosts, Tolkis (Finland), Vila Padlema (Spain) and Woodall Spa (England).

​

And preparations at home are underway for Phyllis Court A to welcome Zurich CC (Switzerland), Real Club Pineda de Sevilla (Spain) and Real Aeroclub de Vigo (Spain).

​

Both Henley teams will compete to win their heats for the right to play in the European Final at Sussex County CC, at Southwick near Brighton, on 10-12 October.

09 March 2025 - Franklin & Mulcahy make a mark at High Wycombe
Our Club Chairman Patricia Mulcahy and committee member Paul Franklin were very competitive at a tough AC level play 14-point tournament at High Wycombe today

They both got off to cracking starts with opening round wins over Geoff Johnson (Watford) and Paul Gunn (Wingrave) respectively.

Franklin scored a very impressive win over the experienced Richard Peperell (High Wycombe & Phyllis Court) in the next round and Mulcahy also had later success in completing a Phyllis Court double over Gunn.

08 March 2025 - Jones beats the favourite O'Donnell on way to 3rd place at Hamptworth
Andy Jones did particularly well at the 'Low Handicappers' day-tournament at Hamptworth today.
He began with a 7-6 win over hot favourite Tim O'Donnell (-2) which was a huge 'scalp' and raised Jones' ranking greatly.
He went on to record three more victories but was undone by High Wycombe's Ian Shore in the semi-final and finished third over-all.
​
06 - 07 March 2025 - Roberts reaches end of the road semi-finals of the GC Rainbow International, South Africa
 
Thursday - Phyllis Court's Chris Roberts won his quarter-final match with Australian David Wise today.
Friday -  . . But he was beaten by old adversary Lionel Tibble (-2, Northampton) in a great battling semi-final.

Roberts (-1) - Kock-out phase:
Beat    David Wise       (0)   (Australia)         7-5, 7-4
Lost to Lionel Tibble    (-2)   (Northampton)  6-7, 7-5, 4-7

Tibble (Northampton) went on to meet hot favourite Tom Balding (USA), fresh from the World Team Championships in Tasmania.
In the final, Balding won easily 7-2, 7-3.
The full results are on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/rainbow-international/competition/2025-rainbow-international-block-b

Chris Roberts plays a 'sore arm' stoke through a hoop, watched by Championship Referee Frances Colman.
(Photo by Mike Town)

03 - 04 -05 March 2025
Roberts is undefeated (so far) at the GC Rainbow International, South Africa
 
Monday & Tuesday - Phyllis Court's Chris Roberts won both his matches today on the opening day of the Singles event, and followed that up the a traffic second day, winning three more matches
He played particularly well to best the excellent challenge from the barnstorming Jim Field on day 1, but bettered that to defeat the second seed in his block, Mike Town.
Meanwhile, Frances Colman has donned her pink referees outfit and was kept busy with calls to judge strokes regularly.
Roberts has recorded 10 straight wins and has qualified for the quarter-finals knock-out with two matches to spare
 
Wednesday - Roberts was disappointed to lose his first game in 11 to South African number 2 Neil McHardy (handicap -3) from being 5-2 ahead.
He lost 6-7 and then was always chasing the game to lose 6-7 in the second game as well.
Roberts then rounded off with and easy 7-0, 7-1 win over newcomer Roger Davies (Northampton), ensuing that he won his bock on a net hoop count.
Winning the block was important, so as to avoid playing Tom Balding (handicap -5, USA) until that last possible match.
Roberts (-1)
Beat    Peter Johnson  (2)    (S. Africa)     7-4, 7-3
Beat    Jim Field         (-1)   (England)      7-6, 7-6
Beat    Mike Town       (-2)   (England)     7-3, 7-5
Beat    Raymond Morel (4)   (Switzerland) 7-3, 7-4
Beat    Silva Short        (0)   (S. Africa)     7-5, 7-4
Lost to Neil McHardy    (-3)  (S. Africa)     6-7, 6-7
Beat    Roger Davies    (9)   (England)      7-0, 7-1

Tomorrow, Roberts plays in the quarter-finails (probably) against David Wise (Australia)
The resulst are being posed (near) live on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/rainbow-international/competition/2025-rainbow-international-block-b
02 March 2025 - Colman & Roberts score 50% Doubles wins at GC Rainbow International, South Africa
 
Phyllis Court's Frances Colman & Chris Roberts, held their own but were out-gunned by the GC Doubles event's best pairs, at the GC Rainbow International at Somerset West, near Cape Town, South Africa.
Yesterday (Saturday) they had a cruel schedule playing all three of the top seeded pairs in the punishing heat of the South African summer.
A long 3-hour highly combative first match left Colman & Roberts completely drained for their second in which they were comprehensively thumped, before a sit-out round allowed some recovery and a return to form for a close third match.
Three match losses on the opening day were turned around to an undefeated second day, and a mid-table finish at least, is assured (with one match left to play, on Thursday).
Roberts (-1) & Colman (2)
Lost to Tom Balding    (-5) & Silvia Short (0)            (USA / S.A.)        2-7, 5-7
​​Lost to Mike Town       (-2) & Lionel Tibble (-2)        (Eng / Eng)         1-7, 0-7
Lost to Neil McHardy   (-3) & Judith Hanekom  (-2)   (S.A. / S.A.)        5-7, 6-7
Beat    David Wise       (0) & Roger Davies (10)        (Australia / Eng)  7-4, 7-3
Beat    Mike Moore      (2) & Peter Johnson (2)         (S.A. / S.A.)        7-2, 7-4
Beat   Raymond Morel (4) & Marina Clark (9)            (Swiss / Swiss)   7-6, 7-5
22 February 2025 - Colman & Roberts win the Handicap Doubles title   AND   Colman wins her Class at the Western Cape AC Championships, South Africa
​​

Photo by Jon Diamond 

Photo by Chris Roberts

Phyllis Court pair Frances Colman and Chris Roberts won the Handicap Doubles event at the Western Cape Association Croquet Championships in South Africa this week, and Colman also won her classed event.

From a strong position of three wins in their opening four games, Colman and Roberts had the two strongest opponent pairs remaining in doubles but unlike in other events, they had their fortunes in their own hands.

Top seed Mike Town (handicap -1.5 from Woking) had teamed-up with the much-improved local player Silvia Short (1-5, Kelvin Grove, Cape Town) and they arrived to face Colman (11) and Roberts (-0.5) as undefeated favourites.

However, the Phylis Court duo got off to a great, if rather risky start, peeling their partner balls through both hoops one and two for a double score each-time and thereafter played more conservatively in deference to their accomplished opponents.

This low-risk strategy saw Colman and Roberts able to control the innings and build a safe and steady lead whilst keeping Town and Short at bay with only long shooting attempts offered as a way into the game.

Colman & Roberts wrapped that game up +10 and, with that head-to-head result in the bag, the title would be theirs with victory by any margin in their final game against David Wise (0, South Australia) and Jon Diamond (2, Tunbridge Wells).

The same patient low-risk tactics were employed by Colman and Roberts again, and this time to even better effect with a bigger lead established in the first hour and their opponents kept off the scoreboard entirely until the last 40 minutes of the three-hour times game.

Colman & Roberts were able to enjoy the last innings of the game with an unassailable lead and satisfyingly pegged-out to win by +21 and they were presented with the Rondebosch Cup for the first time at their tenth attempt in the event.

Colman had already secured the C Class level play event with one game left to play in her trilogy against Paul Swaffield from Edgbaston.

Swaffield was on top form and controlled their game throughout to win +18 to win the B Class level play event.

Colman (AC handicap 11) needed to beat Jon Diamond (2, Tunbridge Wells) in her last block game in the Veterans Handicap and hope for a loss from Tony Whateley (5, Edgbaston) to win the block and qualify for the final.

She played exceptionally well to hold off the lower handicapped Diamond to win +2 but then had the agony of watching Whateley flirt with defeat against South African Peter Dreyer, before making two late hoops for victory.

That tied Whateley with Colman on the same number of wins at the top of the block, and he progressed at Colman’s expense thanks to his ‘head-to-head’ win in their match.

Meanwhile, fellow Phyllis Court member, Chris Roberts was in a similar position in the A Class level play event, where he needs a slip-up from others to progress from his block.

Roberts (AC handicap -0.5) played a very controlled game against an out of sorts Lionel Tibble (-1, Northampton), so often Roberts’ nemeses. and the Henely player recorded a creditable +23 win.

The victory gave Roberts three wins from his four block games and was clear in second place behind top seed Mike Town (-1.5, Woking), and in any other year he would have progressed to semi-finals, however, scheduling difficulties meant that only the block winners would progress, and Town went on to win a straight final easily.

This week is the turn of Golf Croquet and the keenly contested Rainbow International event at the same Somerset West Club venue, near Cape Town.

Players from England, USA, Spain and Switzerland will pose a strong challenge for South African players from local clubs and as far afield as Port Alfred and Johannesburg.

Colman and Roberts will hope to improve on last year’s semi-final exit in the doubles event and perhaps on the previous season’s runner-up spot, and Roberts will also compete in the Open Singles where would number four Tom Balding starts the hottest of favourites.​

20 February 2025 - Colman & Roberts doing well in South Africa - interim report
Phyllis Court pair Frances Colman and Chris Roberts are in the running for four event titles as the Western Cape Association Croquet Championships reaches its climax in South Africa this week.

Colman has rediscovered her pre-injury form of three years ago and has already secured the C Class level play event with one game to play in an evenly poised best of three match against rival Paul Swaffield from Edgbaston.

Swaffield won the first game narrowly +3 and Colman replied with the same margin of victory in the second two days later, which will assure her of the C Class title, and their decider will determine the B Class winner, at the Somerset West Club, near Cape Town.

Colman (AC handicap 11) is also one game away from winning her block in the Veterans handicap event having bounced back from an opening -2 defeat to another Edgbaston member Tony Whateley (5), to record her best win yet with a +5 victory over Peter Dreyer, a scratch player from Cape Town’s Kelvin Grove Club.

Colman needs a win against Jon Diamond (2, Tunbirdge Wells) and for Whateley to lose to Dreyer, to win the block and qualify for the final.

Meanwhile, fellow Phyllis Court member, Chris Roberts finds himself in a similar position of in the A Class level play event, where he needs a slip-up from others to progress from his block.

Roberts (Handicap -0.5) started shakily in the opening day’s handicap singles event, with unforced errors leading to only a narrow +2 first round win over Sue Longcroft (handicap 11, York),  then a more comfortable +18 victory against Mike Town (-1.5, Woking), before falling on time to the slow Neil McHardy (2, Kelving Grove, Cape Town) in the semi-finals.

He was tested further in his first A Class game when he missed an easy roquet when on a finishing turn with a large lead to give a lifeline to Silvia Short (1-5, Kelvin Grove), who embarked on a very tidy long break that she really should have seen home.

However, she gave herself a hampered backswing on her approach to the last hoop and faulted with a double hit, from which Roberts gratefully wrapped-up a +3 win.

Roberts was then well beaten -18 by top seed Town and then ground out gruelling +16 victory over McHardy.

To progress Roberts needs a third win against Lione Tibble (-1, Northampton) and hope for two unlikely slip-ups from Town, as second place in the block will not be enough as semi-finals will not be played due to scheduling difficulties.

Colman and Roberts (doubles handicap 10.5) are also very much in the hunt for Handicap Doubles event having recorded three wins in their opening four games, in a seven pairs block event.

They sat-out the first round and came through a tough second round game with a +8 win over Tibble & McHardy (0.5) and followed that with a narrow -2 defeat to Swaffield and Jim Filed (4) from Nailsea.

They then had lots of bisques (extra turns) to defend against Surbiton pair Chris Osmond and Val Hitchins (25) and Chichester duo Jonathan Edwards and Kitty Carruthers (20), but saw them off +3 and +7 respectively.

They now have the top two pairs, Town and Short (0) and Diamond with Australian David Wise (4), left to play as they eye a first ever doubles event victory in eight years of competing at this tournament.​

18 February 2025 - PCC 'A'   1 - 9   Roehampton  (Floodlit away match)

A first Golf Croquet team match of the season, gave the Phyllis Court A team selection a rare opportunity to play under the (unique for croquet) floodlights at the Roehampton Club, but the team of Roger Goldring, Rick Lilley, Andy Jones and Patricia Mulcahy were outgunned by the hosts 1-9.

Mulcahy scored the only Phyllis Court victory, an excellent 7-5 winagainst Lynn Pearcy who is graded 230 points higher that the Phyllis Court Chairman.

PCC 'A' - Roger Goldring (1), Rick Lilley (1), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (4, captain)

2 February 2025 - Picturesque: but ground frozen, so still no play a.m. - Court 3 ONLY playable  at 1200​​

0800 on 2 Feb - Frozen (by Paul Franklin)  

25 January 2025 - International Croquet at Phyllis Court - a history making occaision

​​

For the first time ever!

 

​​International Croquet 

at Phyllis Court​

​

​​​

ENGLAND

v

WALES

 

Sat. 25 January 2025

​

The Wales and England teams line-up at Phyllis Court (photo by Paul Franklin)
 

Wales    - Chris Roberts (Phyllis Court), Ian Burridge, David Evans, Angharrad Walters

England - Aston Wade, Euan Burridge, James Death, Jack Good

​
Over 60 members came to the courts today, to see at least some part of the first ever International Teams match to be played at Phyllis Court.
Wales provided the opposition for an England team as a warm-up for the latter before they fly to the World Team Championships in, Tasmania, Australia (which will be live-streamed) - 17-23 February.
Phyllis Court's own Chris Roberts played for Wales and our President, Frances Colman, was the match referee who was pressed into service several times.
The main draw was the young England team, three of whom were under 23 years old, and together with the experienced James Death, their hard hitting and long-range hop running and clearances were something to behold.
After an hour's delay weighting for and unexpected frost to thaw, England wasted no time in establishing a 2-0 lead in the match by winning both opening rubbers in straight games, and were well on top by lunchtime with further victories in the second round doubles and one of the two singles rubbers to lead 4-0 at lunch.
The remaining second round singes was eventually drawn at one game apiece, but after lunch, Wales launched a spirited comeback.
Wales' Ian Burridge scored an impressive 2-0 win over UK number 1 Jack Good, Angharraad Walter drew her singles for the second time in the team match, and Chris Roberts won his first game against England Captain Aston Wade on his way to drawing his match with the England Captain.
At 1600, a halt to proceedings was called as the temperature fell away and the light began to fade - yet still there were 25+ spectators on the side of the courts - and the high numbers attending throughout was remarked upon in glowing terms by the visiting players!
- For the record, the final score was ENGLAND 6.5 - 2.5 WALES.

All the games results are on Croquet Scores - Click here - https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/the-winter-international/wales-vs-england-os-squad
​​
​
Here is the report that will appear in this week's Henley Standard
​

History was made at the Phyllis Court on Saturday when it hosted a full International Croquet Test Match for the first time, and a record spectator gallery for the one-off England versus Wales encounter, turned out to share the occasion.

The Henley Club have a reputation for supporting the sport in this way and this was not lost on the young England team in particular and added value to the purpose of the match, which was a warm-up before their departure next week for the World Team Championships in Tasmania, Australia (17-23 February).

The Phyllis Court Club basked not only in the spotlight of hosting the-is prestigious match, but also in the one gloriously sunny day in the otherwise grim and wet start to the year, and the sterling efforts of Club staff and members to remove standing water build protective fencing in the days before the match were truly rewarded.

The match itself ended in a 6.6 - 2.5 victory for the much higher ranked England team, but the Wales team played to above their comparative rankings, with most local interest cantering on Phyllis Court member Chris Roberts who was making his third appearance for the Wales and its Club President and Championship Referee Frances Colman who was called to officiate throughout.

Roberts was delighted to get a game off England captain Aston Wade in their best of three singles match, despite having thrown away a lead change at hoop 11 when he hit a super 17-yard clearance, only to immediately realise that he had targeted the wrong ball!

Wade capitalised with that score and the lead, Roberts drew level with advantage at the next, but his error had handed Wade the crucial first approach stroke to last hoop, which at this top level, delivers an 80 per cent success rate.

Wade’s first positioning stroke was excellent, but Roberts matched it with his ‘shot of the match’ to clear the danger from 20-yards and a few exchanges later, the local player jumped on an uncharacteristically missed scoring stroke by the England skipper, to pinch the game 7-6.

Wade controlled their second game to win easily 3-7 and, with arrival of dusk and suddenly reduced temperatures, their match ended in an agreed 1-1 tie, the purpose of the team match, the warm-up for England, having been achieved.

Throughout the match, the young England team, three of whom are under 23-years-old, entertained spectators with spectacular long-range hoop scores and clearance stokes, leaving no ball safe anywhere on court, and making full use of the protective catch fencing that Phyllis Court committee members Kevin Ward, Alastair Broom and Paul Franklin had erected the day before.

England won the opening three doubles matches and one of the morning singles to lead 4-0 at lunch, with the other singels game suspended at 1-1.

Wales’ Ian Burridge got the surprise result of the day when he beat England number one and worlds number Jack Good 2-0, and Angaharrad Walters also did well for Wales to tie both her singles matches to check England’s dominance.

This was quite a day for the Phyllis Court Club and its Croquet Club in particular, and one that will live long in the memory.

 

PHOTO 1 – Wales and England line-up at Phyllis Court (photo by Paul Franklin).

Wales – Chris Roberts (Phyllis Court), Ian Burridge, David Evans, Angharrad Walters.

England – Aston Wade, Euan Burridge, James Death, Jack Good.

​

19 January 2025  - Peter Honey R.I.P.

It is with sadness that we report the death our long-time member Peter Honey, who passed away on 7 January following a long illness.

Peter was a lovely and humorous man, and an active member and valued member of our Croquet Club, where he played play mainly AC.
His Phyllis Court membership dates back several decades and he was also a member of Roehampton CC.

Peter served on our committee for two years and assisted Keith Noble in running our AC in 2008, before taking sole charge in 2009. Our records show that, at that time, AC numbers were falling, with only 12 active players in 2009, but Peter and others  recorded match win over Hurlingham and High Wycombe, and lost to Roehampton and Watford, while the result of the end of season game against Wimbledon is not recorded.

Individually, Peter won the Club AC Championship (the Boucher Trophy) in 2008 and 2011 and the Handicap Block competition (Poulton Cup) in 2012.
Peter also enjoyed success and was a popular member at the Roehampton Club in the last decade, and he rejointed Phyllis Court  in 2024.

Peter’s funeral and a celebration of his life is being held on Monday February 10 at 1300 at GreenAcres, Chiltern Park.
Afterwards there will be a lunch at the Bull Hotel, Gerrards Cross.

Chris Roberts -   (with historical reseach by Russell Robinson)

16 January 2025 - At last, some limited play on our courts
Today saw the return of some play on our courts at last.
Following the big freeze since the start of the year and a few days recent thawing, play was possible again of courts 3 and 4 only.
our large courts remain too wet for play at the moment, but ought to return to action in a few day's time.
Please keep a good eye on the booking sheets for the latest news on the playability of the courts.
 
14 January 2025 - European Clubs League - we will be hosting teams from Switzerland and Spain

We learnt today which visiting clubs we will be hosting on the weekend of 7 & 8 June, at our heat of the European Clubs League.
PCC'A' will face:
         Zurich (Switzerland)
         Real Club Pineda de Sevilla (Spain)
         Real Aeroclub de Vigo (Spain)
This will be a splendid occasion, an excellent opportunity for spectators and the chance to welcome these visiting fellow croquet players.
Our heat is one of 11 around Europe and all the heat winners will qualify for the European Clubs League Final at Sussex County CC (near Brighton)
on 10-12 October.
03 to 14 January 2025 - Snow, freezing and waterlogging interrupt winter play

​​

8 Jan - Frozen (by Doug Tonks)  

6 Jan - Waterlogged (by Chris Roberts)   

8 Jan - Frozen (by Alastair Broom)  

2 Jan - mix-in (by Chris Roberts)  

7 Jan - Snow (by Paul Franklin)  

05 December 2024 - ENGLAND v WALES - full international match at Phyllis Court on Saturday 25 January

For the first time ever, Phyllis Court will host a full international match! - save the date!

England will play Wales in a 'warm-up' fixture before heading off to Tasmania for their World Teams Championship (17-23 February).
Do come along to watch the spectacularly hard-hitting young England team with three players under 23, including UK number 1 Jack Good.
Our own Chris Roberts will be in the Wales team.
More soon, as other details are announced . . . .
05 December 2024 - Well attended AGM today - Patricia Mulcahy continues as our Chairman for 2025

Our AGM was well attended by members in the Findlay Suite this morning.

The full minutes are being prepared and will be circulated shortly.

However, the headline news is the election for our committee members for 2025.

As per our constitution, the new committee met immediately after the AGM to elect the Club Officers.

Patricia Mulcahy was elected to continue as Chairman, likewise Julia Green as Secretary, and Alastair Broom is our new Treasurer (taking over from Russell Robinson, who retired at the end of his 5-years' sterling service).

Other committee roles will be assigned by our Chairman on or before the first committee meeting on 9 January.

Our Committee 2025

Patricia Mulcahy        - Chairman

Julia Green               - Secretary

Alastair Broom (New)   - Treasurer

Hilary Cowley

Helen Essa (New)

Paul Franklin

Rick Lilley

Chris Roberts (returning)

Kevin Ward​​

Frances Colman & Chris Roberts awarded Honorary Membership

​Our President Frances Colman and former Chairman Chris Roberts were awarded Honorary Membership of Phyllis Court Croquet Club in recognition of their hard work and devotion to the Club and with wides sport of croquet over more than 15 years.​​

Links to their full citations will appear here shortly:

04 December 2024 - Play resumes after 8 days of cancelations

The river level and water table have fallen substantially and our courts have dried out sufficiently to aallow play o Courts 1, 2 & 3 today.

Court 4 still has standing water and will likely be out of action for another few days.

26  November - 03 December 2024 - No play for over a week as winter wet, freeze and frost arrive - followed by rising river and water table level
Below:
30 November - 0800 - The river level and water table are now extremely high.
Courts 1 & 2 remain waterlogged, 4 and half of 3 are lakes and the pavilion is inaccessible without wellies!  (photos Chris Roberts)
Below:
29 November - 0730,  0900, 1130 - The river level has been steadily rising all day rising and the water table is now extremely high and the water table has flooded our courts
Far left   - 0900 - Court 4
Near left - 0730 - Jumping area and court 3

(photos above by Patricia Mulcahy and Paul Franklin)
Below:
26 November - 0900 and a lovely winter morning's sky, but frost and waterlogging meant no play (photo by Paul Franklin)
28 November - 0930 and a really think frost hid frozen and then still waterlogged courts with the river level remaining very high (photo by Chris Roberts)
21 November 2024 -

Coming-up . . .

Thu 5 Dec
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
1030 - for tea, coffee & biscuits
1100 - meeting starts

83 attend our Annual Prizegiving Dinner
to hail our all our prize winners, including our
2024 Club Champions
Charlie von Schmieder (AC)  &  Rick Lilley (GC)
and our
National Champions GC Federations Shield team

Above - National Champions! : The Phyllis Court team celebrate retaining our National GC Federations Shield title
(from left) Chris Roberts, Kevin Ward, Patricia Mulcahy, Paul Franklin & Andy Jones, with President Frances Colman
(photo by Nick Fontannaz)                                                           (see news item 21 November)

Right above - Our AC Champion Charlie von Schmieder   (see news item 16 November)
Right below - Our GC Champion Rick Lilley                    (see news item 21 September)
(photos by Chris Roberts)

Von Schmieder is our AC Club Champion!

1 - Charlie von Schmieder with the Boucher Trophy and today's last match opponent Richard Peperell
2 - Peperell assesses what to do having been cleverly cross-wired at the peg
3 - von Schmieder attempting his triple peel
4 - von Schmieder with President Frances Colman                                           (photos by Chris Roberts)

16 November 2024 - Von Schmieder wins our AC Club Championship for 12th time despite good fight by Peperell
Charlie von Schmieder was properly challenged in this year's Phyllis Court AC Competition but fought off the twin challenges of Chris Roberts and Richard Peperell to win his record twelfth title in the final game of the series today
Von Schmieder lost to Roberts in their first game of three back in the summer, but went on to win the match 2-1 six weeks ago and before Roberts recorded a match win in  straight games against Peperell soon after.
Von Schmieder went in to Saturday's final episode of this season Championship 1-0 up against Peperell and he further tightened his grip on his latest title when he took his first ball round to 4-back (hoop 10) early in the game.
Peperell responded well reaching 4-back himself but then breaking down at 2-back (hoop 8) with his second ball, leaving the game well poised.
No stranger to the top lines of play, von Schmieder then embarked on a 'triple-peel attempt', in which the striker takes his second ball around the 12-hoop course, whilst between scoring stokes, also peels (manoeuvres his own first ball through its remaining hoops) three times.
The reward is high as it denies the opponent a return to the court, not unlike a top snooker player 'clearing the table'', but the risk is high because a slip usually hands the game to the opponent,
All went well until, with two of the required peels done, von Schmieder unluckily hit the centre peg when trying to propel his partner ball to its last target hoop and the triple peel attempt had to be abandoned.
Peperell was left with along shot which he missed and the spectators were left aghast when von Schmieder came back in, ran his last hoop and then inexplicably missed a routine peg-out end of game score.
Peperell grasped the lifeline offered and went on multi peeling turns of his own, while moving von Schmieder's remaining single ball to far off comers, but was interrupted by the game timer sounding which left him a near impossible line of play to tie, and he ended up one short.
Von Schmieder was full of praise for Peperell's spirted fight-back and Phyllis Court resident Frances Colman congratulated both players as she awarded von Schmieder his familiar Boucher Trophy to hold for another year.
Roberts finished runner-up in the Championship thanks to his earlier defeat of Peperell.

Congratulations again Charlie

 

President Frances Colman flanked by winners
Helen Essa (Rothwell Cup) & Russell Robinson (Adlam Tankard)
(photo by Chris Roberts)

12 November 2024 - Essa wins the AC High Handicap 'Rothwell' Competition
​​​​Helen Essa was confirmed as the winner of the AC High Handicap competition by organiser Paul Franklin, and she was presented with the Rothwell Cup today by President Frances Colman.
Essa won her second Ac trophy of the season, and as previously, the victory was decided on net hoops resolution after a tie on game wins - this time, it was a three-way tie with Patricia Mulcahy and jJff Smith, with each winning and losing one game apiece.
​
12 November 2024 - Robinson beats Iyer in Final of the AC handicap 'Adlam' knock-out competition
Russell Robinson beat Raghu Iyer 25-9 in the final of the AC handicap knock-out competition this morning,
Iyer won the opening, controlled the early exchanges and was first to score as he kept control of the innings to the extent that it was fully 20 minutes below Robinson hit his first roquet.
In the low scoring first half of the game, Iyer hung onto his one bisque realising the threat of its deployment was as as powerful as the extra turn itself.
Robinson eventually nosed in front and, with a sustained period where he controlled the innings, he began to score hops with every visit to the court, whilst showing greater caution, befitting the status of this final,
Iyer chose wisely to take his bisque with a potential four-ball break ahead of him, but failed to convert the chance and Robinson was pleased to see the advantage yield only one hoop, as he extended the lead soon after.
Iyer's challenge evaporated in the last quarter of the game and, with game all but technically won, Robinson iced his victory 'cake' with two mulit-hoop breaks at the close, to give the score-line amore comfortable feel.

Congratulations Helen & Russell
 
08 November 2024 - Broom wins delayed 3+ Plate Final
​​​​
Alastair Broom won the delayed final of the 3+ Plate season-long competition today in a close match versus Carl Billson.
Broom won the firts game at a canter 7-2, but was pegged back by Billson's 5-7, before returning winning form 7-5 in the decider.
Membership Secretary Hilary Cowley was on hand to congratulate the winner, and took this photo of Carol Billson (left) and Alastair Boom (right) in the Regatta Bar.
Congratulations Alastair
01 November 2024 - Robinson wins the AC 5+ Section Tankard
​​​​
Russell Robinson's AC improvement in the second half of this season, was again in evidence this morning when he best Frances Colman 26-7 to secure the second tier AC Advanced 5+ season-long competition for 2025.
This was the last of Robinson's four block games and he had already beaten Patricia Mulcahy and Raghu Iyer by similar score lines, so finishing undefeated made him the worthiest of winners.
Colman and Iyer were both two-time previous winners and Robinson will be a new name for our engravers to mark on the Section Tankard.
Congratulations Russell
 
30 October 2024 - Colman & Roberts win the Open Doubles Club Championship at the last hoop!
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts won the Open Doubles Club Championship in an epic 4-hour marathon final with Delia & Ian Norris today.
The Norrises came from behind to steal the first game 4-7 with better ball placement and centre-ball clearances, together with good fortune on occasions.
Most notable was when Roberts's ball nestled against the leg of hoop 7 allowing Ian an in-off from the most improbable of angles, and leaving Colman hampered with only a very wide approach to hoop 8 possible.
Buoyed by this, Delia ran hoop 8 with confidence and the Norrises carried that lead to the end of the first game.
Colman and Roberts raced to a 2-0 and then 3-1 lead in the second game before Delia ran the best hoop of the match to score hoop 5 from the angled on the south boundary sailing past her opponents two scoring balls it got her side right back into contention.
Thereafter, there was only one score in it and the thirteenth hoop beckoned with Roberts first to approach but badly as it turned out when he only got to level with the hoop, putting his side on the back foot having to defend when both opponents placements were better.
After some interaction, it was Roberts' turn for good fortune and his clearance of Ian's saw the striker's ball come off at just the right angle to smash in to Delia's 'scoring' ball too, and after two easy missed hoop shots Colman eventually score to take the match to a decider.
Colman and Roberts were more comfortable in the third game but couldn't quite get the two hoop advantage they were seeking and this came home to roost when Delia 'snicked-off' Colman's ball that she was trying to clear at hoop 11, to take the lead for the first time.
Colman ran hoop 12 well but the Delia had the crucial first approach to to hoop 13 that would decide the match, and although she got the distance, Roberts got a more threatening position, Ian was short and Colman got in front but further out than ideal.
Delia chose to move Roberts rather than shoot, which was probably wise, but ensured more jockeying for position until Colman took on a bold hoop shot with probable in-off score for Delia next if she missed.
Instead, Colman ran the hoop really well and celebrated with an involuntary skip and hop in the air as she clinched the Open Doubles Club Championship 4-7, 7-6, 7-6.
This was a wonderful match that had it all, good skills from all for players, occasional luck for both sides and was played in an excellent spirit throughout.
30 October 2024 - Warren & Marcel also win 7+ Doubles at the last hoop!
Aly Warren and Michael Marcel won the delayed final of the 7+ Doubles competition this afternoon which ended with the second 'last hoop' dramatic finale of the day.
They were pushed all the way by the excellent play of Carol Huntington and Tony Peperell, who got better the longer that match went on were in the ascendency going into the third and deciding game, having come back from a 7-4 loss to win the second game 7-6.
Warren and Marcel combo did well to counter this and the decider built to an exciting finale at 5-5 with Warren first to approach hoop 11 and well.
Peperell decided to clear with his side's first ball, and hit Warren though he did, the move allowed Marcel to take commend of that short hoop and although Huntington also hit, she and P confined to defending and eventually had to concede the crucial 6-5 shoreline.
Huntington scored hoop 12 to take the game to the 13th hoop where Warren and Marcel's first approach 
allowed them to command and eventually convert when Marcel maturely snuggled up to Huntington denying her a shot at Warren who was poised to score.
A rotation later, Huntington had a desparate and ambitious jump attempt to save the game, got airborne, but it was too far out really and she pushed Warren through to score for the 7-4, 6-7, 7-6 win
26 October 2024 - Essa clinches AC Women's Orr Plate by a single point
Helen Essa was beaten by Frances Colman today but not by enough to deny her the AC Women's Orr Plate trophy.
Going into this last game in a three player block, which also included Patricia Mulcahy, Colman needed to win in order to tie the block on one game win each; and a win by 10+ points would have won her the title on net hoops.
Essa had a nightmare start and squandered her 5 bisques (extra turns) without scoring and Colman slowly extended her lead to wards the target victory margin.
In an exciting finish, Colman finally achieved the goal at 13 - 3 ahead as she finished her break after 'time' was called, but then an unfortunate brush with the ground  took the pace off her ball as she attempted to put it safely in a corner.
Essa came in with one last visit to the court and duly hit Colman's ball that hadn't got far enough away.
Then with great maturity, she used the other balls to position in front of her required hoop at the other end of the court, and scored the crucial point that reduced Colman's winning margin to 9.
Essa lost the game 13-4 but won the competition on net hoops by that single point.
Today's game was played in an excellent spirit throughout, and as our photo shows, there was pleasure on both sides as President Colman presented winner Essa with the lovely silver Orr Plate.
26 October 2024 - Day 9 report -  Mulcahy watches 18 year old Fields become the GC World Champion
Patricia Mulcahy playing tournament ended yesterday and today was mostly about the Would Championship Final.
Alongside the main event of the day, Mulcahy firstly supported James Galpin (England) winning the Plate Final before switching her attention to teenager Blake Fields' remarkable victory against hot favourite Robbie Fletcher (Australia).
This link includes the Would Championship Final coverage: - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsKaCggIltFL8eBUg5wHYH6191-Ewu1l
​
Patricia subsequently wrote a report for the Croquet Association of Ireland, detailing her experience at the Championships and here is a link -
 https://www.croquetireland.com/index.php/node/615
25 October 2024 - Day 8 report -  Mulcahy plays on
Patricia Mulcahy enjoyed the opportunity to play further consolation games at the World Championships today.
This morning she lost to Anton Kamne (Sweden) 2-7 and this afternoon 3-7 to Tom Halliday (Scotland).

In the main event, Robbie Fletcher (Australia) looks unstoppable and in today's first semi-final, he beat the last English hope Euan Burridge 3-0.
Fletcher is on 19/20 game wins in tis Championship and he hasn't lost a match since last November.
The other semi-final teenager Blake Fields (USA) beat Khaled Karmel (Egypt) 3-0.
The Final - Robbie Fletcher (Australia) v Blake Fields (USA) - will be live-streamed from 1400 tomorrow.
24 October 2024 - Day 7 report -  Mulcahy get a second game win today
Patricia Mulcahy recorder her second game win of the Championships today, and a convening one it was too.
She beat Alexander Kirsten (Germany) 7-1.
Before that, Mulcahy was very competitive against Spain International Nicholas Denziot in a 5-7 defeat this morning and her Plate programme finished with a 1-7 reverse to former World AC finalist David Maloof (USA).
I am not sure if that is then end of play for our Chairman, or if their are any further consolation games on offer on the last two days of the Championship.
In the main event, it was quarter-finals day today and England's Euan Burridge got through to his first semi and will face hot favourite Robbie Fletcher (Australia) in a 'best of five' match tomorrow.
In the other semi-final, teenager Blake Fields (USA) eventually beat his former tutor Brian Lozano (Mexico) in near darkness at the 13th hoop of the deciding game of their 'best of five' match.
24 October 2024 - Stefan was hard at work today (and everyday) treating our courts and chemical spraying for disease prevention
   23 October 2024 - PCC 'D' are the SCF Advantage League Champions again  -  PCC 'D'   14 -2   Ryde  

PCC 'D' team:
Liz Smith, Rob Eagle,
Helen Essa & Michael Marcel

PCC 'D' are the SCF Advantage League Champions again after they thrashed Ryde 14-2 in the League Final at Phyllis Court today.
The match started in a typical fashion for a final, with two seemingly evenly matched sides winning two games apiece in the opening round, with Phyllis Court's Michael Marcel and Helen Essa on the wrong end of score lines.
But thereafter, Phyllis Court really took the match to their visitors and they were undefeated in the second round, which included an exciting finale in the Helen Essa v Jim O'Keeffe match where Essa scored the game winner at hoop 15 from a very tight angle, to take Phyllis Court 6-2 up in the team match lead going into lunch.
If Ryde had been hoping that the break might have worked in their favour, they were to be disappointed, and if anything PCC 'D' looked even more on to in the third round.
Again the won all four games, including Liz Smith's 7-4 win over Ryde captain Mick Abbot which gave Phyllis Court the crucial match winning ninth point, not that she realised the significance at the time.
Helen Essa added a tenth victory for Phyllis Court with a super angled shot that nobody watching thought to be a scoreable hoop.
Captain Rob Eagle was back to his beat form and, by way of showing that he had shaken-off his C-Level Series National Final blues, he was first to finish his final round game, and he ended unbeaten in the match.
Marcel finished next and with another win, giving him three for the match, which Essa equalled soon after, and Smith was all smiles when she won for a fourth time to keep an unblemished record.
In fairness to Ryde, the team match result of 14-2 did flatter Phyllis Court rather, and five of the 16 results were by 7-6, but take nothing away from PCC 'D' this was a super performance and they truly deserved to glory of the presentation of the SCF Advantage League Cup.
- - - This win gives Phyllis Court two teams in the National Federations Shield competition in 2025! - - -
PCC 'D' - Michael Marcel (5), Rob Eagle (5), Helene Essa (6), Liz Smith (8)
23 October 2024 - Day 6 report -  Mulcahy continues in the Plate event
Patricia Mulcahy continued in the Plate event today along with 35 other players.
She lost all five of her Plate Block A games today, 1-7 to both Ian Burridge (Wales) and Stu Smith (England), 3-7 to both Richard Bilton (England) and Adam Barr (Canada) and got very close to Thomas Ingram (Hong Kong) 6-7.
Mulcahy has three more games tomorrow.
See 22 October news item below for links to watch live-streaming and real-time results.
22 October 2024 - Day 5 report - "I am thrilled to bits!" - Mulcahy's 6-7 impresses World no. 2 Ahmed Elmahdy
Patricia Mulcahy said the she was 'thrilled to bits" to have taken the World no.2 Ahmed Elmahdy (Egypt) to 6-7 in a game that she had lead 4-1 and 6-5 and looked on route to, what would have been, the biggest upset of the Championships!
Elmahdy had been 'flicking-off' Mulcahy's balls to position at next hoops in order throughout the match and Mulcahy recognised the danger of that as he controlled hoop 12, trailing by one hoop score and need that hoop and the 13th.
Mulcahy neutralised that threat by positioning her balls on the East boundary, forcing Elmahdy to go for an 'all eggs in one basket' promotion instead, but she was then just short with her own first ball with the game for the taking.
Mulcahy did have a hoop shot for the game but failed it and a few stokes later the Egyptian got the match winning score.
Elmahdy complimented Mulcahy at the end of their 1-7, 6-7 match, saying that the second game had been his 'toughest yet'.
Elmahdy is have a storming tournament, has won all his matches, has only dropped 1 game in 19 and is now even more the most likely challenger for favourite Robert Fletcher (Australia).
22 October 2024 - Michael Christmas  R.I.P.

It is with sadness that we report that our long-standing member Michael Christmas died yesterday following a long illness.
Michael was a lovely fellow and a true gentleman who always had a happy disposition, be that on a croquet court, at the snooker or bridge tables, or socialising more generally around Phyllis Court, and he leaves a lasting memory of his beaming smile for his many friends at the Club.

At croquet, Michael was no mean player, and while centring on Golf Croquet, he also played Association Croquet for a short time and, as a high handicapper, was successful at that too.
He played social games most frequently and, in later years, was a stalwart of the 'Saturday 8am quartet' with John Ethridge, Deon Melck and Jim Walter.
Michael also played for Phyllis Court GC teams in the SCF 'B' (3+) League and SCF Handicap League and was also successful individually and as a doubles partner.
Our achieves record the following achievement (click on the 'past winners' tab above):
Golf Croquet
3+ Singles  - 2019 (runner-up)
7+ Singles  - 2018 (runner-up)
7+ Doubles - 2017 (runner-up, partnering Jim Walter)
7+ Doubles - 2019 (tied WINNER, partnering Jim Walter)
Association Croquet
Summer tournament (high handicap class) - 2018 & 2019 (winner)
One Ball Handicap tournament                  - 2018 & 2019 (winner)
Chris Roberts
(on behalf of Chairman Patricia Mulcahy who is abroad)
22 October 2024 - Live Streaming STARTS TODAY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0acGDxvi0Vo
Former World Champion Chris Clarke will be commentating on the Live-Stream, so you can follow all the action from the comfort of your own home.
Remembering that Virginia is 5 hours behind the UK, so I'd expect the coverage to start at around 1400 our time


You can also follow the resulst in real time on CROQUET SCORES - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/wcf-golf-croquet-world-championship/block-b
This link goes to Patricia's Block B, from where you can access all the other blocks too.
21 October 2024 - Day 4 report - Mulcahy gets first game win
Patricia Mulcahy won her first game this morning and so nearly the 'best of three' match versus Paul Neubecker (USA), to break her duck at the Championships. Showing tremendous spirit to come back from a 1-7 first game reverse, Mulcahy won the second 7-6 and then, in an exciting finish, she hit a game 3 saving clearance at hoop 13, all the way from beyond hoop 1 (corner to corner!). This earned her a hoop shot for the match, but then she had the heartbreak of accidentally touching her ball in preparation and had to watch Neubecker steal the result: 1-7, 7-6, 6-7.
Mulcahy was cock a hoop with the first game win and even more enthused for her second match v Amr Hamdy (Canada) which took place around 2130 our time - she was competitive again but went down 4-7, 3-7.
Mulcahy has one game block game left to play and it's' the 'big one' versus the top seed in her block and second seed in the whole Championships, Ahmed Elmahdy (Egypt) who is ranked Number 2 in the World. Elmahdy is have a storming tournament, has won all hsi matches and only dropped 1 game in 17 so far.
20 October 2024 - Day 3 report
Patricia Mulcahy continues with spirted performances, scoring more hoops in the second games of her matches against her string of illustrious opponents This morning (USA time), she got some hoops off Greg Fletcher (Australia international and world number 99) in a 1-7, 4-7 defeat.
Thais afternoon, she lost to Andres Alvarez-Sala (Spain international and world number 29) 2-7, 3-7,
 
19 October 2024 - Day 2 report
Patricia Mulcahy came unstuck in her third 'best of three' match of the Championships this morning, and went down to the 10th seed Mohamed Walid (Egypt) 1-7, 4-7. This afternoon it was more of the same, 2-7, 4-7 to David Maloof (USA).
Although Mulcahy is yet to win a game, it should be remembered that there is a gulf between her ranking position and those of all her opponents at these Championships. 
 
19 October 2024 - Over a dozen happy new mallet owners on our Mike Pervical Mallets Day a Phyllis Court
Although the heavy overnight and morning rain put paid to any on-court action at Phyllis Court today, there was plenty of excitement in the ballroom where, friend of Phyllis Court CC, Mallet Maker Mike Percival and his wife Ann made their fourth visit to the Club.
Coaches Frances Colman & Chris Roberts were on hand to advise and several members (and visitors from High Wycombe, Eynsham and Thames Valley Clubs) all tried Mike's mallets for size and then placed orders.
Mike has given us a new mallet to add to our club stock by way of commission :O)
 
18 October 2024 - Day 1 report
Patricia Mulcahy got off to a good start in her opening match versus Dom Aarvold (England) today scoring hoop 1 and trading hoops thereafter round to 5-5, before Aarvold broke 'serve' to win 7-5 and then followed up with a 7-3 for the match win.
Mulcahy was competitive again in her second match, a 4-7, 4-7 loss to Te Kiri King (New Zealand).
 
18 October 2024 - Chairman Mulcahy debuts at Full GC World Championship in the USA (preview) - STARTS TODAY -

Patricia in the green of Ireland at the Opening Ceremony

​​​Chairman Patricia Mulcahy takes her croquet career to the very top of our sport today, when she debuts at the full GC Would Championships in the U.S.A.
Mulcahy lines-up as the only representative of Ireland in an 80-strong field at Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Virginia, with play starting tomorrow (18th) and running through to Saturday 26th October.
She is the lowest ranked player bar one in the field, so has nothing to loose, in what will be a fantastic and probably once in a life-time opportunity.

The programme for the tournament - https://issuu.com/uscacroquetnews/docs/2024_croquet_news_fall_edition-cnm24v3?fr=sNjc3ZTc3NjE1NjY
The Programme includes profiles of all the players, and Patricia of course gives Phyllis Court a mention!

Live Streaming  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0acGDxvi0Vo
Former World Champion Chris Clarke will be commentating on the Live-Stream, so you can follow all the action from the comfort of your own home.
However, the link is currentl saying that coverage is not going to start until the block play-offs on Tuesday 22nd.
That seems a bit odd to me, so it could be worth trying it out at about 1430 today, Thursday, (remembering that Virginia is 5 hours behind the UK)
 
Follow on CROQUET SCORES - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/wcf-golf-croquet-world-championship/block-b
This link goes to Patricia's Block B, from where you can access all the other blocks too.

Good luck Patricia!
17 October 2024 - Robinson retains the AC Poulton Handicap Cup in some style
​​​​
Russell Robinson beat Chris Roberts in some style and ease this morning, to retain one of our oldest trophies, the AC Poulton Handicap Cup.
Robinson was near flawless in restricting Roberts to just three stokes with mature use of less than half of his 11.5 bisques allocation, which always looked like being too many for Roberts to defend.
Using two bisques to set-up a neat four-ball-break, Robison took his first ball round to the peg without putting a foot wrong, and then left Roberts with a 20 plus yard hit-in, which he got close but missed.
The investment of one more bisque to deftly set up a break for his second ball was another wise move and Robinson was unphased when he made his first error of the game, blobbing in hoop 2.
Excellent placement of his advanced pioneers kept Robinson from further mishap, save for a careless over-run at penult (hoop 11), by which time, with multiple bisques remaining, Robinson was home a dry.
He pegged-out a few strokes later for an emphatic 26-0 win which was thoroughly deserved.
President Frances Colman was on hand to present Robinson with the Poulton Cup (pictured), and he was further rewarded (for this and other performances) with a handicap reduction from 11 to 7 by Club Handicappers Colman & Roberts.
Congratulations Russell
 
10 October 2024 - Phyllis Court players end the Corfu AC Open with honours & trophies

​​​​Frances Colman was a semi-finalist in the Handicap Singles Main Event
​​​​Frances Colman & Chris Roberts WON the Handicap Doubles (photo left)
Patricia Mulcahy & Paul Franklin were 2nd in the Handicap Doubles (photo below right)
Rob Eagle picked-up the 2nd place prize in the 14-point consolation Singles (photos below left and centre)

Today, the main singles event final was won by Charles Harding (Bowdon) whilst the 14-points Consolation Singles ran to its conclusion with play well inti this last afternoon.
Chris Roberts picked up three wins in his last three games today to end on 72.7%, to finish with the second best record, and only just ahead of Charles Harding and Rob Eagle both on 71.4%.
Because Roberts and Harding were picking-up other prizes, it was Eagle's very good 5 wins from 7 games that earned him the presentation of the runners-up trophy at this evening's Gala Dinner at the Corfu Town Yacht Club.
At the end of a super time away, the 12 strong Phyllis Court contingent mostly fly home tomorrow, leaving only Maureen and Kevin Ward to enjoy an extra day in the sun.
09 October 2024 - Colman bows out at the semi-finals of the Corfu AC Open Handicap Singles main event
​​​​
Frances Colman, lost an exciting and very good natured semi-final of the Corfu AC Open, when Peter Wilson (Fylde), made a crucial hit-in right across the court and from that, went round to peg making half a dozen hoops along that way.
Colman had done well after burning a number of bisques (extra turns) early in the games and a couple pf excellent breaks established a commanding lead as time began to runout the experience Wilson.
He missed a number of long-hit-ins before hitting with the last in great display of patience and holding of nerve.
For Colman, this event has seen a return to the very best of her play and she should be pleased to be ending on a high.

In the consolation 14-poing event:
Rob Eagle had only lost once in six games and so was pitted against the undefeated leader of the event, Fiona Crompton (York), and he lead by some way going into the final phase of the game. A crucial unwise decision to leave his balls joined-up, was punished mercilessly by Crompton, who hit in well, established a break and rattled through six hop points to rob Eagle of the victory in the last turn of the game!
Chris Roberts is emerging as a contender (probably for second place given Crompton is seemingly invincible form)
Patricia Mulcahy's winning percentage has been pegged back and, despite playing lots of games, she is out of the running for a 'podium' finish. 
The other PCC players mentioned below, are mostly participating in this event, but a someway off the winning pace of playing enough games to qualify for the final winning percentage analysis.
 
08 October 2024 - Colman is sole Phyllis Court survivor for the semi-finals of the Corfu AC Open Handicap Singles main event
​​​​
Day 4 of play in the main 26-point Singles event saw the end of the road for two more Phyllis Court players, but one still remains to fly our Club flag at the Corfu AC Open.
Frances Colman, who took had taken the longest route to the second round (of 16), revelled in the hard earned opportunity and defeated David Boyd (Guildford) by +2 this morning and then beat Carol Steinberg (Bowdon) by +3 in her quarter-final.
She is the only Phyllis Court player to reach the semi-finals and will face Peter Wilson (Fylde) tomorrow morning.

Rick Lilley lost his quarter-final this morning by just -4 to Sue Longcroft (York)
Helen Essa got even closer to victory in her quarter, and went down by a single point to Charles Harding (Bowden)

In the consolation 14-poing event:
Patricia Mulcahy is playing lots of games and winning most.
Rob Eagle has played less but, crucially, has a better wining percentage.
Chris Robbers is holding back a bit as the manager but starting to chalk up victories too.
The other PCC players mentioned below, are either struggling results wise or playing few (or no) games in this event
 
07 October 2024 - Phyllis Court trio still in the Corfu AC Open Handicap Singles main event
​​​​
After three days of Singles play there are three Phyllis Court players left in the main 26-point event at the Corfu AC Open.
Rick Lilley is through to tomorrow's (Wednesday) Quarter-Finals to face Sue Longcroft (York), having beaten Frances Colman (Phyllis Court) and John Crompton (York) in earlier rounds.
Helen Esssa (photo left) has also qualified, and will play Charles Harding (Bowdon, Cheshire),  thanks to wins over Peter Allan (Blewbury) and Liz Wilson (Fylde).
Frances Colman, who came through the repêchage route after that first round defeat by Lilley and had to beat Liz Taylor-Webb (Bowdon) and Jon Diamond (Tunbridge Wells) to get back into the main event. She will play her Round of 16 game versus David Boyd (Guildford) tomorrow morning in a bid to join Lilley And Essa in the quarters.

- The other Phyllis Court players are all out of the main event:
Kevin Ward        beat Chris Roberts (Phyllis Court) handsomely +26 in the first round but then lost -8 to Fiona Crompton (York) -8.
Paul Franklin      beat Cas Sinclair (Bowdon) +6 but then lost to Carol, Steinberg (Bowdon) -3.
Patricia Mulcahy beat Liz Taylor-Webb (Bowdon) +1 but then lost to Charles Harding (Bowdon) -7.
Bob Eagle         lost to David Boyd (Guildford) -8 and then lost his repêchage game to Charles Ostler (Pinchbeck, Norfolk) -10
Raghu Iyer        lost to Peter Wilson (Fylde) -7 and then lost his repêchage game to Jonathan Toye (Downham, Norfolk) -9.
Chris Roberts     lost heavily to Kevin Ward (Phyllis Court) -26 and then lost his repêchage game to Cas Sinclair (Bowdon) by a single point.
- All six are now contesting the 14-point consolation event.
 
03 October 2024 - Colman & Roberts win Corfu AC Open Handicap Doubles title
​​​​
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts won the Handicap Doubles event at the Corfu AC Open today.
The record will show they they were undefeated in their five rounds of play, but the detail is that four of their games were won by the narrowest of margins by a single hoop.
And three of those four were in the extra time period where the next hoop wins - the so called 'golden hoop' situation.
The pivotal result was actually in round three, when they faced fellow Phyllis Court club mates Patricia Mulcahy partners Paul Franklin who also went into the game undefeated.
Most of the filed elected to play the alternate strokes variant of doubles play, and the Mulcahy and Franklin combination led for the whole game and by three hoops as 'time' was called in their turn, meaning that Colman and Roberts had one last visit to the court, and crucially had their balls fairly close together.
Colman played a necessarily gentle stoke to roquet her team's partner ball into a scoring position in front of the hoop required by both balls, and Roberts capitalised by peeling the partner ball before Colman scored with the strikers ball for a double score.
The pair needed one more hoop to tie, and two to win, and did well to achieve the first objective at hoop eight and then had a good chance to win at hoop nine but not without a significant risk, so they chose to lay-up in a safe position back hoop eight which was needed by the partner ball.
This line of play gave Mulcahy a long shot to wrestle back the innings for her side, and when she missed Colman and Roberts scored the golden hoop decider.
The pair went on to win twice more on the second day of play to establish an unassailable lead at the end of round five which ended the event with a one-two for Phyllis Court with Mulcahy and Franklin wearing just that one loss as runners-up.

The final standings involving Phyllis Court players were:
Frances Colman & Chris Roberts            - (5 wins) - winners
Patricia Mulcahy & Paul Franklin            - (4 wins) - runners-up
Helen Essa & David Boyd (Guildford)     - (3 wins) - 3rd=
Rob Eagle & Peter Allan (Blewbury)       - (3 wins) - 5th
Raghu Iyer & Sue Longcroft (York)        - (2 wins) - 6th=
Rick Lilley & Jonathan Toye (Downham) - (2 wins) - 6th=
Kevin Ward & Fiona Crompton (York)     - (1 win) - 11th
Rob Eagle in aactio at the Cqouet Club of Corfu.      Photo by Paul Franklin 
8858 snip.JPG
3 October 2024 - Bob Clapp wins 10+ Evening Series
​​​​
Russell Robinson reports - After an earlier postponement due to waterlogged courts, the final of the 10+ Evening Series took place under lovely, sunny skies today, involving two of this season’s most promising beginners, Bob Clapp and Paul Wooldridge.  The format was a single 19-point game.  Wooldridge made the better start with a ricochet into the jaws at hoop one, and was in the jaws again at hoop two, but Clapp was able to clear and ultimately claim the hoop.  At hoop 3, it was time for Clapp to put a ball in the jaws, which Wooldridge narrowly failed to jump over, but the latter was able to claw back to 2-2 at the next hoop.  Both players were positioning very well throughout, but Clapp consistently had the edge and cleared and ran hoops more decisively than his opponent in a run of five consecutive hoops that took him out to a formidable 7-2 lead.  Wooldridge then upped his game with some excellent approach shots which enabled him to cut the deficit to three at hoop 15, but with Wooldridge’s black only dribbling though and so being severely hampered, Clapp played an excellent yellow to six feet in front of the next hoop, which he calmly slotted on the next rotation to take the game 10-6.  Very well done to both players for performances throughout the season’s competition which belie their inexperience in the sport and which show great promise for next season and beyond. - Congratulations Bob!
01 October 2024 - 11 Phyllis Court players are in Corfu
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11 Phyllis Court players are in Corfu for the Greek Open AC Championship which starts with the Doubles event today and tomorrow.
President Frances Colman partners Chris Roberts
Chairman Patricia Mulcahy partners Paul Franklin
Raghu Iyer will play with Sue Longcroft (York)
Kevin Ward will play with Fiona Crompton (York)
Rick Lilley will play with Jonathan Toye (Downham)
Helen Essa will play with David Boyd (Guildford)
Rob Eagle will play with Peter Allan (Blewbury)
​
Joanna Iyer and Maureen Ward will play in the single day golf croquet event on Saturday and Rick Lilly's wife Jill Meredith is also in the Phyllis Court party.
29 September 2024 - â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹Four members are flying the Phyllis Court flag in NATIONAL FINALS this weekend - Day 2 report
 
Andy Jones continued with a short Day 2 at the rain threatened A-Level (0+) Series National Final at Sidmouth today.
He was already through to the Plate semi-finals having won his quarter last evening.
Today he beat Chester's Sarah Clements 10 - 6 to reach the Plate Final, where he put up a good fight against the vastly experienced Mike Bilton.
Jones wens down 5-7 2-7 to finish a creditable 10th overall.
There is a digest of results on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/sodmouth-a-level-series-0-national-final/block-b
 
 
Rob Eagle, Michael Marcel & Pete Falle all had mixed second days at the C-Level (7+) Series National Final at Watford today.
The completion of the big 16-player 'all play all' block required another seven games to be played today, on the back of eight games yesterday - so it was quite a punishing schedule.
Marcel could not repeat his shine of yesterday and he lost his opener to Falle, which somewhat dented his chances of getting at least a share of the lead.
He still did well enough today to eventually finish with 9 wins from his 15 games, which as three behind winner John Lane (Dowlish Wake), and well placed in fifth overall.
Eagle and Falle both scored twice as amy wins as the two this they had each won on day 1, and so can draw some comfort from their tall of six apiece.
There is a digest of results on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-c-level-7-series-national-final/all-play-all-block
28 September 2024 - â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹Four members are flying the Phyllis Court flag in NATIONAL FINALS this weekend - Day 1 report
 
Andy Jones is at the A-Level (0+) Series National Final at Sidmouth and he got off to a good start by winning his first block game, but that was his sole success before lunch.
He recovered with two more wins later onto give himself a chance of qualifying for tomorrows main event knock-out, with a last block match victory.
But that game was lost putting Jones in to the plate event, which was started early due to the threat of very heavy rain tomorrow.
Jones won his Plate quester final 7-3 against Tom Grieveson (Chester) and will face Sarah Clements (also Chester) tomorrow morning.
You can follow the results as they happen in ‘real time’ on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/sodmouth-a-level-series-0-national-final/block-b
 
 
Rob Eagle, Michael Marcel & Pete Falle are all at the C-Level (7+) Series National Final at Watford, where competition Director, Chris Roberts was also the manager today.
The format is a challenging 16-players all play all 'block' with eight games today and seven tomorrow.
Marcel was cross with himself for losing his first game of the day, having been well on front, but he recovered really well to end the first day on 6 wins from 8 games, which puts him in joint second place being over-night leader David Artingstall (Bury).
Eagle and Falle both had tough days, winning 3 and 2 games respectively.
You can follow the results as they happen in ‘real time’ on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-c-level-7-series-national-final/all-play-all-block​
24 September 2024 - Eagle beats Tonks in quality 10+ Singles Final
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Rob Eagle (left) beat Doug Tonks in a 10+ Singles Final this evening, that defied its high handicap title and was a credit to both players.
Decision making and advanced mallet skills that included the promotion of the partner ball to position, wiring (hiding in line with a hoop) and the deeming of stokes were all in evidence in a close contest that was good to watch.
Pre-match underdog Tonks was unfortunate to peel Eagle's ball through hoop 7 of the firts game having traded hoops with the favourite up until that point, and the inadvertent action allowed Eagle first approach to hoop 8 and establish a crucial two hoop lead, as springboard to a 7-3 win.
The second came mirrored the first with hoops traded evenly to 5-5 amid excellent play from both players.
Tonks was then unfortunate though, to only just run hoops 10 and 12, leaving himself hampered for the next hoop on both occasions and this was little short of disaster for his chances at hoop 13 especially.
Eagle placed his first approach well enough, if rather further out than ideal, and Tonks responded right alongside.
Eagle was then short with his second ball and only saved by Tonks' own second being forced wide due to the hampering.
A mature decision by Eagle to clear and maintain position, rather than risk the hoop shot, forced Tonks to shoot from an angle because he was out-numbered, and when he hit the upright, Eagle calmly took the game and match 7-6.​​​

Congratulations Rob

21 September 2024 - Lilley is our GC Club Champion

Rick Lilly became only the 10th name to be added to the GC Club Championship trophy on a day of drama on our Finals Day today.
The new Champ outplayed a below par four-time winner Chris Roberts and thoroughly deserved his win with repeated long and strong clearances featuring high in his quality play.
The first game turned on a fortuitous well played hampered stroke at hoop five, when Lilley hit his target ball wide of hoop six and deflected into the jaws of that hoop, which establish a two-hoop lead that Lilley was never to lose.
Roberts hung in but the 7-3 score line was as much as he deserved and, buoyed by this success, Lilley  with tail up, raced to a 2-0 lead in game two and was soon in the jaws of hoop three op to boot.
Roberts then pulled-off an excellent bouncing jump shot to stay in the game at hoop three and the pair traded hoops thereafter to arrive at the deciding 13th.
Roberts missed a far from difficult clearance which shifted balance firmly in Lilley's favour and following Roberts' closely missed desperate full length of the court defensive shot to stay in the game, Lilley scored the winner in sure style from three yards to win 7-3, 7-6.
Congratulations Rick
Finals day was a big hit for Champ Lilley & five other winners​
Left:  GC Champion Rick Lilley with President Frances Colman
                         
Right:  3+ Singles winner Raghu Iyer with Tony Peperell
 
Left:  7+ Singles winner Helen Essa with David Young
​
Right:  10+ Plate winner Graham Pattie with Pippa Wynne-Ellis

Below right: 10+Doubles finalists Eva Kompanik & Des Walsh with winners Liz Smith & Carol Wadsworth​
Left:
7+ Plate
winner
Pete Falle​
. . . and five other Club titles were decided on our successful 'Finals Day'
​
​There were five other Competition Finals played today and the morning action saw three close contests.
The 3+ Singles Final provided the senior action and Raghu Iyer romped to a first game win 7-3 against Tony Peperell, but the latter improved to construct a commanding 4-6 lead in second game, before disastrously peeling Iyer though hoop 11, which altered the course of the game entirely.​
Having been gifted the hoop, Iyer took full advantage of his first approach to hoop 12, won that to tie at 6-6, and, scarlessly able to believe his luck, wrapped up the game and match wining hoop in some style for a 7-3, 7-6 victory.
Congratulations Raghu!
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The score line of the 7+ Singles Final was only one hoop different, but was achieved in more convectional fashion, with Helen Essa winning the first game straight forwardly 7-3 and than having to hold off a rally by David Young who ed a hoop trade right round to hoop ten.
here, Essa nailed a game changing six yard clearance to finally win tow hoops in a row, and when Young missed his target at hoop twelve, Essa pounced for the match winner, for victory 7-3, 7-5.
Congratulations Helen
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The morning 10+ Doubles Final eventually became the afternoon 10+ Doubles Final whn the first two game took over three hours.
Favourites Liz Smith and Carol Wadsworth won the first game 7-4 but were paced throughout the second game by Eva Kompanik and Des Walsh who defied their low seeding to win 6-7.
The decider took the match close to a fifth hour before Smith & Wadsworth wrapped it up at hoop eleven to win 7-4, 6-7, 7-4.
Congratulations Liz & Carol
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The days' action was completed this afternoon by two Plate finals.
In the 7+ Plate Final, Pete Falle was always in control over John Howie, who had perhaps used-up his best competitive play in squeezing past Steve Morton 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in last night's semi. Falle won 7-4, 7-2.
in the 10+ Plate Final, the boot was on the other fool, when Graham Pattie, riding high on victory in his own late played semi, he maintained that good form to get past his challenging opponent Pippa Wynne-Ellis 7-4, 7-4.

Congratulations Pete

Congratulations Graham

19 September 2024 -
​​​​PCC  5 - 2 Meldreth

​Phyllis Court are the National Advantage Champions for the second year in a row, and for the third time in four years!

They beat Cambridgeshire side Meldreth 5-2 in the National Final of the GC Federations Shield at the neutral venue of Northampton CC today.

Convincing though that score line sounds, Meldreth put up a very good fight and lead the team match 0-1 in completed games at the the lunch break.

Phyllis Court's Andy Jones (handicap 2) could not catch Meldreth's number one player David Edwards, who enjoyed a -2 to zero starting score advantage over the Henley player who lost 5-7, 3-7.

The other morning singles also looked to be going Meldreth's way when Phyllis Court's Patricia Mulcahy (handicap 4) fell 2-7 in a quick time opener to Roger Wallbridge who also enjoyed starting score advantage.

However, Mulcahy has a wealth of big match experience to draw on, and she recovered superbly to win the second match of three 7-3.

​In the morning doubles match, Chris Roberts (-1) and Paul Franklin (7) also had to concede a hoop on handicap to their Meldreth opponents but unwound that advantage and more when Roberts ran a strong hoop one down to hoop two and won that as well!

We are National Advantage Champions!

Our team beat Meldreth in the GC Federations Shield final

The Phyllis Court pair cruised to a 7-4 first game victory but were pegged pack 5-7 in the second by tow wonder jump shots by Meldreth's Sue Bishop, and a careless own goal peel from Roberts.

The deciding game of the doubles match and Mulcahy's singles decider were put on hold so as not to delay the afternoon program of four head to head singles matches.

This meant that Phyllis Court had an uncomfortable lunch break in which to ponder the 0-1 score line and accept that they had a fight on their hands to retain their national title.

The break seemed to them good and both Franklin and and Jones scored straight games victories for Phyllis Court over Meldreth's Wallbridge and Sue Bishop 7-6, 7-4 and  and 7-6, 7-6 respectively.

Mulcahy again lost her first game 5-7 to John Bishop but came back well for the second time in the day to with games two and three by the same scores, but Roberts had reversed fortunes after repeatedly hitting Edwards to the boundary to win his first game 7-3.

But defending a -2 to +2 starting score line was never going to be easy, and when Edwards settled into a very calm and accomplished second game performance, he was rewarded with a 5-7 win to set up their decider which was an excellent game.

Roberts slowly reeled in Edwards advantage to be level 5-5 going to a pivotal short hoop 11, where Roberts nailed his second ball clearance having noted that his first ball had settled in an old hop hole.

Edwards missed his clearance leaving Roberts a routine jump shot for the lead in what would have been the team match deciding game, but in the heat of the moment, the Phyllis Court player forgot about his ball being in the old hoop hole and his jump launched the ball high over the crossbar and with it went that hoop and, due to being woefully out of position so went that match, 7-3, 5-7, 5-7.

So, with Phyllis Court sitting on a 3-2 lead and four points needed for the team win, it was a return to the suspended morning third games in the doubles and Mulcahy's singles match with Wallbridge, with Phyllis Court needing to win one and Meldreth needing both.

Franklin and Roberts were fairly confident going into the doubles decider and played like it, winning the first four hops to unwind Sue and John Bishop's Advantage head start.

The never looked like losing and cruised to crushing 7-1 victory to settle that match and the overall team victory, following which they were able to join team mate Jones watching Mulcahy ice the Phyllis court cake with a 7-4 victory over Wallbridge.​

​

Competition Director and England International player Lionel Tibble was thanked for hosting the day and for his refereeing duties before he complimented Meldreth on a spirited fight in defeat and Phyllis Court on another ground out victory earning the presentation of the GC Federations Shield for 2024.

​

​

There is a digest of all the results on Croquet Scores here -

https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-federations-shield-advantage-national-final-phyllis-court-v-meldreth/phyllis-court-vs-meldreth

 

​PCC -        Chris Roberts (-1), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (4), Paul Franklin (7)

Meldreth - David Edwards (4), Sue Bishop (4), John Bishop (4), Roger Wallbridge (5)

15 September 2024 - Mulcahy earns runner-up spot at the NATIONAL FINAL of the All England Handicap Competition
​​​​

- DAY 2 report: Patricia Mulcahy came agonisingly close to winning the National Final of the All England Handicap (Advantage) competition at Guildford & Godalming CC today.

She ended up just one game victory short of the winner's (Sandra Guildford of Woking CC) tally of nine (out of 13).

An analysis of hoop scores separated Mulcahy from two other players tied on 8 games wins and gave the Phyllis Court Chairman second place on hoops percentage.

Kevin Ward had a better Day 2 and took his winning tally to 7 game wins to finish in a creditable equal fifth.

Croquet Scores has the results  detail here -  https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/all-england-adv-final-at-ggcc/block 

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15 September 2024 - Colman & Roberts win the AC Handicap Doubles trophies
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Frances Colman and Chris Roberts won the final of the AC Handicap Doubles today, defeating the very game Helen Essa and R0b Eagle this morning.

Essa and Eagle rain through a good number (perhaps too many) of their 13 bisques on their way to a good lead on the two hours mark before Roberts and Colman got the decisive break that eventually won them the game 22-13 on time.

AC manager Paul Franklin was back from his holiday to present Roberts & Colman with the lovely Greenbury Bowl trophies.

​

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14 September 2024 - Clapp and Wooldridge to meet in all-beginner final of the 10+ Evening Series
 
Russell Robinson reports: Several of this year’s 45 new members that we have welcomed to the croquet club are showing real promise and two of those, Bob Clapp and Graham Pattie, were pitting their skills today against the more experienced Sue Rumford and John Howie in the second semi-final of the 10+ Evening Series.
Both novices set the tone for the afternoon with Pattie defeating Rumford in the first game 7-4, while Clapp and Howie played out some very keenly contested hoops to be only 3-3 after 45 minutes, before Clapp moved into another gear to secure a 7-3 win. Clapp then defeated Rumford in a much faster-paced game by the same margin, while Pattie and Howie had a titanic battle culminating in the advantage swinging both ways at the 13th hoop before Pattie finally prevailed. That set up a decider between the two newcomers for a place in the final and Clapp set the early pace.
Pattie then launched a spirited comeback and seemed well placed to level the game at 5-5, when Clapp ran a slightly fortuitous hoop from long distance, from which position he was able to close out the game at 7-5, to set up an all-beginner final showdown against Paul Wooldridge at a date to be arranged.

​Wooldridge, who had completed his training only in July this year, had come through a very closely contested semi-final group on 30th August, comprising himself, Liz Smith, Sally Batty and Martin Cranstoun. All four players won one of their first two games, all bar one of which had been won 7-6 or 7-5, so any of the four could still prevail going into the last pair of games, which were equally close affairs. Wooldridge defeated Cranstoun 7-6 and Smith got the better of Batty 7-5.
With Wooldridge and Smith both on two wins, the tie was resolved in Wooldridge’s favour by virtue of having defeated Smith 7-6 in their head-to-head game. 
14 September 2024 - Mulcahy & Ward play in the NATIONAL FINAL of the All England Handicap this weekend
​​​​

Patricia Mulcahy & Kevin Ward fly the Phyllis Court flag today and tomorrow in the National Final of the All England Handicap (Advantage) competition at Guildford & Godalming CC.

They qualified from Area Finals at Phyllis Court and Surbiton respectively to line-up in a filed of 14 players for an 'all play all' format of 13 games over the weekend.

You can follow Patricia & Kevin's progress on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/all-england-adv-final-at-ggcc/block 

- DAY 1 report:  Patricia has won 5 out of 7 games and shares the lead with four others (two of who she is yet to play), and Kevin if far from out of it on 3 wins.

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11 September 2024 - Cowley & Roberts win the Restricted Doubles tournament & Cowley her first silverware!
​​​​

Hilary Cowley won her first croquet silverware today, partnering Chris Roberts to success in the Restricted Doubles tournament (for partnerships with a combined handicap of 10+).

The pair were undefeated in their six games and saw off several challenging opponents, most notably Patricia Mulcahy and Dee McKibbin who took them to the 13th hoop.

At the end of a rain interrupted day, the last round of the 'all play all' block was left unplaced, save for the 'de facto' final between the only two pairs that could affect the tournament's first and second tournament.

Cowley & Roberts opposition in that last game were Roger Goldring and Carol Huntington who had lost just once going in to that last game and had amassed a superior 'net hoops' tally over everyone else.

Therefore, victory by any score would tie them with Cowley and Roberts and win them the tournament on those net hoops.

The scene was set but when Roberts ran hoop one strongly down to hoop two to win that on the next rotation, it game his side a lead that they were never to lose.

The two middle hoops were won thanks to deft ball placement by Cowley and the finishing line was in sight with a 5-1 lead, and that was converted four hops later when Cowley ran hop ten for a 7-3 victory.

Goldring and Huntington were confirmed in second place because their 4 wins and +11 net hoops tally couldn't be overhauled by Pete Fall and Ramsay Adams (who far exceeded their bottom seeding) if that pair had won an un-played last round game.

​

- President and tournament manager/referee Frances Colman presented the Hilda Dobson Cups to runners-up Goldring and Huntington, and the Cave & Wolff Salvers to winners Cowley & Roberts.

08 September 2024 - PCC 'A' earn good 'victory' in unfinished last game of the league season
PCC'A' 4 -1 Winchester 'A' (incomplete match)

​​

The last fixture of the season for PCC 'A' had something of an 'after the Lord Mayor's Show about it, because East Dorset had already wrapped-up the SCF Open League title a few weeks ago.

Nevertheless, there was pride and crowing rights at stake and Pcc 'A; gor off to a good start with Chris Roberts, Rick Lilley and Andy Jones all winning their opening games and Roger Goldring just pipped in his first game.

Lilley and Jones went on to win their 'best of three games' matches 7-3, 7-3 and 7-6, 7-0 against Winchesters Jan Johnston and Ron Monger respectively.

However, Roberts allowed the visitors Roger Barnacle to draw level 7-5, 5-7 (in a match that was then paused) and Goldring lost his match against Winchester's number one Ian Harrison 5-7, 4-7, making the half-time score 2-1 in completed matches to Phyllis Court.

In the afternoon session, Jones made short work of Johnston 7-4, 7-2, and after letting the first game slip, Lilley was equally dominant against Monger 6-7, 7-3, 7-2, so a draw at least in the team match was secured for PCC 'A'.

In the top half of the fixture, Roberts and Goldring won their first games but were then checked in their seconds, and in the former's case to two fortuitous in-offs at hoops 11 and 13.

Roberts and Goldring tied with Harrison and Barnacle 7-4, 6-7 and 7-6, 4-7 respectively, at which point an 'inconclusive result' was agreed due to our splendid groundsman Stefan needing to apply some much needed chemical treatment (for outbreaks of fusarium and dollar spot lawn disease that had become apparent on our courts in the last week or so).

PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-1), Roger Goldring (1), Rick Lilley (1), Andy Jones (2).

08 September 2024 - Date for the SCF Advantage Final is agreed - PCC 'D' v Ryde - Monday 23 September,  at Phyllis Court

​​

The date for the final was finally agreed with Ryde today and a good match is in prospect.

Due to the logistics of travel for our Isle of Wight visitors, the match will start later than usual at 1100 and be staged with two rounds of games either side of lunch.

Please make a note of this date, to come along an support our team!

08 September 2024 - Shock win as Lilley beats von Schmieder to reach his first PCC Championship Final

​​

Rick Lilley scored a well deserved semi-final victory over nine-time Phyllis Court Champion Charlie von Schmieder to reach his first Open Singles competition final this afternoon.

It was a day full of incident dominated by a bout of torrential rain which halted the 'best of three games' match with only six hoops run, but crucially with Lilley 5-1 ahead.

Standing water soon took hold and a blocked drain in the car park right beside Court 2 corner 4 caused all the water gathered on the hard surface to flow onto the Court and case a large lake that filled the court to include hoop 4.

Play was abandoned in the double-banking 7+ Singles semi-final match between Carol Wadsworth and Helen Essa, whilst Lilley and von Schmieder eventually headed for the bar and then home respectively, with no more than a glimmer of hope that play might be able to resume much later this afternoon.

Tireless work by Von Schmieder with the courts dew brush and Chris Roberts with the fabulous Bowdry water removal machine gave the court a fighting chance and glorious sunshine in the early afternoon helped no end.

Play resumed in the Lilley v von Schmieder match at 1500 and Lilley duly pressed home is interim 5-1 lead to win the first game 7-4.

von Schmieder came back well to win the second game 7-5 and things lok ominous for Lilley when he missed easy hoop scores at 5 & 6 in the deciding game, but he weathered that mid-game blip to match von Schmieder to 4-4, before winning the crucial ninth hoop after a good tussle.

Hoop 10 followed quickly for Lilley, who's confidence was, by now, sky high and he followed that with the shot of the match sending his opponents balls one on to the other for an excellent strong and mid-range clearence.

von Schmieder had too much to do there after and Lilley stayed cool to close the game out 7-4 for the match and a ticket to the final.

Lilley will play the winner of the other semi between Chris Roberts and Robin Coates, which is being played on this coming Friday (13th).

PHOTO-2024-09-06-18-00-37.jpg
06 September 2024 - Rob Eagle wins 6-9 Evening Series

​

Russell Robinson reports - The final event of the 6-9 Evening Series was played out tonight.  To keep alive her hopes of lifting the trophy, Aly Warren needed to win all three games, including against hot favourite, Rob Eagle.  While she managed to beat Eagle 7-6, she came unstuck against Dee McKibbin, which handed the title to Eagle, who finished level with John Rumford on 11 wins from 14 games, but was awarded first place by virtue of having won their head-to-head match last month.  Warren finished third and Michael Marcel fourth.  

More details are at https://www.phylliscourtcroquet.com/10plus-evening-series.

Congratulations, Rob!

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Rob Eagle receiving the 6-9 Evening Series trophy from the competition manager, Russell Robinson.  Photo by Helen Essa. 
04 September 2024 - Smith wins AC Summer junior tournament Zia Sterling Cup

​

Jeff Smith won the delayed final and deciding game in his match versus Helen Essa to win our AC Summer tournament junior event this evening.

​Essa beat Smith 10-7 in their first 14-point game of a 'best of three' match but Smith had bounced back to win the second game 11-7 before a need to apply an emergency chemical treatment to the courts at 4pm, forced a postponement of the third game.

This evening Smith was first to score but Essa was quick to follow and the level pegging score-line was a feature of the firts half of the match.

Essa got the first truly decisive break and only Smith's repeated medium and long range hit-ins allowed him to mount a stern reply, such that the players had almost identical scores with 30 minutes to go.

Smith eventually made the centre hoops separately and, with on clip on the peg ant the other at hoop 6 (rover), the game was his to lose, and all the more so when he made that last hoop and pegged-out one ball.

Bur Essa Was not done just yet, hit in and made three more hoops under tremendous pressure from Smith.

Essa got to needing just two breaks to win before Smith made another long hit-in with his remaining ball, took off to the peg and finished, to win 14-9.

​

Chairman Patricia Mulcahy presented Jeff Smith with the Zia Sterling Cup.

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Croquet Club President Frances Colman presents the Connell Cup to
Bridge captain Dave Young (photo by Patricia Mulcahy)
02 September 2024
Croquet Club rally in afternoon croquet not enough to counter thumping in morning Bridge session
 

Bridge Club beat Croquet Club in annual match

Once the morning difficulties with the bridge scoring system were by-passed and play got underway, the Croquet Club were really under the cosh in the morning bridge session.
The Croquet Club lost that session by 20% to 80% leaving an all but insurmountable hill to climb in the afternoon croquet session.
And it got worse before it got better when the Bridge Club had actually extended their lead after two of the six rounds had been played.
Croquet struck back well in the third round to close the gap considerably, before halving the fourth round and leaving themselves a good challenge to win their own discipline in the final two rounds.
Five wins from the six gams in the fifth round finally established a good lead which Croquet extended in the final round to win the afternoon 20 - 16 on games and 112 - 103 on hoops, but this victory margin was nothing like the Bridge Club's dominance in the morning bridge session, and they won the combined match as a result.
Croquet Club President Frances Colman presented the Connell Cup to Bridge captain Dave Young.
The Croquet team's 'most valuable pair' were Ian & Delia Norris with 5 croquet wins, just ahead of Croquet's Rob Eagle & Helen Essa and Bridge's David Young & Mike Sayer on 4 wins each.
29 August 2024 - Phyllis Court lose hold of National Secretary's Shield with loss at Peterborough

​Peterborough  6 - 1 Phyllis Court 

 
National Holders of Croquet England's Secretary's Shield, Phyllis Court were beaten 1-6 in their semi-final by hosts Peterborough today.

Patricia Mulcahy (AC handicap 11) got the team off to a good start, using her bisques (extra turns) to good effect to win +19 over Home captain Adrian Kirby (handicap 0).

But that was as good as it got and, despite four close contests, the Henley side came up short in all the remaining games.

Reigning Woman's World Champions Debbie Lines (-2) controlled the morning doubles game, marshalling her alternat stroke partnership with novice Justin Beaumont (20) to a +17 victory over Phyllis Court's Chris Roberts (-0.5) and Roger Goldring (14).

In the other morning game Phyllis Court's Raghu Iyer (8) was just overhauled by Stephen Cornelius (6) by -5 in timed-out game.

Iyer was the first to finish of the four afternoon head-to-head games when Kirby found his A-Class game to win +13, leaving Phyllis Court needing to win all three of the remaining games, and they made a good fist of all three before losing on time by small margins.

Roberts, Mulcahy and Goldring lost to Lines, Cornelius and Beaumont by -6, -5 and -3 respectively.

Team:  Chris Roberts (AC -0.5), Raghu Iyer (8), Patricia Mulcahy (11) Roger Goldring (14)

 

A digest of results will appear here Croquet Scores shortly -

https://croquetscores.com/2024/ac/england-secretarys-shield-semi-final-handicap-peterborough-v-phyllis-court/peterborough-vs-phyllis-court

29 August 2024 - Broom & Marcel win 3+ Doubles - the first season-long competition final of 2024​

Alastair Broom & Michael Marcel beat Jeff Smith & Dee Mckibbin in an early playing of the 3+Doubles Final this morning.
They won 7-4, 7-6 with the highlight stokes apparently coming from Smith on the vanquished side, when he ran hoops from the other end of the court 4 times!
Winners Broom & Marcel win the Smith & McKibbin win the Eades Cups, and runners-up Smith & McKibbin win the Chris Read & Anne Attfield Cups.
Congratulations all!
 
26 August 2024 - Evening Series updates

 

Russell Robinson reports:​​

The 10+ Evening Series has now completed its qualifying phase, with 61 members having played, some more than others, on 19 evenings from mid-May through to the last one yesterday.  By winning all three of their games on two or more occasions, eight members have qualified for the semi-finals, which will be played as two blocks of four on August 30th and September 14th, with the winners of each block contesting the Final for the coveted trophy.  The semi-finalists are Martin Cranstoun, Sally Batty, Liz Smith, Paul Wooldridge, Bob Clapp, Sue Rumford, Graham Pattie and John Howie, so congratulations to all of them.  It’s great to see three of this year’s beginners in this number.  More details are at https://www.phylliscourtcroquet.com/10plus-evening-series.
​

Meanwhile, the 6-9 Evening Series is reaching its climax.  This has been contested by 15 members, with the logistically challenging target of all playing all once.  Rob Eagle stormed into early domination winning his first nine games, but last time out, he was pegged back by Michael Marcel and Helen Essa, and he still has to play Aly Warren and Steve Morton, both of whom, along with John Rumford, could still pip Rob to the title.  More details are at https://www.phylliscourtcroquet.com/6-9-evening-series.

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25 August 2024 - Phyllis Court 'Team B' lose narrowly in the Federations Shield (Advantage)  â€‹
Meldreth  4 - 3  Phyllis Court 'Team B''

 

Phyllis Court 'Team B' were pipped 3-4 by Cambridgeshire side Meldreth on Sunday at Wrest Park, near Bedford, to deny Phyllis Court the unique achievement of getting two teams into a National team final.

Like 'Team A' three days previously, Team B also got off to a good start when captain Raghu Iyer (handicap 4) and Hugh Crook (7) won the morning doubles runner in straight games against John Bishop (4) and Sue Bishop (5) 7-5, 7-4, but Meldreth won the opening salvos of the two singles rubbers as a foretaste of the close match to unfold.

Phyllis Court’s Rob Eagle (5) and Helen Essa (6) levelled those matches with game two victories against David Edwards (4) and Roger Wallbridge (5), but the Meldreth men came back to win the deciders for 4-7, 7-3, 5-7 and 3-7, 7-3, 7-6 match wins respectively.

At 1-2 down at lunch, all was to play for in the four afternoon singes rubbers and when Iyer beat John Bishop 7-4, 7-5 and Crook beat Wallbridge 7-5, 7-4, thinks really looked up for Phyllis Court team B.

In the two remaining singles matches, Essa was game up versus Sue Bishop and Eagle was down versus Edawards, before both matches were brough level in the second games.

Meldreth, who had shown good ball placement and especially jumping skills, brought those to the fore in the two deciders and Phyllis Court’s Eagle & Essa lost 5-7, 7-6, 3-7 and 7-5, 4-7, 4-7.

Team - Raghu Iyer (4), Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6), Hugh Crook (7)

 

You can follow the team's progress in (as close to real time as we can manage) on Croquet Scored here -

 https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-federation-shield-advantage-west-worthing-v-phyllis-court-team-a/west-worthing-vs-phyllis-court-team-a  

22 August 2024 - Can our 'Team B' make it an 'All Phyllis Court' National Final by winning against Meldreth on Sunday?   Follow on Croquet Scores on Sunday  

​

The second of our double-header of National Federations Shield (Advantage) semi-finals takes place on Sunday.

PCC 'Team B' are away to South Cambridgeshire side Meldreth in a match being played at Wrest Park CC, near Bedford - Good Lock team!

Team - Raghu Iyer (4), Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6), Hugh Crook (7)

 

You can follow the team's progress in (as close to real time as we can manage) on Croquet Scored here -

 https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-federation-shield-advantage-west-worthing-v-phyllis-court-team-a/west-worthing-vs-phyllis-court-team-a  

PCC's Federations Shield 'Team A' , winners at West Worthing today.

L-R: Kevin Ward, Andy Jones, Patricia Mulcahy, Chris Roberts (and the injured) Paul Franklin.

(photo by Andy Woon)

22 August 2024 - 
  Phyllis Court 'Team A' reach the Federations Shield (Advantage) NATIONAL FINAL   â€‹
West Worthing  2 - 5  Phyllis Court 'Team A''

National holders Phyllis Court 'Team A' won this semi-final fairly comfortably on a windswept and rainy day on the Sussex coast today.​

Enforced to make one personnel change due to Paul Franklin's frustrating shoulder injury, the Phyllis Court team welcomed in Kevin Ward (handicap 5) to the number four berth for this fixture.

Ward took some time to settle in a new partnership for the opening doubles rubber with Chris Roberts (-2) and the pair both struggled to find their length on West Worthing's relatively slow (but level) courts.

They were beaten all ends up in their first game 1-7, by West Worthing's Andy  Woon (4) and Stella Russell (4), but came back well to record 7-4, 7-5 victories in the second and third games to take the doubles rubber 2-1.

Before the end of their second game, Andy Jones (2) had made restively short work of the host's Andrew Stewart (2), 7-4, 7-5, in a level-play contest giving Phyllis Court an early lead in the team match, and the other morning singles match was also a level play encounter between West Worthing's captain Charlie Preston (5) and Phyllis Court's Patricia Mulcahy (5).

This one went to a third game after Preston came back from a first game defeat to win the second, with the match eventually won by Mulcahy, 7-5, 6-7, 7-5, giving Phyllis Court a welcome, but perhaps flattering 3-0 half time lead, given the closeness of the morning's croquet.

West Worthing provided a lovey home made lunch (thank you Mrs Preston) before the players braved the wind and rain of the afternoon, with Phyllis Court needing a win in just one of the remaining four rubbers for victory in the team match, and it came along in just over the hour when Mulcahy (5) beat Russell (4) in quick-time 7-3, 7-0.

Roberts (-2) had really found his shooting accuracy by then and repeatedly hit Stewart (2) from range to overhaul a -2 : 1 starting score, and win 7-3, 7-5, but West Worthing were not to be completely out-done and the impressively accurate Woon (4) beat Phyllis Court's Jones (2) 6-7, 2-7, and Preston (5) beat Ward (5) 6-7, 5-7.

A digest if the results is here on Croquet Scored here -

 https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-federation-shield-advantage-west-worthing-v-phyllis-court-team-a/west-worthing-vs-phyllis-court-team-a  

​​Team - Chris Roberts (-2), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (5), Kevin Ward (5)

​

​*******

Can our 'Team B' make it an 'All Phyllis Court' National Final by winning against Meldreth on Sunday?  -  See the next news item above.

*******

21 August 2024 - Mulcahy wins our AC Summer tournament Caversham Plate

​

Phyllis Court Croquet Club Chairman Patricia Mulcahy won our AC Summer Handicap Tournament today and was presented with the lovely Caversham Plate by our President Frances Colman.

Mulcahy opened her account with an 18-0 defeat of Chris Roberts who was restricted to just four strokes as Mulcahy used her bisques to great effect, and furth wins came at the expense of Colman and Raghu Iyer.

Only holder Roger Goldring could dent Mulcahy's winning streak and when he faces Colman in their last round game, a win for last year's winner would be enough to give him the tournament win over Mulcahy on the 'who beat whom' tie-break.

However, despite a good break of six hoops, Goldring couldn't claw back Colman's lead.

So, Mulcahy finished in front on 3 wins from the rat of the small field on 2 or 1.

​

In the junior event, for the Zia Sterling Cup, Helen Esaa beat jeff smith 10-7 in their first game in a best of three, but Smith bounced back to win the second game 11-7.

With groundsman Steffan wanting to apply a chemical treatment to the courts at 4pm, theer was no time for their decider games which will be played on a later date.

18 August 2024 - Jones helps Oxfordshire win promotion to the County Championship Division 1

​

Phyllis Court's Andy Jones helped Oxfordshire in a successful County Championship Division 2 campaign this weekend, that ended with the 'dark blues' winning promotion to the top tier for next season.

Oxfordshire lost only one team match and that was a narrow 3-4 reverse to the new Lincolnshire 'super-team' of four young England International players, who beat everyone except Oxfordshire by the maximum 7-0.

Playing as a mixture of singles and doubles over two days at Cheltenham, the Oxfordshire team also featured former Phyllis Court member Raouf Allim (now at High Wycombe), Scotland International Stephen Wright and former Women's World Champion Jenny Clarke from New Zealand.

Well done Andy Jones and Oxfordshire!

​

18 August 2024 - Roberts & Colman and Mulcahy & Franklin are 2nd & 3rd  in the Doubles at Budleigh's AC tournament

​

Phyllis Court had a strong presence at Budleigh Salterton's Summer week-long tournament which finished today.

The best success was Chris Roberts and Frances Colman's runner-up position in the Handicap Doubles on the opening day, when the par won four games (including a semi final against clubmates Patricia Mulcahy and Paul Franklin) before losing to world Top 20 player Duncan Reeve and his higher handicapped partner in the final.

Mulcahy & Franklin beat two minus players 26-0 in the 3rd/4th play-off.

In the Handicap Singles, Roberts won all four of his games on the first day of that event, but went from hero to zero on day two when he lost all four.

Mulcahy did best of our quartet with 5 wins from her 8 games (62%), Colman and Roberts were both just one win behind (50%) and poor Paul Franklin had to withdraw with a recurrence of his shoulder injury.

In the Class event that ended the week, Roberts was delighted to win 4 from 9 and take some notable scalps in the A-Class, while Colman's win over Mulcahy with six hoops in her last turn after time to win by 1 hoop, was the pair's closest contect in a tough C Class where they were both out gunned by much lower handicapped players.

16 August 2024 - PCC 'D' thrash Winchester 'B' to win the SCF Central Division title  -  PCC 'D'  13 - 3  Winchester 'B'

​

PCC 'D' got off to a flyer in this last scheduled Advantage League Central Division match, with Andy Jones (2), Michael Marcel (6), Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6) winning all four first round games.

Round two was much the same, with only Jones suffering a loss, to put PCC 7-1 up at the half way stage.

There was more misery for Winchester with another clean sweep on round three before the visitors recovered some dignity by halving the the last rounf 2-2, with losses incurred by Jones and Essa.

But with Captain Rob Eagle and debutant Michael Marcel both sporting unblemished 4/4 records, the final team score of 13-3 was not only Phyllis Court's largest ever wining margin in a league match, it also secured PCC 'D' the Central Division title and a play-off place against the other two divisional winners

​PCC 'D' - Andy Jones (2), Michael Marcel (6), Rob Eagle (5), Helen Essa (6)

- Congratulations PCC 'D' 

15 August 2024 - AC C-League team miss out on title  -  â€‹PCC  1-1  High Wycombe

Paul Franklin reports:

With the three matches played so far this season resulting in wins versus Blewbury and Hamptworth and a draw against East Dorset, this remaining home match was pivotal for the league title.

We needed to win in order to tie with East Dorset on match wins and the tie break would have come down to scaled net hoops.

However, High Wycombe's' Robin Morrison hadn't read our script and his defeat of Raghu Iyer did for our title hopes, althogh Kevin Ward's win for Phyllis Court, did at least preserve our team's unbeaten record with the 1-1 draw.

We may well come second overall in the league depending on the results of the remaining matches

PCC - Raghu Iyer (AC 8), Kevin Ward (AC 11)

11 August 2024 - Iyer's fourth place is best of PCC sextet in our B-Level Series 'Smokey's Cup' tournament
​

Raghu Iyer finished with a 'podium' fourth place in a very tight Cup block contested at co-hosts' Blewbury today's ground today.

He won 4 of his 7 games to be just one victory behind the winner, Adam Newbould (Bromley) and runner-up Sarah Clements (Chester).

Alastair Broom also won 4 games to finished in fifth place behind Iyer on net hoops.

Patricia Mulcahy scored 3 game wins and was sixth.

​

The plate event at Phyllis Court was also a close run affair, with Phyllis Court's Kevin Ward falling just short in his last game to tie with outright winner Jane Powel (Ealing).

Helen Essa won three games to easily outplay her seeding and it could have been so different for Rob Eagle had he converted some of his four 6-7 losses.​

See all the results as the come in here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-b-level-3-series-at-phyllis-court-blewbury/phyllis-court-block

10 August 2024 - Iyer, Broom & Mulcahy all make the 'cut' to play for the Cup in our National B-Level Series tournament​
​

Raghu Iyer, Alastair Broom and Patricia Mulcahy all finished in the top four of their blocks to qualify for the 'Cup' event of out National B-Level (3+) Series tournament co-hosted with Blewbury CC.

Iyer and Broom were winner and runner-up of the Phyllis Court located block and Mulcahy finished third at the Blewbury based block.

They will all be at Blewbury tomorrow trying to win 'Smokey's Cup' and to qualify for the National B-Level Final next month.

Congratulations to them all and good luck for tomorrow

​​

Helen Essa was only one win away from joining the 'Cup' qualifiers, having put in a truly spirited performance to record three wins from bottom seed.
She will play at Phyllis Court tomorrow in the consolation Plate event, along with Kevin Ward and Rob Eagle.

​

​On Sunday from 0930:

At Phyllis Court (contesting the Plate) - Helen Essa, Kevin Ward & Rob Eagle

At Blewbury      (contesting the Cup)  - Raghu Iyer, Alastair Broom & Patricia Mulcahy

​

See all the results as the come in here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-b-level-3-series-at-phyllis-court-blewbury/phyllis-court-block

09 August 2024 -   Please come to support 6 PCC players in tournament action this weekend   
​

This weekend we have SIX PCC players contesting our National B-Level (3+) Series tournament co-hosted with Blewbury CC.

'Smokey's Cup' remembers our former President R.S. 'Smokey' Eades, who died in 2021 at the age of 102.

​

Please come along and support your clubmates this weekend - 

​

On Saturday from 0930:

At Phyllis Court - Raghu Iyer, Alastair Broom & Rob Eagle

At Blewbury     - Kevin Ward, Patricia Mulcahy & Helen Essa

​

On Sunday from 0930:

At Phyllis Court -  The bottom 4 from each venue will contest the Plate

At Blewbury       - The top 4 from each venue will contest the Cup

​

See all the results as the come in here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/england-b-level-3-series-at-phyllis-court-blewbury/phyllis-court-block

7 Augusty 2024 - The Fensomes win our Open Doubes Tournament

This has been a week for ‘come backs’ and at the Phyllis Court Open tournament, fortunes did not look good for Helena and Mike Fensome when they lost their opening game 3-7 to top seeds Chris Roberts and Frances Colman.

The Fensomes then chalked up four wins in row to get right back into contention in the 'all play all' block of eight pairs.

Challenging the Fensomes going into the penultimate round were Roger Goldring and Rick Lilley who had also only lost once, to the Fensomes themselves, so both pairs were tasked to win their last two games and hope that they had the better net hoops tie-break score.

The Roberts/Colman duo and the Ian and Delia Norris partnership were one win behind should either faulter, but the sixth round proved to be a disaster for three of the leaders who all lost unexpectedly with the Norris’ defeat of Goldring and Lilley the most damaging.

This tied the Fensomes and Norrises and, when they both won, manager Roberts had some hurried net hoop calculations to make, and these gave the tournament victory to the Fensomes by +12 to +10.

The Fensomes were presented with the Iain Lindasy cups at a later date by croquet club President Frances Colman

​​Finishing order:

(1) Henena & Mike Fensome, (2) Ian & Delia Norris, (3) Chris Roberts & Frances Colman,

(4) Roger Goldring & Rick Lilley, (5) Robin Coates & Dianne Browne, (6) Patricia Mulcahy & Paul Franklin,

(7) Terje Johansen & Raghu Iyer, (8) Alastair Broom & Rob Eagle.

29 July 2024 - Ward joins Mulcahy in qualifying for the All England Handicap National Final

Kevin Ward qualified fairly comfortably from the Area Final South-East. Managed by Chris Roberts, at Surbiton today.

He lost his first game on Surbiton's 'lighting fast' courts about was undefeated thereafter.

Hugh Crook also played in this Area Final but losing his opening two games was too big a hill to climb despite playing well and looking good.

04 August 2024 - Women's European Championship (Day 4) - Patricia Mulcahy finishes on a high, in 15th from starting seed 30.

- Frances Colman referees the Final and presents the prizes on behalf of the World Croquet Federation - 
 
Patricia Mulcahy was joined by Phyllis Court Referees Frances Colman and Chris Roberts for the Championships final day at Compton CC (Eastbourne).
Colman had been appointed to referee the main event final in the afternoon and to present the prizes on behalf of the World Croquet Federation.

Mulcahy had one last match today against the top tournament experienced Glynis Davies of Northampton to be decided over a single 19-point game and Mulcahy dominated the encounter from the start.
She won the first two hoops and extended that Advantage to lead 6-2 and then commandingly 8-4 before closing out the game decisively 10-4.
This game Mulcahy a hugely creditable finishing position of 15th from a starting seed 30 - congratulations Patricia!

Colman took charge of the afternoon Championship Final between Louise Smith of Budleigh Salterton and Maria Taylor of Spain who had not lost a single game all tournament.
Smith was in the first game and came from behind for a chance of the lead at hoop 11, but when that fell by the wayside so did her spirits and Taylor, who's excellent hoop running and strong clearances in particular just got better and better, bringing her victory 7-5, 5-4.
On behalf of the World Croquet Federation, Colman presented the main prize to the delighted Taylor and medals to the placed players.

See a digest of all the results on Croquet Scores here: https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/erc-european-womens-tournament/block-c
03 August 2024 - Women's European Championship (Day 3) - Mulcahy loses narrowly to 2nd seed Smith
 
Patricia Mulcahy was "thrilled to bits" to have pushed second seed Louise Smith in two very close games in this mornings first round of the main knock-out.
Despite well out-performing her own seeding to have made the qualification cut yesterday, Mulcahy was very competitive this morning and was only a failed jump at hoop 13 away in her first game from beating the experience Smith.
And she kept the pressure on Smith in their second game too, before going down 6-7, 5-7.
She dropped into the Bowl event (for positions 9-16) and llost a close match with Scotland full International Rosemary Sunders-Robertson 6-7, 7-4, 4-7.
Mulcahy was then disappointed to have to play another match late in the evening and lost a single 19-point game 4-10 to Bridget Goodman of Ealing in what she described as her worst performance of the tournament.
One last match remains for Mulcahy tomorrow.
Follow Patricia's endeavours on Croquet Scores here: https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/erc-european-womens-tournament/block-c
02 August 2024 - PCC 'A' hold  star-studied League Champions East Dorset to a creditable draw
PCC 'A'  4 - 4  East Dorset 'A'
On blisteringly hot day today, PCC 'A' matched an East Dorset team boasting three England internationals and sitting as League Champions 'elect'.
In the morning only Chris Roberts, himself a Wales international, could manage a match win and he needed a jump shot at hoop 13 of his deciding game of three against Southern Federation Champion Steve Leonard to do it, winning 7-5, 2-7, 7-6
Phyllis Court's Ian Norris lost 2-7, 5-7 to East Dorset's top player Jeff Dawson, Roger Goldring went down in three games to Mark Hamann 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, and Andy Jones did really well when out-classed massively on paper to tie with England international Jonathan Powe 3-7, 7-5.
The deciding game of that rubber was postponed going to the afternoon session of 'head to head' matches with East Dorset leading the team match 1-2 in completed rubbers.
In another against the form book match-up, Norris narrowly got the better of Leonard 7-6, 7-5 to level the team match as all the other rubbers went to deciding third games.
Goldring eventually fell to Powe 6-7, 7-4, 5-7, Jones did very well to come from behind to beat Hamann 5-7, 7-6, 7-5, and in the match of the number ones, Roberts came back from near dead at 2-5 and 3-6 down in his second game with Dawson to win 7-6 having lost his first game 6-7.
Roberts and Dawson abandoned their deciding game and likewise the morning's postponed Jones/Powe decider was not returned to, because of the late hour and distance home for the visitors, and by that stage they had mathematically secured the league title, and agreeing to half the unfinished rubbers for a match draw would not effect that.
But this was a very good team performance by PCC' 'A' against the stiffest opposition ever fielded in the League.
PCC 'A' have one league match remaining versus Winchester on a date to be decided later this moth or early next.
PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-2), Ian Norris (-1), Roger Goldring (1), Andy Jones (2)
02 August 2024 - Women's European Championship (Day 2) - Mulcahy qualifies for main knock-out!
 
Patricia Mulcahy was both stunned and delighted to qualify for the main knock-out of the Championship today at Compton CC (Eastbourne).
She did not add to her overnight tally of 3 wins, as the remaining block games were completed on Day 2.
Mulcahy ended tied on 3 game wins with Kathy Brown (Scotland) and Simone Huber (Switzerland) and went into a play-off between them for the lats qualification place.
Mulcahy had beaten both players in the block already and did so again with 7-5 results against the pair.
Qualification in fourth place in her block will very likely mean a tough first round draw verses a block winner.
There is no live-streaming of this one, but you can follow Patricia's endeavours on Croquet Scores here:
https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/erc-european-womens-tournament/block-c
01 August 2024 - Women's European Championship (Day 1) - Mulcahy wins 3 out of 4 after surprise last minute call-up
 
HOT NEWS - PCC Croquet Chairman Patricia Mulcahy received a phone call very early yesterday morning offering a last minute place in the Championships, and was down in Eastbourne by mid-afternoon to line-up the other Irish players in the Opening Ceremony!
The tournament starts today and runs for the next 4 days (1-4 August) concluding on Sunday and is being hosted by Compton CC (Eastbourne).
There is no live-streaming of this one, but you can follow Patricia's endeavours on Croquet Scores here:
https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/erc-european-womens-tournament/block-c

On Sunday, PCC Croquet President Frances Colman be the Referee for the Championship Final and has also been asked to Award the Prizes.
Good luck Patricia and Frances!

Day 1 - Mulcahy had a dream start winning her opening three games, 10-8 v Simone Herber (Switzerland), 7-5 v Michelle Leonard (England) and 7-6 Cath Browne (Scotland) .
Such were these sucesses, it was a surprise when she lost 5-7 to Alison Murray (England) in the late afternoon
31 July 2024 - Adams wins his first tournament, the 10+ Singles (for the Green Ball Trophy)
 

Ramsay Adams looks like a name to to keep an eye on after an an impressive debut 10+ tournament win today.

He as pipped 6-7 in his first game of the day by the experience of relative tournament veteran Carol Wadsworth but turned the tables, and score line, on her when the pair met again in the final.

In the morning session, Wadsworth , Ian Forster and Cliff Hampton won the three blocks and only the latter (who was beaten by Adams) failed to win their afternoon quarter-fails.

Hilary Cowley scored a convincing 7-2 quarter-final win over newcomer Philip Rowley who had looked like a contender until that point.

Wadsworth beat Cowley 7-5 in one semi and Adams beat Forster 7-6 in the other, to set-up an interesting final that changed dramatically when Adams scored hoop 12 from beside hoop 11!

Wadsworth held the advantage with first stroke to the 13th hoop but was short with that ball and disappointingly likewise with the second, while Adams got in front but was fairly deep with both balls.

Wadsworth cleared Adams first ball but he scored impressively from four yards with the second, and was presented with the Green Ball Trophy by President Frances Colman.

Finishing order:

(1) Ramsay Adams, (2) Carol Wadsworth, (3) Ian Forster, (4) Hilary Cowley, (5) Cliff Hampton, (6) Daphne Spiers,

(7) Philip Rowley, (8) Maureen Ward, (9) Dilys Gordon, (10) Pippa Wynne-Ellis, (11) Barbara Gibbs, (12) Penny Morgan.

29 July 2024 - Ward joins Mulcahy in qualifying for the All England Handicap National Final
​

Kevin Ward qualified fairly comfortably from the Area Final South-East. Managed by Chris Roberts, at Surbiton today.

He lost his first game on Surbiton's 'lighting fast' courts about was undefeated thereafter.

Hugh Crook also played in the Area Final (South-East) but losing his opening two games ws too bigh a hil to climb despite playing well and looking good.

28 July 2024 - Goldring and partner Jenny Clark are equal third at the GC National Doubles

 

Roger Goldring and partner Jenny Clarke got a very creditable ‘podium place’ in joint third at the National Doubles Championship this weekend.
Clarke, who is a former Women’s World Champion at Association Croquet, had asked Goldring to partner her following the pair’s successful performances for Oxfordshire at last season’s County Championship.
Flattered Goldring more that played his part in the pairs’ good run in Devon, when they won five of their seven block matches on Saturday to finish comfortably in second place to qualify for Sunday’s knock-out stage.
Almost joining them were Phyllis Court’s Chris Roberts and Frances Colman who won three games but missed out on qualification by two hoops in a tie-break calculation.
They went on to win the Saucer event to finish level with their 17th seeding place.
Goldring and Clarke however, did well to win a close quarter final 7-5, 3-7, 7-6 against Taunton pair Stephen Custance-Baker and Neil Fillery, but then came up against favourites James Death and Sam Cuthbert in the semis.
England international Death and 18-year-old Cuthberts, who played in the Under 21 Would Championship two years ago controlled the first game well but were given a real scare by Goldring and Clarke in the second, before wining 3-7, 6-7 and going on the win the final fairly easily.
Goldring and Clarke played two games of a third/fourth placed match, with 6-7 and 7-4 results before agreeing to half the match with Colin Britt and Andy Loakes.

​

26 July 2024 - Mulcahy holds her nerve, as PCC win again, to qualify TWO teams for the Federations Shield Final

Budleigh Salterton  3 - 4  PCC 'Fed Shield Team A'

 

Phyllis Court's Federations Shield Team A, who are the holders of the national title, were pleased to have got over the tricky hurdle of South-West Champions, Budleigh Salterton, in Devon today.

The fixture set a new record as the furthest away match every played by the Henley club, and they needed all their cup-tie experience to get the win in a team contest that was close throughout.

In the morning session, Phyllis Courts Chris Roberts (-2) and Paul Franklin (7) were comfortable winners 7-5, 7-5 against Budleigh's Pat Coulter (3) and John Duplock (5).

But Phyllis Court narrowly lost the two singles rubbers which both went to deciding games.

Patricia Mulcahy (5) lost 3-7, 7-5, 4-7 Paul New (5), and Andy Jones (2) lost 7-5, 2-7, 3-7 to Ervine Kewley (6) so trailed 1-2 in the team match at lunch.

In the afternoon session, Phyllis Court number one Roberts (-2) was again fairly confirmable but had to survive a late survive from Coulter (3) before wining 5-7, 6-7 to level the team score at 2-2, and not long afterwards, Franklin (7) gave Phyllis Court the match lead with the defeat of Kewley (5) 7-6, 7-5.

The match was thrown back to level when Jones (2) lots to new (5) 3-7, 6-7 and all eyes then fell on the Mulcahy v Duplock match that would decided the fixture.

Mulcahy is no stranger to pressure situations and this one echoed the national final last season when the title rested on her match that was again the alst to finish.

Muchaly had won the first game but lost the second and, by the time the other players gathered she had a healthy 5-2 lead in the deciding game.

Duplock won two hops in a row to cut the deficit from three to two, but Mulcahy had the game in enough control to take on in score a risky jump shot at hoop 10, which then gave Duplock too much to overhaul and Mulcahy brought home the crucial four match win 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.

 - This win gives Phyllis Court two teams in the semi-finals of this National competition, which it's self is a national first.

Phyllis Court Team A will next face West Worthing (East Sussex), and Team B will play Meldreth (South Cambridgeshire), with both dates and veuse yet to be agreed.

PCC ''Fed Shield' Team A:  Chris Roberts (-2), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (6), Paul Franklin (7)

26 July 2024 - PCC 'B' held to a draw on an overly-long match at Eynsham

Eynsham  4 - 4  PCC 'B'

​

​Report to come . . . 

PCC 'A':  Dianne Browne (4), Alastair Broom (5), Dee Mckibbin (5), Jeff Smith (5)

24 July 2024 - Mulcahy qualifies for the All England Handicap (Advantage) National Final

​Patricia Mulcahy was the top finisher of our four players competing in the All England Handicap Area Final South, hosted at Phyllis Court today.

Carol Wadsworth, John Howie and Liz Smith were also in the field of eight, that was completed by two players from each of Blewbury and Woking.

Mulcahy won her frst four games, including beating Howie and Smith,  to lead the filed, until she was pegged back Blewbury's Carol Jamieson.

Also keeping pace were Wadsworth and Woking's Sandra Guildford and, going into the lats tow rounds, the two qualifying places looked set to be decided between the three of them.

Mulcahy dented Wadsworth's chances 7-3 in the penultimate round but still needed to beat Guildford in the last round but lost, so had to wait anxiously for Wadsworth's last result.

When Wandsworth was pipped 6-7 by Jamieson, it settled matters in Mulcahy and Guildford's favour and both qualified for the National Final in September, whilst Wadsworth will be high on the national reserves list.

​

23 July 2024 - PCC score good AC 7+ League away at East Dorset

East Dorset  1 - 1  PCC 'AC 7+'

Phyllis Court’s 7+ team recorded a creditable 1-1 draw in their B-League match their longest away trip of the year, to the East Dorset Club at Poole, near Bournemouth.
Robin Coates lost his match to East Dorset’s Chris Rice but the improving Kevin Ward beat and his host John Speigle, to continue his good form that subsequently earned him a handicap reduction.

PCC 'A':  Robin Coates (AC 12), Kevin Ward (AC 12)

22 July 2024 - PCC 'A' disappointed with day on the Isle of Wight

Ryde  4 - 4  PCC 'A'

Phyllis Court 'A' team travelled to the "South Island", as the locals like to refer to their home at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, for a Southern Federation Open League match.
Chris Roberts and Rick Lilley won both their ‘best of three games’ matches and the fixture result eventually hung on Roger Goldring's third and deciding game with Ryde's Jonathan Smith which had been suspended from the morning session.
Golding saw a two-hoop lead calmly clawed back by Smith in that final game and a 5-7 reverse, gained Ryde the result they needed to hold Phyllis Court to a 4-4 draw in the team match.
Earlier, 'A' team debutant Jeff Smith had lost to Ryde's Pam Sim in straight games but had done well to get the experienced Stuart Peters to 5-7, before losing that match too, but it was an encouraging performance from Smith who was stepping-up in standard significantly for this Open League match.
Phyllis Court's Roberts beat Roy Tillcock and later Smith, both in straight games, and clubmate Lilley had beaten Peters in two games and Sim in three.
Goldring tied with Smith at one game each in the morning but then went on to lose to Tillcock heavily in the afternoon, leaving the fixture dependent upon returning to the deciding game of the morning's rubber.
Phyllis Court looked to be in a good position at one rubber ahead and with Goldring at 5-3 up in that final game, and more so when he hit a terrific clearance at some distance when he could only see half a ball.
The worm certainly turned after that though, when Smith won a very long hoop 9 battle and then sent his ball into the jaws of hoop 10 from over ten yards.
That pulled the score back to 5-5 and at hoop 11 it all started to fall apart for Goldring, when he missed the hoop entirely with an uncharacteristically poor scoring attempt.
Smith won that hoop for three in a row and despite a valiant effort from Goldring who hit Smith from the boundary three times in a row, he went down 5-7, and Ryde competed their escape with a 4-4 team match score.

PCC 'A':  Chris Roberts (-1), Roger Goldring (1), Rick Lilley (1), Jeff Smith (5)

20-21 July 2024 - von Schmieder (Ireland)  & Roberts (Wales) play in the GC Home Internationals

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Charlie von Schmieder and Chris Roberts captained and played for Ireland and Wales respectively, in the Home internationals at Nailsea CC (North Somerset) this weekend.

A young England side with players aged 22, 20, 19 and (only just) 18, were too strong for the other nations, and they won all three of their Test matches to win back the title after losing it to von Schmieder's Ireland last year in Dublin.

On Saturday, Ireland opened with a comprehensive 0-6 defeat by England, then beat Scotland 5-0, with von Schmieder winning both his Doubles maatch and his singles match 2-0.

Meanwhile, Wales beat Scotland 2-0 and then went down 2-4 to England, with Roberts getting a game off Aston Wade and together with partner Ian BUrridge, the pair halved their doubles rubber with Wade and Jack Good, to maintain their excellent record of never having lost a 'bets of three' match.

On Sunday, Phyllis Court's Championship Referee Frances Colman arrived to officiate, boosting the Club's participation to three and Chairman Patricia Mulcahy called by to spectate on er way home from Budleigh and she stayed all day!

England trounced Scotland for their clean sweep and Ireland lined up with Wales for a Test to decided the runner-up spot.

In the Phyllis Court players' clash, Wales' Roberts and partner Burridge beat Ireland's von Schmieder and Simon Williams 7-4, 7-3 and then von Schmieder got the first singes game off Burridge before losing 7-6, 5-7, 5-7.

Roberts renewed his rivalry with Ireland's Mark Stephens, with two 2-1 victories over the Irishman already in the bag from earlier in the season at the European Championships, and he competed a hat-trick of match wins over Stephens with another victory 7-6, 2-7, 7-3, helping Wales to a 4-2 Test match win and second place over-all.

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Results digest on  Croquet Scores here -   https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/home-internationals  

2024 Roberts, Chris with National Seniors B-Class (Colin Hemming) Cup (by Frances Colman) web.jpg
20 July 2024 - Franklin & Roberts win their Classed events at the National Seniors Championship

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Paul Franklin (left) and Chris Roberts (below left) are celebrating their individual successes at the National Seniors Association Croquet Championships last week, as Phyllis Court featured highly in all the events they entered.

The pair won their respective Classed Singles events at the end of the week, following on from creditable finishing positions in earlier handicap events, in the week-long tournament at Budleigh Salterton in Devon.

First up was the Handicap Doubles in which Roberts played with regular partner Frances Colman and Franklin teamed up with Phyllis Court Chairman Patricia Mulcahy.

The latter dropped one early block game, whilst the former were undefeated until the two pairs met, in what turned out to be, an effective semi-final with only pair to qualify for the final from their block.

Franklin and Mulcahy used their bisques (extra turns) sparingly and well, and gave little away, in a controlled and mature performance to close-out the game against their own club coaches.

Roberts and Colman had to win their remaining game and hope that Franklin and Mulcahy tripped-up in their last block encounter, but when both Phyllis Court pairs won, the latter’s victory in the head-to-head game gave them precedence.

The final called for different tactics from Franklin and Mulcahy when they faced A-Class player Joe King of Blewbury and Budleigh’s Duncan Reeve who is in the top 20 players in the World.

Knowing that letting either opponent on the court would likely result in a large break, the Phyllis Court pair used their bisques to keep in the innings as much as possible but were eventually overhauled by the star partnership when the bisques ran-out.

The Handicap Singles event followed in the mid-week and was again a closely fought affair with both Mulcahy and Roberts involved in another tied block, this time with England player David Maugham.

Roberts had beaten Maugham which was a good scalp, Maugham had got past Mulcahy by a single point on time and Mulcahy had beaten Roberts easily, but with net points being unusable as a tie-break in handicap play, a coin-toss decided and fell in Mulcahy’s favour.

She beat another minus handicap player David Marsh in the semi-finals and then met the fast-improving Neil Adams of Crake Vally, Cumbria, in the final.

Mulcahy made a perhaps rash move to use several bisques right at the start of the game with only three balls on the court and the ploy didn’t really work, and Adams always looked comfortable, and especially so, when he made an all-round break and pegged one of Mulcahy’s balls out of the game.

A three-ball ending was unfamiliar territory for the Mulcahy and Adams duly extracted the last of her bisques and left Mulcahy as a runner-up for the second time in the week.

In the Class events, a stronger than usual entry list relegated Chris Robets to top seed in the B-Class and he swept all before him to win the Colin Hemming Cup for the first time, winning all seven of his games with a net hoop score of plus 120.

The D-Class was almost a Phyllis Court only event with Geraldine O’Rourke from Carrickmines, Dublin joining the Henley Club’s Frances Colman, Paul Franklin and Patricia Mulcahy.

Colman set the pace in the double round-robin schedule of games and won her first four games all by good margins, and her clubmates both also put O’Rourke (who had the best handicap of the quartet) to the sword.

In round five O’Rourke finally won a game and sneaked past Colman just before time was called and Franklin beat Mulcahy to set-up an effective final in the last round with Colman.

At the end of a low scoring match, Colman was unfortunate to stick in, what would have been, a winning hoop, and this allowed Franklin, who’s shooting and hitting in was by then really on-song, to seize the opportunity and make the iconic ‘golden hoop’ for victory 10-9.

For Franklin, this was a first solo tournament class win and to have done it at a major national championship, and against a former winner is very much to his credit.

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Results digest on  Croquet Scores here -   https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/home-internationals  

16 July 2024 - PCC 'C' lose to Caversham

PCC 'C'  6 - 10  Caversham

Report to come . . .

PCC 'C':  Pete Falle (6), Carl Billson (7), Steve Morton (8), Carol Wadsworth (10)

18 July 2024 -GC Mix-in cut short today for essential maintenance of our courts

the GC Mix-in ran for just 2 hours (rather than the usual 3 hours) today, because grounds men Mark and Stefan needed to amply a maintenance treatment.

As picture here, the regulars adjourned to the Club terrace in good spirits.

17 July 2024 - PCC 'Federations Shield Team B' score great win over northern visitors Southport

PCC (FS) B  4- 3  Southport & Birkdale

The first of our TWO teams in the National GC Federations Shield, successfully got past the challenge of Southport & Birkdale today, and so qualified for for the semi-finals.

Southport & Birkdale were debutant visitors to Phyllis Court and enjoyed their stay in our beautiful setting and took rooms in the PCC Hotel.

The Phyllis court 'most valuable player' in this Advantage rules fixture was Steve Morton, who won both his morning and afternoon 'best of three games' matches.

Captain Raghu Iyer and Hugh Crook won their morning Doubles and Rob Eagle won hsi afternoon Singles, so all four of our team members contributed to the winning 4-3 score line.

Very well done team!

PCC (FS) B:  Raghu Iyer (5), Rob Eagle (5), Hugh Crook (6), Steve Morton (8)

17 July 2024 - PCC 'A' suffer surprise loss to Blewbury 'A'

PCC 'A'  3 - 5 Blewbury 'A'

A below strength PCC 'A' team were unlucky to lose this fixture which Blewbury have not won for many a year.

PCC 'A' were on yeh wrong end of five deciding games 6-7, and actually won 14 more hoops in tyhe day, but crucially matches were lost.

Rick Lilley won both of his morning and afternoon  'best of three games' matches and Roger Goldring won one and lost one.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got and i the bottom half of the fixture, both Andy Jones and Helena Fensome lost both their matches as Blewbury won the team match 3-5.

PCC 'A':  Roger Goldring (1), Rick Lilley (1), Andy Jones (2), Helena Fensome (2)

16 July 2024 - PCC 'B' lose a close one

PCC 'B'  3 - 5  High Wycombe 'B'

Pcc 'B' lost 3-5 at High Wycombe today, in a very tight league fixture today, in which all but one match went to a third game and a few contests were were lost on the thirteenth hoop!

I the morning set of four 'best of three' matches, only captain Raghu Iyer could record a win, making light of his 5 handicap to beat Mark Higgings (5) 7-2, 4-7, 7-1.

In the afternoon quartet if matches, Dianne Browne and Jeff Smith each added to Phyllis Court's tally, but both Iyer and Alastair Broom lost 6-7 in the deciding game of thei contests, swinging the team match in the favour of hosts Wycombe, by the slimmest of margins.

PCC 'B':  Dianne Browne (4), Raghu Iyer (5), Alastair Broom (5), Jeff Smith (5)

13 July 2024 - Roberts retains the Blue Ball Trophy at our Open Singles tournament

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Chris Roberts won our Open Singles tournament and retained the coveted Blue Ball Trophy at Phyllis Court today.

He won six of his seven games, including a last round de facto 'final' against Charlie von Schmieder.

The pair reached the last round of an 'all play all' block, which brought together the Club's best eight available players for a day of exciting croquet in which all eight had their moments.

The first round went with the seeding, but Rick Lilley caused the first upset when he beat third seed Ian Norris in round two.

The big upsets came in the fourth round just before lunch, when Roger Goldring beat von Schmieder 7-4 and Roberts let a 3-0 lead over Helena Fensome slip to a 3-5 reverse, which included a charitable accidental peel of Fensome's ball through hoop 7, and Fensome's resolute defence was reward with a worthy 7-6 victory.

Goldring's challenge evaporated when he fell 6-7 to Andy Jones's first win, from which the latter went on to win twice more.

Roberts had to come from 3-5 down to beat Rick Lilley 7-5 and von Schmieder beat him by the same score in the penultimate round as Roberts made short work of Norris 7-3.

With the rest of the field on two or more losses, no-one could catch the top two seeds Roberts and von Schmieder going into their last round head to head game.

Roberts got an early lead thanks to a very long scoring shot to score hoop 2, and he maintained that two hoop advantage under good pressure from von Schmieder's attempt to score the two hoops in a row that he needed.

4-2 became 5-3 and, when along tussle at hoop 9 was resolved in Roberts favour, 6-3 looked too much for von Schmieder to come back from.

And so it turned out when Roberts benefitted from an uncharacteristic von Schmieder missed clearance to score the 7-3 winning hoop.

- This was a sixth time Blue Ball trophy win for Roberts, and fully ten years since his first.​

Finishing order - Chris Roberts (6 wins), Charlie von Schmieder (5 wins), Roger Goldring (4 wins), Helena Fensome (4 wins), Rick Lilley (3 wins), Ian Norris (3 wins), Andy Jones (3 wins), Kevin Ward (0 wins).

12 July 2024 - PCC 'AC Handicap' lose in title decider

PCC 'AC Handicap'  1 - 3  High Wycombe

PCC 'AC Handicap' lost their crucial SCF Northern Division match this morning to High Wycombe, almost certainly handing the divisional title to their rivals.

With Eynsham yet to play or organise any of their matches and likely to be scratched from the league, the match today was effectively the title decider.

Phyllis Court's Russell Robinson recorded a convincing 26-0 win over visitor David Cotton, but 13-26 and 6-16 losses for Rick Lilley and Patricia Mulcahy against Mike Porter and Kenny Weir, and a close 11-13 reverse for captain Paul Franklin against Matt Griffith sealed the hosts' fate.

PCC 'AC Handicaps':  Rick Lilley (11), Russell Robinson (12), Patricia Mulcahy (14), Paul Franklin (16)

10 & 11 July 2024 - Last round agony for Iyer & Ward at PCC/High Wycombe AC 7+ Advanced Tournament
- High Wycombe's Robin Morrison wins -

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Day 1 (at Phyllis Court) - A cold, sometimes rainy, and in the afternoon, noisy day's croquet was endured, if not enjoyed, by the field of three PCC players and five visitors today.

The blaring din from the Henley Music Festival sound-checks, which is so often a delight, spoilt the afternoon for some of the players but all three PCC representatives, Frances Colman, Raghu Iyer and Kevin Ward, ended the day with at least one win.

Ward led the way with a double triumph over pre-tournament favourite Robin Morrison (High Wycombe) and then Colman.

Iyer had two close games, pegging-out to win against Adam Newbould (Bromley) and loing by a last turn point to Richard Coward (high Wycombe), and Colman beat Tony Mayer (Swindon) in her opener, before going down to Ward.

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Day 2 (at High Wycombe) - a much nicer, and even warm, day was enjoyed by the players today, with the over-night pegged-down games starting proceedings.

In the all Phyllis Court clash, Iyer saw is lead closed considerably by Colman before he  pegged-out for a second time.

At the top of the field, Ward  stayed very focussed to win a low-scoring game versus Coward, and he maintained his unbeaten record going into round 4.

Iyer had come back well from his first round reverse and was rewarded with pairing against against leader Ward.

A terrific start set the pace for the rest of the game, and Ward never really recovered from Iyers opening onslaught.

Colman scored a good second win over Steve Fisher (Blewbury) and manager Chris Roberts set about finding a last round line-up that would work for everyone with out repeat games.

 Iyer had played very well for a day and a half, to be on 3/4 and if he would win the tournament with victory in the last round versus Morrison.

Ward was also on 3/4, would win the tournament if he won

If both Iyer and Ward both lost, the Robin Morrison would win the tournament.

And in the end that, the last one of those was he scenario! - Congratulations to Robin Morrison (High Wycombe).

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Finishing order - 1. (4 wins) Robin Morrison (HW), 2= (3 wins) Raghu Iyer (PC), Kevin Ward (PC), Richard Coward (HW), 5= (2 wins) Frances Colman (PC), Tony Mayer (Swindon), Adam Newbould (Bromley), 8 (1 win) Steve Fisher (HW)

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29 & 30 June 2024 - Chairman Mulcahy wins 11 out of 12 games for IRELAND WOMEN v Scotland Women in Edinburgh

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Croquet Chairman Patricia Mulcahy contributed more than any other Ireland Women's team mate in their victory over their Scotland hosts in Edinburgh this weekend.

On Saturday, Mulcahy won both her singles matches and backed this up with 50% doubles record with partner Yvonne Marrinan.

On Sunday, Mulcahy went one better and won all her games!

Mulcahy's second appearance for Ireland Women's team could hardly have gone better and congratulations to her!​

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Singles:

beat Janet Brunton  7-2, 7-2

beat Jean Wood      7-4, 7-5

beat Mary Bowden  7-6, 7-1

beat Kim Darland    7-3, 7-6

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Doubles (with Yvonne Marrinan):

beat Fraser and Emma Jamie        7-3

Lost to Rosemary Saunders Robertson & Kathy Brown 6-7

beat Kim Darland & Mary Bowden  7-6

beat Jean Wood & Janet Brunton   7-4

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See all the results on Croquet Scores here:  https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/sca-v-cai-womens-match/sca-vs-cai 

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29 & 30 June 2024 - Play-off agony for Roberts at the  BRITISH OPEN SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS (Days 3 & 4 report)

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Chris Roberts lost his last block match narrowly 6-7, 6-7 against England player Euan Burridge yesterday (29th) morning, so needed to beat former AC World Champions Stephen Mulliner again in a single game play-off to reach his goal of qualifying for the main knock-out.

The pair played for over 70 minutes, partly due to Roberts declining to run hoop 9 at 3-5 down as he looked for a double-hoop score to get back level.

Roberts eventually fell 3-7 and went into the Plate event.

He won his first round match against the tricky Giles Pepperell (no relation) 10-8 but then let former Phyllis Court player (and 'Swing Doctor') Raouf Allim get away to an early lead which he never caught and lost 7-10.

Today (30th), Roberts and Frances Colman had a lot of pre-play preparations as appointed Referee's of the event, including hoop settings and much measuring of misplaced half-way markers, before the main event semis and finals could take place (Jamie Burch beat Stuart M Smith in that final).

In the meantime, Roberts played a 'best of three' match against Bristolian David Goacher, for 20th place and won 7-4, 6-7, 7-4.

Croquet Scores has all the results here:   https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/british-open-championship/block-c  â€‹

28 June 2024 -
Raunkiaer wins the Phyllis Court dominated C-Level (7+) Series tournament at Swindon

- and qualifies for the National Final - ​

Andy Jones reports: 

Ruth Raunkiaer beat Carol Wadsworth 7-2 in and 'all Phyllis Court' final at the Swindon C-Level Series (7+) tournament today.

Both players won 5 of their 6 games in the day and Pete Falle also came along and finished 7th of the 12 entrants.

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- Raunkiaer's win qualifies her for the National Final in September, alongside fellow Phyllis Court players, Rob Eagle, Pete Falle Michael Marcel.

28 June 2024 - PCC 'B' crash again

PCC 'B'  1 - 7  Blewbury 'B'

Despite a much-changed team selection, Phyllis Court B were again on the receiving end of another drubbing today.

This time a 1-7 home loss to Blewbury with captain Kevin Ward managing to record his side’s only win.

PCC 'B':  Dianne Browne (4), Raghu Iyer (5), Kevin Ward (5), Rob Eagle (5)

27 & 28 June 2024 - Roberts beats higher seeds at the  BRITISH OPEN SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS (Days 1 & 2 report)

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Chris Roberts is assured a play-off (at least) in his bid to qualify for the knock-out stage of the British Open Singles Championships at Southwick, near Brighton.

He opened with a match win against Paul Gunn (Wingrave) and followed that with his best result yet, at 10 years of attending he Championship, a win over 3rd seed and former AC World Champions Stephen Mulliner (his first ever match win against the international star). 

A loss to young England Player Jack Good completed Roberts' Day 1, and then today (Friday) he scored two more victories over higher seed Tim Jolliffee (Taunton) and Guy Scurfield (Dulwhich) for four wins that secured his play-off opportunity, before a disappointing performance against England international Callum Johnson.

Tomorrow, Roberts plays his last block game against a third England player Euan Burridge with the winner qulaifiying out-right and the loser facing a play-off, probably against the vastly experienced Mulliner.

Follow the the results come in on the fabulous Croquet Scores service via this link:   https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/british-open-championship/block-c  â€‹

26 June 2024 - Follow Roberts, Colman & Lilley in the BRITISH OPEN DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS (the Singles event starts tomorrow)

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The British Open Championships Singles start today (through to Sunday) and you can follow the fortunes of the country's best (and Chris Roberts) as the results come in on the fabulous Croquet Scores service via this link:   https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/british-open-championship/block-c  

The format is four - 8-player blocks from which the top four form each will qualify for the main event knock-out.

Roberts is seed 21 of 32 so will do very ell to achieve his aim of making the cut.

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The Doubles event took place on Tuesday and Wednesday and Phyllis Court's Roberts was joined by partner and clubmate Frances Colman for the event, whilst Rick Lilley played with Giles Pepperell (no relation, from North Wales club Llanfairfechan). Roberts & Colman improved only slightly on their low 16th seeding position to finish in 15th, whilst Lilley unordinary had to withdraw unwell on the morning of day 2.

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Above: most of the “morning” team, flanked by our groundsman, Mark, and his assistant, Stefan.
25 June 2024 - Court levelling gets underway!

 

Today saw the start in earnest of our multi-year plan to level out the hills and furrows on our courts.  Surveys of Courts 1 and 2 carried out earlier in the year by Kevin Ward and Russell Robinson allowed us to identify several “high” and “low” areas (these are illustrated by coloured maps in the pavilion).  Our grounds staff then deposited 1½ tonnes of sand on the low areas which our team of hard-working volunteers industriously raked in to the grass during the morning.  In the afternoon, we ran a lawn corer over the high areas to remove plugs of soil which should allow these areas to settle to a lower level.  It was a very warm and sunny day, ideal conditions for dressing the lawn, but rather hot for our volunteer workers, all of whom are gratefully thanked for their efforts.

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21-23 June 2024
England v Spain
- Test match at Roehampton Club -
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- Phyllis Court's Frances Colman is the Test Match Referee -
(assisted by Chris Roberts) 
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* * *  Watch the 'Live-Steaming'  * * *

Tune in for the Opening Ceremony at 1000 (Friday) through to Sunday

and enjoy the expected spectacular action LIVE (or recoded if you prefer)

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Click on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/@CroquetEngland/streams

(and press the 'Live' tab)

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26 June 2024 - PCC 'C' win well, away at Winchester

Winchester 'B'  7 - 9  PCC 'C'

Patricia’ Mulcahy’s PCC 'C' team did well to win 9-7 away at Winchester today, and had to come from behind to do so.

The captain herself lead the scoring with Steve Morton, who both won three out of their four games with David Young and Carol Wadsworth contributing two and one victory respectively.

PCC 'C':  Patricia Mulcahy (6), Steve Morton (8), David Young (8), Carol Wadsworth (9) 

20 June 2024 - Phyllis Court 'AC Handicap' maintain unbeaten record in draw with Caversham

 

SCF AC Handicap League - Phyllis Court  2 - 2  Caversham

Paul Franklin's AC Handicap team survived the challenge of Caversham's team of high handicappers to secure a 2-2 draw at home this morning.

Most of the games were close and all four 'went to time'.

Wins were recorded by Robin Coates and Paul Franklin to keep the team's hopes alive of defending their SCF AC Handicap League title.

The team's remaining divisional fixtures are against High Wycombe (away) on 11 July and Eynsham (to be arranged).

PCC 'AC Handicap':  Robin Coates (AC 12), Kevin Ward (AC 12), Patricia Mulcahy (AC 14), Paul Franklin (AC 16)

19 June 2024 - Phyllis Court's nail-biting win sees us into the National Secretary's Shield semis-finals
                           - Kevin Ward earns a Croquet England Silver Award! -

 

Croquet England AC Handicap Secretary's Shield competition - Phyllis Court  4 - 3  East Dorset

This match was about as exciting as an Inter-Club match gets with the result hanging on the last game of the day to finish.

Chris Roberts and Patricia Mulcahy had got Phyllis Court off to a good start in the morning doubles rubber versus Chris Weedon and Alan Jones, and never looked like losing as their high/low pairing worked a treat against East Dorset's mid-range duo.

Having established an early lead, the home pair gave nothing away to the visitors and made good and frequent use of the court furniture to wire their opponents from their own balls, making any roquet attempts risky affairs.

The speed of Phyllis Court's fast courts also caused the East Dorset pair difficulties and the home side pegged-out to win comfortably 26-10.

Phyllis Court's Raghu Iyer (handicap 9) looked to have too many bisques against East Dorset's David Fuller (-1.5), but the latter was not awarded the 2023 National Most Improved Male AC Player Award for nothing, and when Iyer burned too many of his 10.5 bisques mid-way through his journey with is second ball, it was somewhat inevitable the Fuller would come steaming through to win their match.

A missed peg-out, that allowed Iyer to make some more hoops, aside, Fuller looked very on-song and won 20-26.

The remining morning match went to 'time' but was a comfortable enough 21-13 win for Phyllis Court's Kevin Ward over East Dorset's Steve Hogan.

The feature of the game and whole fixture was Ward's all round 12-hoop break without bisques, that earned him a Croquet England Silver Award - congratulations Kevin!

Half-time: Phyllis Court 4 - 3 East Dorset

The afternoon's four head-to-head rubbers would decide the match and with handicap play, looked rightly too close to call.

In the number 4 players' game, Hogan took a big early lead, using only one of his 4 bisques entitlement against Mulcahy and, despite a late rally by the Phyllis Court Chairman the East Dorset player held on to win 15-22.

On the other court, Phyllis Court's number 3 Kevin Ward was in the lead for most of his game versus Jones, whilst number 2 Raghu Iyer was trailing but pacing Weedon's lead.

In the last half an hour, fortunes change dramatically when Ward made three uncharacteristic errors to be overhauled 16-21 by East Dorset's Jones, and Iyer made a decisive break to go from 5 behind to 5 in front against Weedon.

Iyer withstood the pressure of Weedon closing in as time approached and won by 2 hoops, 22-20.

The team match then hung on the number 1's rubber where Phyllis Court's Roberts early break to 4-back have been match mid-game by East Dorset's Fuller, before Roberts took his second ball to peg having been held at 3-back for half an hour or more.

Roberts (handicap 0) was only too well aware of Fuller (-1.5) prowess and any slip-up was likely to be fatal, and when forced to chose a sub-optimal corner for his last safety stroke after 'time' was called.

Roberts then had to endure the anxiety for seeing Fuller hit in with is last turn and be thankful that he didn't get the best of rushes to his hoop.

With all the players looking on anxiously, Fuller only got to a so-so hoop running position with his croquet stroke and hit to outside if the hoop leg, giving Roberts a 21-16 win and Phyllis Court  a 4-3 team match win,

PCC 'AC Handicap':  Chris Roberts (AC 0), Raghu Iyer (AC 9), Kevin Ward (AC 12), Patricia Mulcahy (AC 14)

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This result put Phyllis Court into the National Semi-finals to face the winner of the Peterborough v Hampstead Heath match.

Liz Smith is a new name on the Pink Ball Trophy
(photo by Chris Roberts)
17 June 2024 - Liz Smith wins our Women's Advantage tournament (and Pink Ball trophy)

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Liz Smith put a new name on the pink Ball trophy today when she sailed through the Phyllis Court Women's Advantage tournament undefeated.

Thanks to the event being run to Advantage rules, a one-off capacity field of 15 players eventually lined-up for this tournament which was played on a gloriously hot day the seems to indicate that summer has thankfully arrived at last.

Some very slow play was a feature of the morning, so much so that only two of the scheduled three pre-lunch rounds were played and the first stage blocks were completed only just before three o'clock.

Smith and high handicapper Penny Morgan were the only undefeated players going into the knock-out and were joined there by Hilary Cowley, Dilys Gordon, Heather Jones, Cathie McEntee, Daphne Spiers and Sally Tooher.

Julia Green also qualified but was an injury withdrawal at this stage.

Smith and Morgan got past Jones and McEntee 7-1 and 7-3 respectively, but the other two quart-finals were close affairs with Cowley and Gordon's 7-6 and 7-5 results seeing them through against Tooher and Spiers.

At the semi-final stage Smith confidence was there to see in her 7-3 win over Morgan who was all smiles regardless, and this joy was match by Gordon who unexpectedly got the better of Cowley by the same score.

At past six o'clock, the final was well contested at the end of a very long day and, although not having it all her own way, smith always held the upper hand over Gordon and, rewarding her many sessions of booked solo practice, Smith won her first trophy 7-4.

Congratulation's Liz!

Dianne Browne won the Plate Event for those missing the 'cut' to the main knock-out.

​

Finishing order: (1) Liz Smith, (2) Dilys Gordon, (3=) Hilary Cowley & Cathie Mcentee, (5) Daphne Spiers, (6) Penny Morgan, (7) Heather Jones, (8) Sally Tooher, (9) Dianne Browne, (10) Pippa Wynne-Ellis, (11=) Penny Godfrey & Carol Wadsworth,

(13=) Sally Batty & Veronica Lawson-Smith. *Julia Green qualified for the top 8, but withdrew with an injury at the half-way stage.

​

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Chairman Patricia Mulcahy presented the Yellow Ball Trophy to
winner Roger Goldring and the Manger's Prize to Cathie McEntee
(by Chris Roberts)
15 June 2024 - Roger Goldring wins our 80+ tournament (and Yellow Ball trophy)
                           - and Cathy McEntee gets the Manager's Prize

​

Roger Goldring is an old hand at trophy winning, and he was at it again today when he retained his Phyllis Court 80+ Singles tournament title ahead of a record field of 13 octogenarians.

He was given a stern test in his opening game by Tony Peperell, who took the former English over 50’s champion to the last hoop before going down 7-6, and then in a topsy-turvy block, Goldring wiped-out Mike Sayer 7-0, who then beat Peperell 7-1.

The other favourites Mike Fensome, Pete Falle and the newly qualified Robin Coates all qualified for the knock-out stage along with Sayer, John Howie, Hugh Crook (who had an against-seeding win over Fensome) and Cathie McEntee.

Three-time winner Fensome had close and good 7-5 win over the in-form Falle as the other quarter-finals also went with seeding and in the semis Goldring beat Fensome 7-4 and Crook scored the result of the day to beat second favourited Coates 7-6.

Disappointingly for the final, it was one-way traffic for Goldring who beat Crook 7-1 to retain the Yellow Ball trophy.

​

Cathie McEntee was awarded the new Manager’s Prize trophy, not only for being the only Woman entrant 'brave' enough to enter this year, but for staying the course with a competitive edge to her game throughout.Chris Roberts - Manager

​

​

Rob Eagle with his haul of Trophies from:
The Ealing C-Level Series and
PCC's D-Level & 7+ Black Ball (by Chris Roberts)
12 June 2024 - Rob Eagle wins at Ealing to qualify for C-Level Series National Final

                         - His third trophy of the season (so far!)

​

Congratulations to Rob Eagle who is having quite a season!

Eagle won his third tournament of the season last week and has reduced his handicap by five steps in fewer months.

Eagle had previously won the Club’s inaugural D-Level (10+) tournament, which was trial event for the launch of a national series at that level next year, and then a fortnight ago he won the C-Level (7+) Series tournament at Ealing CC, to qualify for the end of season National Final.

His latest achievement was to win the Phyllis Court’s internal 7+ Singles tournament and to add his name to the Black Ball Trophy which he flew through undefeated.

Eagle beat Tony Peperell, David Young and Daphne Spiers, 7-4, 7-3 and 7-2 respectively in the morning block games and was similarly untroubled by Helen Essa, who he beat 7-2 in the quarter-finals.

Carol Wadsworth did well to get past the improving John Howie 7-6 in her quarter-final but was no match for Eagle in their semi which the latter won 7-4 to set-up a re-match in the final with Young who’s only loss had been to Eagle.

Fittingly for the final, Young provided Eagle with his closest match of the day but he couldn’t keep the high-flyer down and Eagle won 7-5.

8 June 2024 - PCC 'B' bomb at East Dorset

East Dorset 'B'  7.5 - 0.5  PCC 'B'

Phyllis Court B suffered a drubbing away at East Dorset and managed only one halved match by captain Kevin Ward, in a sea of losses as they went down 0.5-7.5 to the hosts.

The B look to rescue their Southern Federation (SCF) B-League season with a home match against Blewbury B next Friday.

PCC 'B':  Alastair Broom (5), Kevin Ward (5), Patricia Mulcahy (6), Pete Falle (6)

8 June 2024 - AC Handicap team draw with Oxford University

 

Phyllis Court 'AC Handicap' 2-2 Oxford University

Phyllis Court maintained their unbeaten record with a 2-2 draw at home to Oxford University today, and nextweek entertain Caversham in their quest to retain their SCF Handicap League title.

PCC AC Handicap: Kevin Ward (AC 12), Roger Goldring (AC 12), Russell Robinson (AC 12), Paul Franklin (AC 16)

​

Rick Lilley in action at Hurlingham
(photo by Chris Roberts)
6 June 2024 - Phyllis Court exit National Inter-Club (Murphy) Shield away at Hurlingham
 

Hurlingham 4-3 Phyllis Court '1+'

For the second tier National Inter-Club Shield, Phyllis Court ‘+1’ travelled to the Hurlingham Club at Putney on today, with the stronger of the two sides on paper.

The Henley club again played the stronger of their pair of handicap 2 players in the number three team slot, in order to load the bottom half of the fixture, which had been a successful ploy in the previous round at Ealing.

Andy Jones, had been in that role previously but hadn’t been eligible for this match, so the experienced Helena Fensome cam in to an otherwise unchanged team.

Nothing went right for Phyllis Court ‘B’ In the morning, from when Helena Fensome lost unexpectedly quickly to Hurlingham’s handicap 5 captain Henry Bagwell and was soon followed by an out of sorts Alastair Broom who lost to Noel Flit.

The doubles match was a slow affair and again ended in disappointment for Phyllis Court when Rick Lilley and Mike Fensome were beaten by the host’s Stephen Allen and Luolph van Hasslet.

At 0-3 down at lunch, the pressure was on all four of the Phyllis Cout ‘B’ players, with just one more match win being sufficient for a Hurlingham team win.

Helena Fensome showed good character to beat Flint 7-3, 5-7 to keep her side in the contest but husband Mike couldn’t live with the accuracy of his opponent van Hasslet, and his 4-7, 5-7 match result got Hurlingham over the winning line.

The dead rubbers were played out in the late afternoon and both Lilley and Broom came back very well from first game defeats, to win their matches 2-1, and gave the team match score-line a respectable 3-4 look.

However, the two team match losses in five days for Phyllis Court, sees the Henley Club wondering what might have been, whilst now looking toward their remaining presence in two National Handicap team competitions which first matches next month.

PCC '1+'  Rick Lilley (1), Mike Fensome (2), Helena Fensome (2), Alastair Broom (5)

 

4 June 2024 - Phyllis Court entertain visitors from Denver CC (USA)

 

Away from competitive play, Phyllis Court was delighted to welcome five players from Denver Croquet Club to Henley on today and to give some of our committee and other long-established members the opportunity to represent the Club alongside American visitors

PCC representatives: Patricia Mulcahy (captain, 6), Julia Green (10), Jeff Cornacchia (12), Hilary Cowley (12), Maureen Ward (10)

​

​

2 June 2024 - Phyllis Court exit National Inter-Club Championship to Nottingham's "4 Internationals" team 
 

Phyllis Court 1-6 Nottingham

Phyllis Court ‘A’ welcomed a Nottingham team of four international players, for a top flight Inter-Club Championship quarter-final match, and over 70 club members attended to spectate the fabulously accurate hard-hit clearance and hoop stokes of England pair James Death and Will Gee.

No ball was safe from anything closer than 15 yards and Gee in particular, was in sparkling form, hitting centre-ball three times from near corner to corner, a distance of close to 35 yards!  Phyllis Court’s own internationals Charlie von Schmieder (Ireland) and Chris Roberts (Wales) held their own in the morning doubles match but went down eventually in straight games.
In the bottom half of the fixture, Phyllis Court’s Roger Goldring played two very long games with honours even against Scotland international Lorna Dewar, in a match which was the suspended, whilst the host’s Andy Jones scored the ‘result of the day’ in getting a game off Wales captain Ian Burridge, who who is ranked much higher that the Phyllis Court man.

Into the second session, Nottingham held a 2-0 lead and soon increased that when Death beat von Schmider7-5, 7-3, as Robets squandered a simple two feet hoop score to let a precious win over Gee pass him by.

Nottingham scored the fixture winning fourth win when Gee punished Robets’ error to the full in that and their second game 7-6, 7-5, and then the visitors cemented their victory when Burridge dispatched Goldring 7-1, 7-5.

Jones maintained his morning form to win his first game against Dewar 7-5 but the Scot pulled the second game back by the same score, before they agreed to half, what had become, a dead rubber; a fate which also befell Goldring’s suspended morning match with Dewar.

PCC 'A': Charlie von Schmieder (-1), Chris Roberts (-1), Roger Goldring (1), Andy Jones (2)

​

Also in the past week:

Helena Fensome      finished 2nd at Sidmouth A-Level (0+) tournament

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I June 2024 - 'Podium places' for Roberts & Lilley (PCC) as Leonard (East Dorset) wins the SCF Championship again
 

Today at Phyllis Court, the Southern Croquet Federation Golf Championship drew in most of the top ranked players in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The top seed was UK top 20 player Tim O’Donnell from Hamptworth, who started as slight favourite ahead of holder, Steve Leonard (East Dorset and England) and Phyllis Court’s Chris Roberts.

O’Donnell lost an early game of the seven-round ‘all play all’ tournament and when Roberts was beaten by old adversary, and former Phyllis Court player, Raouf Allim in round two, the event was blown wide open.

Roberts had beaten clubmate and bottom seed Rick Lilley easily 7-1 in the first round and it looked like being a long day for the latter, but he then went on an unbeaten run of four impressive victories, including taking the scalps of O’Donnell and Leonard.

With two rounds to play, Leonard was in the ‘box seat’ with only one loss with O’Donnell, Roberts and Lilley hoping to pull the leader back into the chasing pack.

Roberts ended O’Donnell’s hopes in the penultimate round but Leonard held on to put his name on the newly

inaugurated trophy for a second time.

The event had attracted a good-sized spectator gallery from the Phyllis Court faithful who lined the sides of

the court which had been fenced off as a safety measure, with an even bigger viewing spectacle advertised

for the following day.

- A good sized spectator gallery enjoyed the days play from the director's chairs positioned alongside the

court's Eastern boundary.

Finishing order:

Steve Leonard (East Dorset)         6 wins

Chris Roberts (Phyllis Court)         5 wins

Rick Lilley (Phyllis Court)              5 wins

Tim O'Donnell (Hamptworth)        4 wins

Duncan Catterall (High Wycombe) 3 wins

Raouf Allim (High Wycombe)        2 wins

Jonathan Smith (Ryde)                2 wins

Paul Gunn (Wingrave)                  1 win

​

Phyllis Court Chairman Patricia Mulcahy
presented Steve Leonard with the new
SCF Championship Trophy
28-29 May 2024 - Kevin Ward debuts well at first his Tournament and Raghu Iyer recovers well
 

Kevin Ward and Raghu Iyer were our representatives this week at the AC nationally advertised C-Level (7+) Advanced tournament that we host jointly with Blewbury CC.

Players were attracted from five clubs as far away as Bromley and Tunbridge Wells.

The surprise package was Ward who won his first two games 17-10 against Andy Robertson (Blewbury) and 12-10 against Tony Mayer (Swindon), despite being called-up from the reserves list with only three days’ notice for his first ever Advanced rules contests.

He went on to win his third round game which was played half at Phyllis Court, before being suspended overnight and concluded at Blewbury the following morning.

Ward played with a maturity beyond his experience at this level in seeing out the single point 16-15 victory over Brian Jamieson (Blewbury) to hold a one-win lead over the field going into the fourth round.

That latest score line was the cruelly reversed and re-visited on Ward in the next round when the stylish Phil Taylor (Tunbridge Wells) held out for a 15-16 win to end the Henley player’s winning run.
Phyllis Court’s other representative, Raghu Iyer had had a torrid start, losing his first two games on Day 1, but he came back well to level his winning tally by mid-afternoon on Day 2. And Iyer was the kingmaker of the tournament, when he was matched against Taylor in the last round, knowing that one more victory for the visitor would win him the tournament, but a loss to Iyer would bring about a number of scenarios including an-unlikely five-way tie!
Ward fell away in the fifth round with a 14-18 reverse to Adam Newbould (Bromley) and Iyer couldn’t live with Taylor’s confident and commanding play and lost 2-26.
Taylor took the trophy back to Kent and over half the filed look forward to re-engaging together at the Phyllis Court / High Wycombe mirror tournament in July.
26 May 2024 - Rick Lilley qualifies as a GC Referee - Richard Peperell qualifies as an AC Referee
 

Rick Lilley & Richard Peperell qualified as GC and AC Referees respectively fairly recently.
Hearty congratulations to Rick studied hard before attending a preparation course and examination last weekend at the Chiltern Academy, High Wycombe, and this is an opportunity to recognise Richard’s AC qualification form a couple of months ago (and he already held a GC referees badge).
Rick is very welcome addition to our band of Qualified Referees (see below) along with Richard, who has now added this AC qualification to his existing GC refereeing badge.
It is worth noting few other clubs have anything like this number of qualified referees in their memberships, and as members of Phyllis Court Croquet Club we are especially fortunate to have this expertise in such abundance (we now have 10 qualified referees, holding 15 refereeing badges between them).

​

Championship Referee (GC) - Frances Colman, Chris Roberts

Referee (GC)                      - Frances Colman, Julia Green, Raghu Iyer, Helena Jansson, Richard Peperell, Andy Jones, Rick Lilley, Ruth Raunkiaer, Chris Roberts, Russell Robinson

Referee (AC)                      - Richard Peperell, Chris Roberts

Assistant Referee (AC)        - Frances Colman

​

​

Also in the past week:

Rick Lilley       finished 2nd at the Roehampton AC Handicap tournament

Alastair Broom finished 4th at the East Dorset B-Level (3+) tournament

Michael Marcel finished 2nd at the Wrest Park C-Level (7+) tournament

Ruth Raunkiaer & Jane Probitts finished 3rd at the Guildford Handicap (Advantage) Doubles tournament

- Well done all!

24 May 2024 - Undefeated Falle wins our 3+ Singles tournament (Red ball Trophy)
​

The remarkable rise in status of Pete Falle, who has not been playing for 8 months yet, hit another new high today, with victory in the Phyllis Court internal 3+ Singles tournament.

A small but closely matched field of six, played an 'all play all' format in excellent spirt throughout. 

Falle got off a good start when he beat Bill Pitkeathley 7-3, and then Patricia Mulcahy 7-6, while pre-tournament favourite Alastair Broom also won his opening two games, which set-up a pivotal encounter between the two in the last round before lunch.

Falle took an early lead and extend that to 4-0 before cruising to a 7-3 win, leaving the rest of the field, who had traded wins fairly evenly, looking to who might bring Fall back into the pack in the afternoon session.

Kevin Ward came mighty close and took Falle to his second 7-6 score-line of the tournament in round 4 and Dee McKibbin made sure that he had to earn his crown in the last round, when, but for an expensive missed clearance at hoop 11, she might have dented Falle's record.

However, it was not to be and the deserved Falle won that last game 7-4, for a perfect 5/5 record and tournament win.

Broom was runner-up, with only the one defeat to Falle and also catching the eye was Mulcahy's recovery from two early losses to win the rest for third place.

Chairman Mulcahy presented Falle with the Red Ball trophy, his second of his super first full season!

- Today's five wins earned Falle an automatic handicap reduction to 7, and Club Handicapper Chris Roberts was so impressed with Falle's steady improvement, that he made an additional manual adjustment down to a 6 handicap - congratulations Pete!

Finishing order: Pete Falle (5 wins), Alastair Broom (4 wins), Patricia Mulcahy (3 wins), Bill Pitkeathley (2 wins), Kevin Ward (1 win), Dee McKibbin (0 Wins).

22 May 2024 - Good time had by all at the 'Rainbow Social'
 

Hilary Cowley reports:

A Rainbow social get together was held this evening May, and due to the rain, we were made use of the Regatta Bar.

There was lots of chatter from the players and several were helped to navigate the website.

Our Chairman, Patricia Mulcahy, also participated in the evening as well as Chris Roberts, who advised a number of players on purchasing mallets.

Chris will have been busy with court bookings, as as a number of Rainbow games and some doubles were arranged on the evening and also on the WhatsApp over the last few days. A similar evening is proposed in August.

If you would like more information on the Rainbow, which is aimed at 10+ players, please contact Hilary Cowley  hilaryhmc@gmail.com

20 May 2024 - PCC 'D' keep SCF Central Division title hopes alive and Eagle wins 4 times
                         
PCC 'D'  11 - 5  Caversham

Phyllis Court ‘D’ maintained their unbeaten record on Monday with a sound 11-5 win over neighbours Caversham.

Convincing though the scoreline suggests, defending league champions Phyllis Court were challenged well by the visitors in the first three rounds before pulling away in the last set of games for a flattering winning margin.

Rob Eagle was the star of the day in winning all four of his games by impressive 7-2, 7-1, 7-3 and 7-3 scorelines, despite having reduced his handicap by two grades only last week, and thus affecting his Advantage starting score tallies.
He really is the form man of the moment and is on a charge down the handicap grades.

Also doing well on Monday were Helen Essa and Ruth Raunkiaer, who each won three out of four, which brought about a handicap reduction for the latter.

Liz Smith had impressed at two recent tournaments and was given a run in the number four berth of the Phyllis Court ‘D’ team and was unfortunate to lose her first two games 6-7 and then the third 4-7, but she showed good character to race against the clock in a late finishing time-limited final round game to win 7-2.

With Littleton having unfortunately withdrawn for the Southern Federation Advantage League, this latest team victory takes Phyllis Court D to just one match victory away from retaining the divisional title and a semi-final place away from a hat-trick of League titles.

PCC D' - Helen Essa (7), Ruth Raunkiaer (8), Rob Eagle (8), Liz Smith (10)

Paul Franklin & Patricia Mulcahy with Roehampton's beautiful Creyke Cups that date back to 1935
19 May 2024 - Franklin & Mulcahy win their first AC Trophies at Roehampton

There was no one to touch Phyllis Court's Paul Franklin and Patricia Mulcahy this weekend as they took the Roehampton AC Handicap Doubles by storm.
The pair were jubilant at their string of five victories that brought them a first Association Croquet tournament victory to reward a dedicated winter and spring of twice weekly coaching and practice sessions.
On Saturday they opened their account with a +8 victory over familiar faces in Raghu Iyer and Harry Midgley, current and former Phyllis Court members, and backed that up with a +7 win over Roehampton/Hurlingham combination Diana Wilson and Peter Spiller.
Late on Saturday Franklin and Mulcahy played what was likely to be the crunch match of the tournament against fellow undefeated pair from the host club, Howard Railton and the vastly experienced Tim Russell.
Manager Russell reported that, in exciting ending, Franklin impressively centre-balled long 15 yard roquet to regain the innings, from which the Phyllis Court pair made some crucial extra hoop points, leaving their opponents too much to do in the final turn, and won by the classic margin of +1 on time.
With the tournament victory in their own hands on Sunday morning, Franklin & Mulcahy comfortably beat Nick and Stephen Parrish (Surbiton) by +7 to reach an unassailable position, before adding an fifth +6 victory against home pair Julia Sheraton-Davis and Andrew Wilson.
Victory brought the presentation of the beautiful Creyke Cups which date back to 1935, and have been played for every year since, bar the war years.
Tournament Referee Frances Colman with Chris Roberts and his 'Bowl' trophy
(by Peter Payne)
19 May 2024 - Colman and Roberts at the GC European Championships - Day 4  (follow on Croquet Scores)
 Today - LIVE STREAMING - https://www.youtube.com/CroquetEngland  

Day 4 - With hoop positions being moved for the final day Tournament Referee Frances Colman had much pre-play checking of the settings to do this morning.
Chris Roberts resumed his Bowl match with Mark Stephens (Ireland), suspended at 7-4, 5-7 last night and won this morning's decider 7-2 in another multi-long clearances dominated game. He then played yet another long Bowl semi-final with Robert O'Donoghue (Ireland) and won 3-7, 7-4, 7-5 missing lunch in the process!
Robert sreached the Bowl event (for 9th place) v Manuel Alvarez-Sala (Spain).
Roberts wins the Bowl event 7-1, 6-7, 7-5!

The main Championship saw the semi and final rounds today and a number pf members tuned-in' to the live streaming (see the link above).
In the Final - Jose Alvarez-Sala (Spain) beat Richard Bilton (England).

The full and final results are on the  fabulous Croquet Scores website here - ttps://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/european-championship/block-a
18 May 2024 - Colman and Roberts at the GC European Championships - Day 3  (follow on Croquet Scores)
 Today and tomorrow  - LIVE STREAMING - https://www.youtube.com/CroquetEngland  

Day 3 report - Chris Roberts sat on 3 match wins with one to play in Block A and was assured of a play-off at least for qualification to the last 16 Main knock-out.
However, in his last block match this morning versus Joi Elebo (Sweden), he won a closely contested affair 7-6, 4-7, 7-2 with super long clearances from both players extending the match beyond three and a half hours. The victory earned Roberts a straight qualification for the last 16 main event knock-out, which had been his pre-tournament target,
This afternoon Roberts played England International Richard Bilton, and he lead the first game, had a first approach to hoop 13 and a long shot to win the first game but lost 7-6 and then more tamely 7-3.
Roberts the went into the 'Bowl' event for positions 9 to 16 and re-met Mark Stephens (Ireland), whom he'd beaten against his seeding in the block stage.
The pair played another very long high quality match with cross-court clearances such a feature that and half past eight, the contest was suspended ay one game all 7-4, 5-7 to be completed tomorrow morning.
Watching the live-streaming station today, also look out for Tournament Referee Frances Colman, in her now famous pink hat (important so that players can see where she is when needed). Frances has been called-on a lot today, including sorting out a wrong ball situation involving former World Champion Stephen Mulliner!

You can follow the progress of the tournament on the fabulous Croquet Scores website here - ttps://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/european-championship/block-a
17 May 2024 - Colman and Roberts at the GC European Championships - Day 2  (follow on Croquet Scores)
                         
Day 2 report - Chris Roberts scored a great result this morning in beating the number 2 seed in his block, Mark Stephens (Ireland) 7-6, 5-7, 7-3.
He then lost to the number 3 seed in his block Patricio Jnr Garay (Spain) 3-7, 6-7.
In the late afternoon and into the evening, Roberts' last opponent of the day was Gerald Ehlms (Germany), with a third match win being the target to ensure a play-off at least.
Roberts won the first game comfortably enough 7-4 but had to work hard for the second game and match win, and needed a jump shot at hoop 13 for a 7-6 victory.
Frances Colman in was much Refereeing demand today covering all eight courts from a central position.

You can follow the progress of the tournament on the fabulous Croquet Scores website here - ttps://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/european-championship/block-a
16 May 2024 - Colman and Roberts at the GC European Championships - Day 1  (follow on Croquet Scores)
                         
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts flew the Phyllis Court flag at the GC European Championships that started today and finishes on Sunday (16 - 19 May).
Colman is the Referee of The Tournament and Roberts is representing Wales in a filed of 32 players (from 13 countries) competing at the Sussex County CC, Southwick, near Brighton. Roberts is 16th seed with a first aim being to qualify from Block A for the main knock-out rounds on days 3 & 4.
You can follow the progress of the tournament on the fabulous Croquet Scores website here - ttps://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/european-championship/block-a

Day 1 report - Roberts was dispatched 1-7, 3-7 by former World Champion Stephen Mulliner in a quick-fire opening match.
He was then beaten 6-7 by  Kevin Kostiuk (Portugal) but recovered to win the match 7-3, 7-3.
Roberts' third match against Andrew Cowing (Scotland) didn't take place due to the latter's withdrawal.
15 May 2024 - AC Handicap team start with a bang!
                         
PCC 'AC' 4 - 0 Blewbury
This afternoon saw the Phyllis Court Association Croquet players in action in the first fixture of the Southern Croquet Federation handicap league in a match against Blewbury.

The PCCC team were the higher handicappers in the event playing off 12,12,12 and 16 versus Blewbury with handicaps in the range 8 to 10.

The result was a 4-nil win for Phyllis Court. While there was good play from both teams, I felt that Phyllis Court had the edge.

Robin Coates and Roger Goldring’s games ran to the time limit, finishing 22-10 and 19-3 respectively, while Russell Robinson and Patricia Mulcahy both achieved a peg-out with final scores of 26-3 and 26-2 respectively. Patricia’s result moved her to a new handicap level if 14 too.

This is a great start  for the AC Handicap League with four more fixtures to come.

PCC 'AC' - Robin Coates (AC 12), Roger Goldring (AC 12), Russell Robinson (AC 12), Patricia Mulcahy (AC 14),

- Paul Franklin

14 May 2024 - 10+ Evening Series gets underway
                         
The first event of this season's 10+ Evening Series was enjoyed in mild, partly sunny weather today by 14 of the 61 members who have so far registered for the series.  Doug Tonks and Sue Rumford excelled by winning all three of their games.  Three further evenings are scheduled this month and dates for June will be published shortly.  If you would like to play in this series and have not yet registered (or would like to find out more about it), please complete the form on the 10+ Evening Series webpage (click here) or contact Russell Robinson.  A series is also being run for those with handicaps between 6 and 9 inclusive.
- Russell Robinson
10 May 2024 - PCC 'C' draw with Blewbury
                         
PCC 'C'  8 - 8  Blewbury 'C'
A much changed PCC 'C' team enjoyed the closest of encounters wit Blewbury today in a stand-alone (non-league) challenge match today, which was only settled as and 8-8 draw in the last round of four.
This fixture took the place of the SCF league match v Littleton, who have (disappointingly) withdrawn from all leagues this season.
Only Hugh Crook retained his place from the 'C' line-up that lost to PCC 'D' last month and both he and debutant Carl Billson each won three games, whilst fellow debutant Pete Fall, added the other two victories to the team tally.
​The match was close throughout, with honours even in the first round of games, before PCC 'C' took a one game lead by the mid-point in the match.
The third round was again shared evenly and PCC 'C' just couldn't get the win over the line in the last round when only Falle managed a win, as the late rally by Blewbury meant that the fixture ended in an 8-8 draw.
PCC 'C' - Dee McKibbin (5), Hugh Crook (7), Carl Billson (7), Pete Falle (8)
14 May 2024 - Handicap Changes
                         
Following the recent Advantage, C-Level & D-Level tournaments (and some competition results) the folowing Automatic Handicap System (AHS) changes have occoured:
Rob Eagle             10 to 8
Phil Johnson           8 to 9
Carol Wadsworth   11 to 10
Barrie Scott            9 to 10
Daphne Spiers       10 to 11 
John Howie           12 to 11
David Channon      14 to 12
Congratulations and commiserations accordingly.
8 May 2024 - Eagle wins our inaugural 'Nationally advertised D-Level (10+) Singles tournament

Rob Eagle was the only player in a field of 16, to go through the day undefeated (6 wins from his 6 games) on his way to a splendid first tournament win at Phyllis Court today,
He opened his account with a straight forward 7-2 win over Pam Please (Eynsham), and followed that with a comfortable 7-4 and 7-5 results against Ian Forster and Dilys Gordon (Phyllis Court) - more about Forster shortly.
The blocks results were kind to Phyllis Court players and along with Eagle, Forster also made the cut to the afternoon main knock-out and was joined by Carol Wadsworth, Liz Smith and Daphne Spiers.
Spiers and Wadsworth fell in the quarter-finals to Smith and Forster respectively and Eagle came through to the semis in the other half of the draw with a narrow 7-6 win over Guildford's Paul Stroud.
Eagle flirted with danger in his semi with Chris Barnard of Caversham, having to go to the 13th hoop again after leading by two hoops for much of the game, but he nailed the crucial winning hoop shot from four yards with aplomb.
Forster was the dark horse of the tournament and came through the other semi 7-4 against Smith, but found his match in the fianl with Eagle ran away with to win 7-1.
- In the consolation Plate event Sue Rumford beat Des Walsh 7-3 for 11th/12th place, Hilary Cowley was 13th and Dilys Gordon finished one above her seeding in 15th.
- Huge thanks to Des Walsh for coming in as a very late replacement for a sick visiting player (Des answered the call at 0805 and was at the Club within the hour!
8 May - John Walker R.I.P.

It with great sadness that I need to inform you that John Walker passed away on Sunday (5 May). He died of a heart attack.

John was a very good friend and many people in the Croquet and Bridge section will remember him fondly.

John lived in Shiplake where he moved when he worked for Huntley and Palmer in Reading. John then worked for the accounting software company Intuit where he had staff under him in America and Singapore as well as here.

John was a keen Bridge player and loved his classic cars. He owned a classic Mercedes 230 until recently.

In the last two years he took up Croquet and proved himself a fine competitor, being the first to reach the top of the rainbow competition here at Phyllis Court.

John retained his Yorkshire accent and dry wit. He was married to Sue, and they had two boys and will be sorely missed by his many friends and all those who knew him.

​

Des Walsh

1 May 2024 - Wadsworth wins our Advantage Singles tournament (and the White Ball Trophy)

Carol Wadsworth won her first, and long-overdue, croquet trophy today, with a controlled and patient display of mature croquet that clearly drew deep from her past tournament experience.
She lost her first game of the day to Kevin Ward 5-7, after which she didn't falter again all day.
Subsequent morning wins over David Channon 7-2, and Carl Billson 7-5, were enough for Wadsworth to top her block on percentage hoop count from Ward in second place.
Also progressing to the afternoon's main knock-out were other block winners John Howie and the undefeated Roger Goldring and Helena Fensome, and the other three runners-up, Liz Smith, Pete Falle and Patricia Mulcahy.
In the quarter-finals Wadsworth and Falle scored convincing wins over Goldring and Mulcahy 7-0 and 7-1 respectively -  remembering this was Advantage [handicap] play - and in closer games Howie beat Ward 7-3 and Smith beat Fensome 7-6.
Howie turned out to be the dark horse of the tournament, and despatched Fall 7-2 in the first semi-final
and Wadsworth beat her friend Smith 7-5 to set up a final that guaranteed and new name on the White Ball trophy.
It turned out to be a game to far for Howie who was comprehensively dispatched 7-1 by the victorious Wadsworth.

In the Plate event (for those not making the cut to the main knock-out), Channon beat Fay Ahara 7-4 in a rare 0:0 starting score semi-final, while in the other semi Hugh Crook beat Barrie Scott7-2.
Diligently the Plate finalists continued on after the main event had concluded, and Channon beat Crook 7-4.

Finishing Order: (1) Carol Wadsworth, (2) John Howie, (3) Pete Falle, (4) Liz Smith, (5=) Patricia Mulcahy & Kevin Ward,
(7) Roger Goldring, (8) Helena Fensome, (9+) David Channon & Hugh Crook, (11=) Fay Ahara & Barrie Scott, (13=) Carl Billson, Cliff Hampton, Daphne Spiers & Sally Tooher.
Raymond and Pauline Wood at our Annual Prize-giving Dinner in December.
Funeral:
Pauline Wood and family invite all who knew Raymond to attend the funeral service at the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart (Henley), at 1330, on Thursday 9 May, and afterwards at Phyllis Court.
29 April - Raymond Wood - Honorary Member - R.I.P.
​

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of a doyen of Phyllis Court Croquet Club, Raymond Wood, who died on 21 April.

​

Raymond was one of the the main Phyllis Court Club's longest standing members, having joined 46 years ago, along with his beloved Pauline, to whom we extend for deepest condolences.

​

Raymond and Pauline were made honorary members of the Croquet Club three years ago, in recognition not of their long-time membership, but for the long-time contributions that they both made for the benefit of others, be that committee work in Pauline's case, and Coaching, Refereeing and team captaincy roles performed over the decades by Raymond.

​

Raymond came to croquet on the back of a very successful and good class cricket career in his native Yorkshire, before becoming a chief administrator, and then Chairman, of Berkshire Cricket for many years.

 

He was a leading member of the Phyllis Court Live Jazz interest group which was only one of many sections for whom he was either Treasurer or Accounts Examiner, and he performed that latter duty for us in the Croquet Club for more than a decade.

​

Raymond's croquet achievements are many!

Competitions

Open Doubles   - Winner 2012, 2013, 2011 - runner-up 2011

3+ Singles        - Winner 2011, 2016          - runner-up 2018

3+ Doubles       - Winner 2009, 2011, 2016 - runner-up 2018, 2019

Tournaments

Open Doubles   - Winner 2017                   - runner-up 2009, 2012

Restricted Dbls. - Winner 2008, 2009          - runner-up 2007

80+ Singles      - Winner 2017, 2018

Handicap Sing.  - Winner 2014

                                                                                                                                           Chris Roberts

28 April 2024 - Marcel wins National C-Level Series tournament at Sussex
                         - On a weekend of mixed performances by other Phyllis Court circuit players

Michael Marcel was delighted to win the National C-Level (7+) Series tournament at the Sussex County Croquet Club at Southwick, near Brighton, today. He was undefeated in his three block games and then won through three more knock-out rounds to win the final 7-3 against Fiona Fall of Compton (Eastbourne).
The tournament, like the B-Level series that ran alongside, was compromised when several court were flooded out of action and 7-hoop games (with no jump shots) had to be played to get through the block games in time.
The win, like that of Pete Falle earlier this week (see below) entitles Michael to a place in the National C-Level (7+) Series Final at Watford on 28-29 September. - Congratulations Michael.

Elsewhere this weekend:
National Open Series           - Chris Roberts failed to make the cut to the main event at Surbiton and was then waterlogged out on Day 2
National A-Level (0+) Series - Andy Jones failed to make the cut to the main event at East Dorset, but rallied well on Day 2 to win the Plate event.
National B-Level (3+) Series - Alastair Broom failed to make the cut at Sussex County and finished just below his seeding position in 10th.
National B-Level (3+) Series - Patricia Mulcahy answered a less than 24-hours ahead call-up from the reserves list at Sussex County and, although
                                           seeded at number 24, finished in a pleasing 19th.
27 April 2024 - Sign-up now for the GC 10+Evening Series

if you would like to be included in the 10+ Evening Series, which starts in May, please enter via the form on the '10+ Evening Series webpage (click here for that page).  Or if you can't do that, please get in touch with Russell Robinson directly.
26 April 2024 - PCC 'A' beat Surbiton 5-2 in National Inter-Club Championship
 
Phyllis Court scored a second GC National Inter-Club knock-out competition win in two days today, to lay down a marker to their rivals.
For the top tier Inter-Club Championship, history was made when a former World Champion played competitively for the first time at Phyllis Court today.
Stephen Mulliner starred for his Surbiton team after a delayed arrival, but it was an uphill task for the visitors to Henley, as they had to chase the hosts 3-0 lunchtime lead.
The usual opening doubles rubber was put on hold pending Mulliner’s arrival and the number two players’ head-to-head match between Phylliis Court’s Ian Norris and Surbiton’s Alison Maugham, was brought forward from the afternoon.
Norris’ pin-point ball placement and greater tactical experienced allowed him to control the first, in a best of three games 7-5, before Maugham, a top-class association croquet player, could find her golf croquet feet.
Maugham’s decision making and distance shooting was much improved in the second game which she won 2-7, but Norris again out-manoeuvred his opponent in the decider 7-5.
Meanwhile, on an adjoining court, Phyllis Court’s number three and four players, Roger Goldring and Rick Lilley made short work of Surbiton’s Gavin Taylor and Martin Burger, winning 7-3, 7-2 and 7-0, 7-2 respectively.
By the time Mulliner arrived, Phyllis Court was sitting on a 3-0 lead, which he set about rectifying straight away with two well controlled game wins over Phyllis Court number one Chris Roberts, who was frequently reduced to long range clearance attempts.
Roberts lead the second game for some time but when he failed with a difficult slice-shot hoop 6 attempt, the game turned when Mulliner executed a routine short jump shot to score and leave Roberts’ ball hampered in the hoop.
Roberts lost his singles match 4-7, 5-7 but by the time the delayed doubles rubber got underway, both Goldring and Lilley were one game up in their second-round singles matches, with Phyllis Court only needing one more match win.
Lilley provided that fixture winning touch soon enough, with success over Taylor 7-1, 7-4.
Roberts and Norris made a good fight of the doubles before going down 4-7, 5-7 and withthe fixture result in the bag, Goldring iced Phyllis Court’s cake winning 7-4, 7-5 over Burger, for the team match result 5-2.

- A digest of the results is available on Croquet Scores here: https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/uk-inter-club-championship-phyllis-court-v-surbiton/phyllis-court-vs-surbiton
PCC 'A' team: Chris Roberts (-1), Ian Norris (-1), Roger Goldring (1) Rick Lilley (1)

- PCC 'A' play the winner of Nottingham v Watford (at home) in the next round on a date yet to be decided.

Rick Lilley (above) and Alastair Broom (bellow)
in action today at Ealing.   Photos by Chris Roberts

25 April 2024 - PCC '1+' beat Ealing 5-2 in National Inter-Club 'Murphy Shield'

Phyllis Court completed convincing win at Ealing on a bitterly cold, and eventually, rainy day today.
The Inter-Club 'Murphy' Shield is the second tier national knock-out competition and is restricted by handicap, with teams permitted to field one player who has a handicap of 1, the other players must have higher handicaps and the team total must be 8+.
In the morning session, Ealing got off to a good and fast start when Simon Turner brushed aside Phyllis Court's Alastair Broom 0-7, 2-7, but parity was soon restored by the visitors Andy Jones' victory over Jane Powell 7-2, 7-3.
Not surprisingly, the doubles match between players 1 & 2 from each team, was a much longer and closer run affair with most hoops well contested, as both sides took to long, and usually unsuccessful hoop shots, instead of more patient closer positioning.
After more than two hours, Phyllis Court's Rick Lilley and Mike Fensome defeated Ealing's Charlie Sale and Bridget Goodman 7-4, 7-4.
Ealing provided a lovely salad lunch over which the players and three visiting Phyllis Court supporters, President Frances Colman, Chairman Patricia Mulcahy and your author Chris Roberts, mused over the likely afternoon results from the position of a 2-1 lead held by Phyllis Court.
The match looked as if it would being settled in the bottom-half head to head games between the number 3 & 4 players which looked hard to call.
Phyllis Court's Jones had a close first game 7-5 win over Turner and then got well ahead early in the second game to win more easily 7-3, and, with the two senior matches progressing more slowly, eyes fell on the number 4 rubber where both Broom and Powell where hoping to recover from their morning woes.
Broom upped his game the better and must have been delighted to bounce back to win 7-3, 7-3, and in doing so brought home the fixture-winning fourth victory for Phyllis Court.
In the other two head-to-head matches, Lilley and Fensome both won their first games 7-3 and 7-2, but lost the seconds 5-7 and 6-7 to Sale and Goodman respectively, before the rain got heavier and both 'dead' matches were agreed as 'halves'.
- A digest of the results is available on Croquet Scores here: https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/uk-inter-club-murphy-shield-ealing-v-phyllis-court/ealin-vs-phyllis-court
PCC team: Rick Lilley (1), Mike Fensome (2), Andy Jones (2), Alastair Broom (6)

- The good performances by PCC players Jones and Broom today, saw them complete automatic handicap reductions to 1 and 5 respectively - so congratulations to them for that.

- Phyllis Court play Hurlingham (away) in the next round on a date yet to be decided.
Phyllis Court Croquet Chairman Patricia Mulcahy with winner Pete Falle
(Photo by Chris Roberts)
24 April 2024 - Debutant Falle wins our C-Level (7+) Series
 
Pete Falle was a revelation at C-level today, despite only answering a call-up from the reserves bench with only an hour's notice.
He won this, his first ever tournament, starting only his third eve competitive game, and he did it with clever play including both tactical awareness and technical mallet skills that belied his short time in the sport.
He lost his first block game to our own Carol Huntington 5-7 and then beat another club mate Rob Eagle 7-5 and Llandaff's Trevor Charlton 7-6, to qualify for the main knock-out alongside block winner Eagle.
Liz Smith was both surprised and delighted to win her block to complete a trio of Phyllis Court players to make the cut to the main knock-out, but unfortunately for us, she and Falle met in the quarter-final.
Falle got the better of a very close match with Smith 7-6, and then beat fellow tournament debutant Gareth Hobby of Caversham 7-5.
Falle's opponent in the final was the undefeated Chris Dochniak from East Dorset, who had looked the class act of the field from her first game, and she started well winning the first tow hoops.
However, the unflustered Falle clawed back that advantage and in a superb display of patient croquet, achieved the rare feat of scoring seven hoops in a row, to win 7-2.
- Falle received an handicap cut to 8 from Club Handicappers Frances Colman and Chris Roberts,
- And with this tournament victory, Fall also qualifies for the end of season National Final of the C-Level (7+) Series.
- Congratulations Pete!
20 April 2024 - PCC AC 7+ draw 1-1 with Blewbury
 
A close first AC match of the season, ended in a 1-1 draw at Phyllis Court today.
Raghu Iyer controlled the end game of his match well to preserve is +5 lead intil time, against Andrew Pettit, but Frances Colman had it all to do in her last visit to the court, when she needed 4 hoop points to tie.
She went well scoring two of the required three with the intention of making hoop 12 and then pegging her ball out for the crucial levelling point.
Unfortunately, the call of time upset her shot at that last hoop and it game to Blewbury's Andy Robertson +3 (on time).
20 April 2024 - Undefeated Mulcahy wins SCF Handicap 'Champion of Champions' (AC) title - a 'first' for Phyllis Court
​
Patricia Mulcahy won 5 out of 5 games toady at Hamptworth today to win the SCF handicap 'Champion of Champions' (AC) title.
She was alate stand-in for the injured Paul Franklin and her victory comes only three days after winning our own Spring Handicap tournament.
Mulcahy's combined efforts this week sees her handicap automatically reduced to 16, so it has been quite a few days for the Phyllis Court Croquet Club Chairman!
 - Congratulations Patricia!
19 April 2024 - Essa stars with 4 out of 4 victories as PCC 'D' win the Phyllis Court league derby
                         
PCC 'D  10 - 6   PCC 'C'
Helen Essa was undefeated in the first SCF Advantage League match of the season, which helped her PCC 'D' team to a comfortable 10-6 win over PCC 'C' today.
Rob Eagle was the next top scorer for PCC 'D' with three wins that only Steve Morton could match for PCC 'C'.

PCC 'C' - Patricia Mulcahy (6), Colin Morgan (6), Hugh Crook (7), Steve Morton (8)
PCC 'D' - Ruth Raunkiaer (8), Helen Essa (8), Rob Eagle (10), Daphne Spiers (10)
17 April 2024 - GC Mix-in sets new record attendance
Organiser Hilary Cowley repots that a record breaking 43 players attended the GC mix-in today - Wow!
16 April 2024 - Mulcahy & Smith win our Spring AC Handicap Tournament A & B Classes

Phyllis Court Croquet Chairman Patricia Mulcahy won the 'Senior' event at our AC Handicap Spring tournament, with an unassailable lead at the end of a second day's play today.
She defeated Kevin Ward, Frances Colman and Chris Roberts, with only Roger Goldring preventing a clean sweep of victories.
In the Junior event, Jeff Smith conceded two bisques to the rest of the field, and held off a strong challenge from Helen Essa in the last round of block games, in what had become a de facto final, to win 11-8
AC organiser and  committee member Paul Franklin invited Croquet Club President Frances Colman to present that pair of matching 'Barnses Cups' to the winners Mulcahy and Smith.
The full results are on the AC tab in the main menu above.
15 April 2024 - Kevin Ward organises and Jeff Smith fits new units into our pavilion

We now have smart new units under the worktop in our pavilion thanks to:
Kevin Ward (Committee member for Courts and Equipment), who sourced the units (with help from Des Walsh).
Patricia husband Patrick Mulcahy who transported the units from their previous owner's house to PCC.
And we are very grateful to Jeff Smith (pictured) for his time fitting the new units today.
14 April 2024 - PCC trio under achieve at Cheltenham Open
Chris Roberts, Ian Norris and Rick Lilley, all failed to match their pre-event seedings at the Cheltenham Open Series tournament this weekend.
Fifth seed Roberts scraped a qualification from the block stage to main knock-out but fell in the first round to the eventual winner James Death, and came back well later on the second day finish ninth overall in the filed of 32.
Ninth seed Norris missed the cut on a net hoops tie-breaker and only managed 21st place after a series of consolation games, while Lilley who was seeded 20th finished 27th, rounding of an under-achieving weekend for the Phyllis Court trio.
14 April 2024 - Raunkiaer is 5th at the 24-player at Budleigh C-Level Series
Ruth Raunkiaer (photo, left) had a good first tournament outing of the season in Devon today, at Budleigh Salterton C-Level (7+) Series tournament.
She won 3 out of 5 games to finish second in her block and then won 2 more play-off games to finish an impressive 5th overall, in a field of 24.
10 April 2024 - £ 437 raised for The British Heart Foundation at our Charity One Ball
                         - Falle, Roberts & Wadsworth in 3-way tie for the win -

15 hardy players braved the wind, drizzle and ultimately rain today, all in the aid of this year's Croquet England designated charity, the British Heart Foundation.
All the players wore something red for the day, in a nod to the BHF's house colour.
Their entry fee donations, together with generous contributions from other members playing GC alongside, and others donating from home, amassed another good total of £ 437.50 funds raised (including Gift Aid) from our heat of this national competition and fund raising effort.

Pete Falle was a revelation in his first tournament and 'got' the angles and game process of One Ball (which has the same moves as AC) very quickly, thanks to early doors coaching from Frances Colman; and another to use her handicap bisques (extra turns) to good effect was Carol Wadsworth.
This pair were tied with Chris Roberts on one loss each (against each other), and all won again in the sixth round too, by which time, our large courts were too wet to continue, and a 3-way tie was declared.
Final standings: Pete Falle, Chris Roberts & Carol Wadsworth (all on 5 wins/6 games, 83%), Patricia Mulcahy (3/6, 60%), Robin Coates & Mike Fensome (3/6, 50%), Rick Lilley & Steve Morton (2/5, 40%)
Played less games: Carol Huntington (3/4, 75%), Frances Colman (2/3, 66%), Daphne Spiers 1/2, 50%, Raghu Iyer & Di Pascoe (1/4, 25%), Jeff Smith (1/5, 20%), Michael Seagrief (0/4)
10 April 2024 - Andy Jones attended his first Croquet England International Development Squad weekend

Andy Jones is to be congratulated for being selected for the Croquet England International Development Squad, having impressed the selectors with his improvement progress last season.
Squad membership is for two years and comprises weekend coaching sessions and mentored games with top international players.
Andy attended his first Squad Weekend (just gone) at Wrest Park CC near Bedford.
- Phyllis Court has had an 'ever presence' in the Squad since its inception eight or nine years ago, with Chris Roberts, Roger Goldring, Raouf Allim and Rick Lilley all alumni.
10 April - Anne Norman R.I.P.
​

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of member and former Committee member Anne Norman last week.

Anne was a long-standing and well-known member, both within the Croquet Club and to the wider Phyllis Court membership.

For croquet, she was the organiser of the GC mix-ins for a number of years and was ever-present on these days, chivvying players into playing quartets with a friendly 'encouragement' style that meant dithering between games was kept to a minimum under Anne's watch!

Anne sported a sudden flash of pink colour in her otherwise white hair in recent years and she was instantly recognisable by this distinction, with which she became very well known by the staff as well as other members.

We have lost a good club member who 'gave' more than she took from the Croquet Club, and we will miss her.

​

Chris Roberts

08 April 2024 - 🔵🔴⚫🟡  Rainbow Ladder and WhatApp Group 2024, launched today

 

The 2024 Rainbow ladder is showing under the Social tab (in the main menu above); it is all ready for our registered players to start booking courts and enjoying games to climb the ladder.

Members from this years intake are joining in so please welcome them and offer a game. Have fun and enjoy our lovely courts. 

If your interested in joining the Rainbow group, which is aimed at players with a handicap of 10+, to promote the arranging ofsocial single games, please contact Hilary Cowley using the Contact List on the website.

08 April 2024 - New Ultra hoops installed at Phyllis Court

Members playing on Courts 1 & 2 today will enjoy the experience of our brand new Ultra hoops which debuted at our weekend tournament (see below).
Ultra hoops are more sturdy than our previous hoops thanks to their more substantial 'carrots' (the pointy section that is below the court surface) and this will combat the weak and often damp soil that saw our hoops often loose and 'floppy'.
Enjoy everyone!
08 April 2024 - Next 4 pass their Beginners Training Course
 
Coach Julia Green is pleased to report that  - Keith Elliott. Jenny Copeland, Mark Wilkins & Alison Mead
are the latest of the 'Class of 2024' to successfully their Beginners Training Course. 

- PCC's Helen Fensome (2md) & Roger Goldring (3rd), flank winner      Paul Gunn of Wingrave (by Chris Roberts)

 

- Plate winner PCC's Mike Fensome, with runner-up Bridget Goodman
 (by Sharon Clark)

07 April 2024 - Helena Fensome is runner-up in our A-Level tournament - & Mike Fensome wins the Plate 
Our first National Tournament of the season:  A-Level (0+) Series tournament jointly hosted by High Wycombe

Day 2 - Roger Goldring, Rick Lilley & Helena Fensome (playing as Jansson) - all won their quarter final matches in the main knock-out, to crowd the semi-finals with home players on a cold and very windy day at Phyllis Court today.
In the first semi, Goldring fell to defending title holder Paul Gunn in straight games 5-7, 3-7, perhaps feeling the effects of the long day of action previous yesterday.
 And in the 'all Phyllis Court' semi, Jansson showed good patience to beat Lilley 7-5, 3-7, 7-5.
Goldring then beat Lilley in a single game 10-4 to decide third place alongside the Jansson v Gunn final.
Gunn controlled both games will in an impressive performance and was rewarded by the presentation of the 'Zero Plus' trophy by PC Croquet Club Chairman Patricia Mulcahy.
Mulcahy and Gunn both thanked President Frances Colman and Chris Roberts for their management and refereeing throughout the weekend.
 
Meanwhile, in the consolation event at High Wycombe, Mike Fensome lost just once in his 7 block games to win the Plate trophy on 'net hoops' from Surbiton's Bridget Goodman, at the end of a very long day that didn't conclude until after 1900.
One suspects that there was some celebrating in the Fensome household this evening.

The full tournament results are on Croquet Scores via this link - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/uk-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe
06 April 2024 - Goldring, Lilley & H. Fensome qualify for A-Level knock-out - end of Day 1
Our first National Tournament of the season:  A-Level (0+) Series tournament jointly hosted by High Wycombe

Day 1 - Three of our club mates - Roger Goldring, Helena Fensome and Rick Lilley all qualified from today's blocks, to compete in tomorrow's main knock-out stage at Phyllis Court.
Goldring had the best of days, won 6 of his 7 games, to win the High Wycombe block, and will be joined from there by Helena Fensome (playing as Jansson) on 4 wins.
In the Phyllis Court block, Lilley was undefeated in the morning but lost his mo-jo after lunch and won only once more, but it was a crucial win taking him to a qualifying third place.
Mike Fensome was another who faded after lunch and he missed-out on the qualifying mark by one victory, so will play in the Plate event at High Wycombe tomorrow.
Do come along to see the good standard players ion show in this tournament - the action starts at 0930.

If you can't attend in person, you can follow and fortunes of our players' results as they come in on Croquet Scores via this link -
https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/uk-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe
5 April - Sonia Birkholm R.I.P.

It is with great sadness I have to report the death of our member, Sonia Birkholm, who passed away peacefully at the Royal Berkshire Hospital at tea time yesterday, following a stroke a few days ago.  Her illness was very unexpected; she had only just moved into her beautiful new cottage and had just bought a new mallet in preparation for enjoying a summer's croquet.  It was a great pleasure for me to have taught her to play the game only last Spring because she was always such a happy and cheerful soul.  So although she was a member of the croquet club for such a short time, she will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by many of us, especially her friends at mix-in, where she was very popular, always had a smile on her face and enjoyed her croquet so much.  Sonia's daughter-in-law, Karen, has expressed to me her many, many thanks to her fellow players in the club who made her feel so welcome.  Our thoughts are with Karen and the rest of Sonia's family at this very sad time.

​

Russell Robinson 

02 April 2024 - DRAWS ANNOUNCED for our season-long competitions
Click the 'GC Comps' button above to discover your first opponenet(s)

02 April 2024 - Members' own Mike Percival mallets arrive

Mallet maker Mike Percival delivered most of the recently ordered (17) new mallets.
And here they are ready for collection from Chris Roberts - call him on 07973 787710.
 
 
01 April 2024 -   Good spectator opportunity coming up at the weekend   (6 & 7 April)

This weekend sees the hosting of our first National Tournament of the season - in the A-Level (0+) Series.
Do come along to see the good standard players in action in this tournament that is being jointly hosted by High Wycombe.
Four Phyllis Court players are taking part and on Saturday:
Rick Lilley and Mike Fensome are in block A at Phyllis Court.
Roger Goldring and Helena Fensome (playing as Jansson) are in block B at High Wycombe.
The action starts at 0930,

If you can't attend in person, you can follow and fortunes of our players' results as they come in on Croquet Scores via this link -
https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/uk-a-level-0-series-at-phyllis-court-high-wycombe
01 April 2024 -WHITES make a return from today

The croquet season proper was heralded in this morning with the traditional 1 April return of white clothing.
 
In glorious sunshine, all four courts saw a mixture of GC and AC action first thing, and more croquet also beat the rain until 1400.
01 April 2024 -10+ Competition entries deadline extended

The deadline for the 10+ Singles and Doubles season=long competitions has been extended to allow this year's new beginners a chance to participate.
- there is a link to an entry form on the front page.

The other competitions are now being finalised and the draws will be displayed on the 'GC Comps' pages from tomorrow afternoon (see the 'GC Comps' button in the menu at the top of this page).
25 March 2024 - 8 pass Beginners Training Courses today - congratulations!

Eight of our newest members 'passed-out' of their 4-Classes Beginners Training Courses today and will soon be playing alongside existing members, attending the mix-ins, etc.
So, it is congratulations to:
(Coach) Dee McKibbin's class: Chris Ball, Susie Dugid, Sheila Evans & Catherine McEntee
and
(Coach) Ruth Raunkiaer's class: Sandra Lee, Stuart Lee, John Macland & Eileen Macland.

 
19 March 2024 - PCC 'A' slump to defeat under Roehampton's floodlights

PCC 'A'' were well beaten at Roehampton this evening, going down 1.5 to 8.5, but enjoyed the experience of floodlit croquet all the same.
Roehampton got off to a good start by winning both the senior and junior doubles rubbers and turned the screw in the second round with victories in 3 of the 4 reverse seend songles.
Phyllis Court's only win came from Chris Roberts who defeated Nick Yeats 7-4.
With the match score at 1-5, PCC A' needed to win all of the last round's 'best of threes'  to tie the match.
But Ian Norris lost two close games to Roehampton's Yeats, Roger Goldring also lost in straight games to Diana Wilson, before Helena Fensome and the hosts' Dan Pearson decided to 'half' their match at 1-1, leaving Roberts and Roehampton's Tim Russel to fight out a tight match that went Russell's way at the 13th hoop of the decoding game.
PCC 'A' - Chrsi Roberts (-1), Ian Norris (-1), Roger Goldring (1), Helena Fensome (1).
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts in AC doubles action
at Somerset West CC, South Africa (by David H Boyd)
10 March 2024 - Roberts & Colman miss finals at end of South African trip

Chris Roberts and Frances Colman were beaten by local pair Peter Dreyer and Sylvia Short in the semi-finals of the GC Doubles event as the Rainbow International Tournament drew to a close here at the Somerset West CC (near Cape Town) in South Africa.
Roberts bowed out of the Singles event, in which her had earlier won ten straight games before stuttering to 1-2 losses in his later 'best of three' matches, to qualify for the knock-out stage in third pace in his block.
He came up against top seed Neil McHardy from the Kelvin Grove Club in cape Town, which coincidentally is a reciprocal club with Phyllis Court, and the pair battle for a 3.5 hour quarter-final which McHardy won 3-7, 7-6, 4-7 on  his way to the final , which was won on the 13th hoop of the deciding game by South African international Judith Hanekom.
- Summary:
Roberts - AC Open, semi-finalist
Colman - AC 'B' Class, runner-up
Roberts - AC Handicap, runner-up
Both     - AC Handicap Doubles, 3rd place
Roberts - GC Rainbow International, quarter-finalist
Both     - GC Rainbow International Doubles, semi-finalist
- All the  results are posted on Croquet Scores - see the coloured links in previous news items below
8 March 2024 - Roberts qualifies for Singles knock-out at  GC 'Rainbow international' in South Africa

With one last block match to come this morning (Friday) , Roberts has already done enough to reach the knock-out stage of the Singles event.
He faces his 'most frequent opponent' in Lionel Tibble from Northampton, in a match kley decide who comes 2nd & 4th in the block, with the prize for the winner being a probable softer quarter-final tie.
The GC Singles results are posted on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/the-rainbow-international/open-singles-block-b
3 March 2024 - Roberts & Colman paly well on  Day 2 at the  GC 'Rainbow international' in South Africa - and qualify for the Doubles semis

Roberts and Colman players much beater toady and won 5 out of 6 of there doubles block games to qualify in second place for the semi-finals at he end of the week.
Colman's relentless good ball placement was a feature of the days' play, and in combination with Roberts 'on song' consistent (and hard) clearances, its hard to remember the pair having played a better day's GC.
They beat pairs from Switzerland, Spain, Guilford and two from the England/South Africa combinations, with their best being a thumping 10-5 over Jim Filed (2) and Glynis Davies (2).
Their only loss was by 9-10 to Peter Dreyer (-1) & Sylvia Short (1) when the former pulled off a great mid-range jump shot at the 19th hoop).
8 wins from 10 games, secured a second place finish in the block and the avoiding of top seeds Tibble & Town in the semis.
See the GC Doubles results on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/the-rainbow-international/open-doubles

Tomorrow, sees the start of the GC Singles event - Roberts is third seed and in Block B, whilst Colman is the Tournament Referee.
You will be able follow the GC Singles results as they come in on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/the-rainbow-international/open-singles-block-b
2 March 2024 - Roberts & Colman have good Day 1 at the  GC 'Rainbow international' in South Africa

The GC 'Rainbow International' tournament stared today tomorrow (Saturday) with Roberts and Colman wearing the Phyllis Court 'blue' for two days of level play doubles.
The programme is a block of 11 pairs, playing a mammoth 'all play all' (10) 19-point games format, which in 'normal' conditions would be a challenge enough, but in temperature in the high 20's, it was a real trial.
Roberts (-2) and Colman (2) had a bye in the first round and then were thrashed 2-10 by top seeds Lionel Tibble (-2) & Mike Town (-2), but recovered to at least win their remaining three games today, to stay on course for a top four finish and qualification for the semi-finals later in the week.
A tougher test is lined-up for tomorrow when our pair have now fewer than 6, 19-point games to play!
You will be able follow the GC Doubles results as they come in on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/the-rainbow-international/open-doubles
1 March 2024 - Roberts & Colman finish AC well in South Africa
Chris Roberts and Frances Colman have been in 'down time' between tournaments' this week at Somerset West, about an hour's drive east from Cape Town South Africa.
They both performed well last week in the Western Province AC tournament, where Roberts (AC handicap 0) beat three 'minus' players and was undefeated in his block after 6 games.
He was then unfortunate to draw top seed Mike Town (AC -1.5) in the semi-finals and went down narrowly 26-20.
Frances Colman (AC 9) also did well, playing her first games since a hand operation before Christmas and was runner-up in her B-Class, which included taking a game off Paul Swaffield (AC 5).
Roberts and Colman paired up in the Handicap Doubles Doubles and finishes third.
See the AC results on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2024/ac/western-province-croquet-association-championships/open-singles
1 March 2024 - Jump shot area gets some grass
Despite the incessant rain, good progress is being made on preparing the new jump shot area, which has now been turfed.  Please do not walk on this newly laid turf! 
(photo by Paul Franklin)
Jump shot area 3.JPG
27 February 2024 - Jumping for Joy
The more intrepid and observant of you may have noticed the bare patch of earth that has appeared at the end of Court 3.  Much as it may look otherwise at the moment, we are not about to plant a rice paddy field.  This is the start of the construction of our new jump shot area, which weather permitting we hope will be ready for use by early April.  Don't worry, you don't have to jump from end to end - not to start with, anyway! 
(photos by Kevin Ward)
Jump shot area 1.JPG
Jump shot area 2.JPG
18 February 2024 - All courts waterlogged today
Heavy overnight rain left all our courts with standing water showing today - the prospects for play tomorrow seem slim (photo by Paul Franklin)
13 February 2024 - Patricia & Paul tidy our pavilion and now it look bigger!
Chairman Patricia Mulcahy and fellow committee member Paul Franklin did a great job in tidying up our pavilion today.
2 February 2024 - Members flock to fill coaching classes for 14+ handicappers
As fast as Coaches Ruth Raunkiaer and Dee Mckibbin can add new coaching classes for our higher handicapped members, they get filled within hours.
Classes totally 32 places have been snapped-up as soon as each has been announced and still the demand has outstripped supply.
A waiting list in place pending the possibility of more dates being offered.

It was the same story earlier this week with all 16 places in 4 classes offered by GC Grade 2 coach Helena Fensome for players in the 6-9 range.
 
1 February 2024 - 30 members set GC mix-in attendance record for February!
The twin draws of a beautifully sunny and warm winter day, coupled with having been deprived the opportunity to play, combined to attract a 'winter record' 30 members to todays GC mix-in session.
Photos by Hilary Cowley and Chris Roberts.

 
30 January 2024 - Croquet play returns to Phyllis Court at last!
Play returned to our courts at last today after four weeks of flooding and freezing, with the happy consequence that the former occurrence has, by early accounts at least, evened-out the humps and hollows somewhat.

Court bookings have picked-up this week as the weather has taken a warmer turn, and the sight of players back in action will doubtless encourage more members to join in.
- Courts may be booked up to 2 weeks in advance, so check for vacancies on the booking sheets (click on the 'Book' tab in the menu above) and send your requests to Chris Roberts as usual at info@kickphoto.co.uk
28 January 2024 - The Rumfords got to play croquet today - in the Cayman Islands!
There was still no play possible at soggy Phyllis Court today but John and Sue Rumford got a game in aboard their cruise ship!
27 January 2024 - Very heavy frost this morning and probable waterlogging afterwards - no play until at least 1200

Photos at 0800 today, by Paul Franklin
16 January 2024 - Courts frozen solid as predicted (pretty though)
'Temperature to -7 overnight
Photo at 1030 today, by Chris Roberts
14 January 2024 - No Play until further notice - due to fragile ground and expected frozen courts all week conditions

 

Kevin Ward is i/c Courts on the Committee and is in liaison with Mark the Groundsman.

Flood waters have now receded, the Thames water level is also reduced and we can see the grass on our courts again.

In consultation with our Chairman, Patricia Mulcahy, a decision on the courts was taken this morning:

With freezing temperatures forecast overnight, and frozen courts expected all week - There will be NO PLAY until further notice.

Ground conditions will continue to be monitored - please keep checking the courts booking pages for updates

14 January 2024 - "Happy 90th birthday Brian" - two Presidents together

Our President, Frances Colman, was on hand today to wish Past-President Brian Bucknall a very happy 90th birthday.
Brian was celebrating his landmark with wife Celia and their extended family, with lunch in the private dining room at Phyllis Court where Brian has been a member for 47 years!

Chairman, Patricia Mulcahy, and other committee members who had met in the bar this morning, sent a bottle of champagne into Brian's celebration on behalf of the Croquet Club and organised the photo of the past and current Presidents together.
09 January 2024 - The water table is still very high
'Reflections of Phyllis Court'
Photo by John Rumford
8 January 2024 - Thony-Beth Johansen R.I.P.

It is with regret that I have to inform you of the death of our former long-standing member Mrs Thony-Beth Johassen.
A notice on the main club notice board says that she passed away on 31 December.
We extend our condolences to her husband and current member Terje (TJ) at this saddest of times.
Patricia Mulcahy, Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club

08 January 2024 - There will be no play until 13th January at the very earliest.
How about this almost surreal image from the camera of our Chairman this evening!
Photo by Patricia Mulcahy

by Patricia Mulcahy, 8 January

07 January 2024 (AFTERNOON) - ALL COURTS  FLOODED
Water table still rising - now above hoop height on Court 4.
Photos by Chris Roberts, taken at 1230 this afternoon.

by Chris Roberts, 7 January

07 January 2024 - ALL COURTS  FLOODED
Water table higher than yesterday.
Photos by Paul Franklin, taken at 0730 this morning.

by Paul Franklin, 7 January

05 & 06 January 2024 -  NO PLAY today - Heightened Thames water table sees lakes on Courts 3 & 4, and others very waterlogged

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by Paul Franklin, 6 January

by Paul Franklin, 6 January

Patricia Mulcahy
is our new
Club Chairman

7 December -  Annual General Meeting

Our AGM was attended in-person by 43 members including the eight committee members, and a further 10 attended on Zoom.  47 provided their apologies, of whom 24 had voted on the resolutions.  The meeting started by members standing in remembrance of those who have passed away since the last AGM – Bob Priem, Ann Clayton, Allen Standley, Mary Gaynor, David Bromilow and Michael Marston, together with former member, Arthur Cox.  Chris Roberts delivered his Chairman’s Review of the year and his Golf Croquet report, highlighting the many team and individual successes in what he described as our most successful season ever on the competitive front.  He also heaped great praise on our grounds staff, Mark, Emma and Stefan, who have done such a wonderful job in transforming the state of our courts.  Raghu Iyer delivered an upbeat report on Association Croquet, for which there has been quite a resurgence in the last couple of years.  Patricia Mulcahy read out the Honours Book.  Russell Robinson presented an overview of the club’s finances, the accounts were approved and it was agreed to retain the annual subscription at £20. 

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Nine members had been nominated to serve on the Committee for the coming year and all were duly elected - Hilary Cowley, Paul Franklin, Julia Green, Andy Jones, Rick Lilley, Patricia Mulcahy, Ruth Raunkiaer, Russell Robinson and Kevin Ward.  Chris Roberts retired from the Committee having served three years as Chairman, the maximum permitted by our constitution.  Raghu Iyer also retired from the Committee, having served for 11 years.  Raghu was presented with an engraved tankard as a token of our appreciation.  Raymond Wood was presented with a selection of wines in recognition of his 11 years as our “auditor”.  Alan French was appointed to replace Raymond as our Honorary Independent Examiner.

 

Immediately after the meeting, the new  Committee met to elect the officers.  Patricia Mulachy was elected unopposed as Chairman.  Julia Green was elected as Secretary.  Russell Robinson was re-elected as Treasurer.  Hilary Cowley will continue as Membership Secretary, while Andy Jones will take responsibility for Golf Croquet, Paul Franklin for Association Croquet and Kevin Ward for Courts and Equipment.

6 December - Michael Marston R.I.P.

It is with sadness I have to report the death of our long-standing member Michael Marston who passed away om 27 November.  Our thoughts are with Gerda and their family at this sad time.

 

Chris Roberts - Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club

4 December -  Call for submission of all Handicap Cards for annual audit

The handicap records of most members are kept centrally by Russell Robinson on behalf of of Club Handicappers Chris Roberts and Frances Colman.

Several other members, principally those that also play away from Phyllis Court, both  individually and in teams, keep a handicap card and it is time for the annual audit that all Club Handicappers are required to do.

If you are keeping your own hnadicap card, please bring it with you to our AGM on Thursday, or failing this, place it in the marked 'IN' box that will be on the pavilion worktop from Tuesday this week.

4 December -  Our AGM is on Thursday 7 December (THIS WEEK) - 10.30 for coffee, 11.00 start time

Our Annual General Meeting is this week - please do come along if you can (or send apologies to our Secretary Patricia Mulcahy).

Ore-meeting papers, including the Agenda, accounts and some reports were circulated by Patricia to all members last evening.

2 December -  Courts frozen solid for second day running - NO PLAY

Our courts were frozen solid yesterday and, with overnight minus temperatures even lower than the night before, it was no surprise that the was NO PLAY again today.

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Reminder - there should be NO PLAY if the ground is frozen or there is frost.

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This photo was taken by Paul Franklin and 1045 today.

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1 December -  Ward 'mentioned in despatches' in National Most Improved Player contest

 

Kevin Ward's excellent season was recognised by Croquet England recently when his nomination for the Most Improved Player Award saw him names behind this year's winner Dom Aarvold of Bristol CC.

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Kevin’s national ranking DGrade rose from 1422 to 1618 (and increase of +195 points), achieved by 34 of 53 ranking games, for a winning rate of 64%.

His handicap has reduced from 8 to 5 (index from 1339 to 1543, which is an increase of +204.

 

Read Kevin's full nomination here

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Well done Kevin!

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    28 November -  A record 93 members enjoyed our        
                              fabulous Annual Prizegiving Dinner      .

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Probably our best ever, and certainly our biggest, Annual Prizegiving dinner was enjoyed in a lovely warm and inclusive atmosphere with all sections of the Croquet Club splendidly represented by a record attendance.

Our new President, Frances Colman, 'took wine' with, amongst other called-up groups, a dozen of the 2023 intake of members, longest standing attending members Pauline and Raymond Wood (1978), and to ovation, Hilary Cowley, who not only organised the evening but also orchestrates the GC mix-ins every week.

The President was joined our Secretary Patricia Mulcahy to present the hoard of trophies to all this season's winners and some runners-up too, whilst Chairman Chris Roberts, acting a Master of Ceremonies, managed to only stray off his script one time.

Our teams success, both Nationally and regionally was acclaimed, and individually, Roger Goldring and Dee McKibbin took home the most silverware this year, whilst the absent (with work) Charlie von Schmieder was heralded as our Double Club Champion (for both GC and AC).

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Photographs by Russel Robinson, Paul Franklin, Patricia Mulcahy and 'a helfpul waiter'.

Trophies artwork by Chris Roberts

26 November -  Goldring's AC Adlam Tankard win ends competitions for the year 

Roger Goldring relied on his straight hitting accuracy to defeat Rick Lilley in today's final of the AC Handicap knock-out competition.

Lilley had an excellent last turn 8-hoop break to get past Robin Coates 17-11 in his semi-final yesterday, but couldn't repeat that today as Goldring's hitting-in and long hoop running successes brought him scoring opportunities time and again and he cruised to a 17-5 victory on time.

Golding is a new name to be engraved on the the Adlam Tankard which dates back to 1977.

25 November -  Heavy frost delays play until mid-morning today
Paul Franklin captured the frosty scene at the Club this morning.
Remember - there is NO PLAY when a heavy frost is present because treading on frosty grass seriously damages the grass plant.
22 November -  Mulcahy wins the Women's Handicap Orr Plate

Patricia Mulcahy put in an excellent performance of controlled AC this afternoon and used her handicap bisques well to defeat Frances Colman in the first running of the Orr Plate since 2017*

it is a mark of Mulcahy's steady, and very recent, marked improvement that she wrapped-up this game with a maximum score of 26-0, with two bisques standing unused.

She made two visits to the court, augments each with considered bisque use and froze her opponent out of the game completely.

Colman did nothing wrong and was confined to three stokes only, two to put her balls on to the court at the start and one long hit-in attempt at the mid-way change of innings.

"I think we've trained you too well" remarked Colman who was delighted for victor Mulcahy at the end, complimenting her temperament, composure, and very well controlled match play.

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* The Women's Handicap Orr Plate had only been played for 4 times in the last 20 years, due to a lack of female AC players.

Colman has won it three times in the past (2011, 2014 and 2017) with only only the late Dr Helen Walker breaking the monopoly in 2012.

With the arrival of Mulcahy, and several other women AC players in the learning pipeline at Phyllis Court, the Orr Plate now looks pleasingly well set for a good competitive future.

21 November -  Robinson & Franklin put two new names on AC Poulton and Zia Sterling Cups

Russell Robinson reports:

Two more of our AC competitions were decided on a drizzly morning today.

After two weather-induced cancellations, Raghu Iyer and Russell Robinson at last met for the final of the Poulton Cup.  The inscriptions on this trophy, first contested in 1969, read like a “Who’s who” of Association Croquet at Phyllis Court.  Iyer has won it three times in recent years, so Robinson was very keen to join the illustrious ranks of holders and deny Iyer a fourth title.  The game started very cageily, with Robinson, who was holding back his five bisques, giving little away, but unable to take full advantage of some long hit-ins, and he led just 2-0 well into the second hour, a lead which he gradually built to eight before Iyer was able to get on the board.  Eventually, well into the final hour, a narrowly missed roquet by Iyer handed Robinson an opportunity which he converted into a decisive 11-hoop break, with the aid of his last three bisques, leading ultimately to the winning margin of 22-4. 


At the same time, Paul Franklin and Patricia Mulcahy played the “winner takes all” last block game of the Zia Sterling Cup.  Mulcahy used her four bisques early on to establish a 4-0 lead, and was able to hold on to a similar leading margin for most of the game.  With only a few minutes on the clock, she seemed to be closing the game out when a slightly overhit croquet stroke saw the croqueted ball stop agonisingly on the boundary line, which was therefore “end of turn” and handed Franklin one last chance to recover from the 8-12 deficit.  Franklin then played some excellent croquet to put together a five-hoop break and edge into a one-hoop lead as “time” was called, but then missed a short roquet to hand Mulachy an opportunity to level the game, which she was unable to convert when her hoop approach ran off just too far left.  And so the game finished, 13-12 to Franklin, the same scoreline by which Franklin and Mulcahy had won the doubles competition two weeks earlier.

19 November -

                          FRANCES COLMAN is our new PRESIDENT

Brian Bucknall stood down as our President three weeks ago.
We thank him for his service and wish him well in his retirement.

On behalf of the Committee, I am delighted to announce that the
New President of Phyllis Court Croquet Club is FRANCES COLMAN.
The Committee's appointment of Frances is in recognition of her quite extraordinary devotion of service to our Club and the wider Sport of Croquet:

About our new President:
Frances Colman joined the Phyllis Court Croquet Club in 2008 and has been at its heart ever since.
During 15 years of service to our Club, Frances has . .    please click here
19 November -  Iyer wins our AC 5+ Advanced Competition
Raghu Iyer beat Frances Colman by a single point this morning to win our AC 5+ Advanced competition.
Colman wrestled the lead from Iyer early in the game and held it until that last turn when she was cruelly overturned 20-19 on time.
Iyer beat Robin Coates last week and so, his victory today also won him the competition trophy - the Section Tankard - which he will pick at our Prize-giving dinner on 28th of this month.
15 November -  Roberts wins High Wycombe GC Championship
Chris Roberts won the GC Open Singles Club Championship at High Wycombe today.
He got off to a sloppy start and lost the firts game of the 'best of three' competition final against Ian Shore, before recovering to win 4-7, 7-1, 7-4.
9 November -  Rainbow reminder
 
Paul Franklin captured this lovely rainbow over our courts

This's a good reminder of our Rainbow games, which are a really good way to get to play lots of different people - register your interest for next season now - contact Hilary Cowley (or see her running the Thursday mix-ins).
7 November -  Mulcahy & Franklin win the AC Handicap Doubles final
Patricia Mulcahy & Paul Franklin beat Russell Robinson & Jeff Smith by a single point, 13-12, in an exciting final of the AC Handicap Singles knock-out season-long Doubles competition today.
Franklin reports, that the game got off to a slow start with the score stuck at 3-1 to Robinson and Smith for quite a while.

The play got better on both sides as all four players found their range and then Robinson managed a very good 9 hoop break before laying-up in corner 2.
Franklin managed a longish hit-in and then scored a 7 hoop break of his own to get his side to just two hoops behind with about 30 mins to go. During this period Mulcahy also made a good hit-in and break that established the all important one hoop advantage, which she and Franklin maintained to until time was called.

Mulcahy and Franklin were presented with the impressive Greenbury bowls, which have engraved history going back to their introduction in 1974.
Winners Patricia Mulcahy & Paul Franklin
with the Greenbury Bowls
(photo by Kevin Ward)
5 November -  Charlie von Schmieder wins the 2023 AC Open Advanced Singles Championship
Charlie von Schmieder regained the Phyllis Court AC Open Advanced Singles Championship with a 2-0 match win over holder Chris Roberts today.
The match was uncharacteristically error strewn as both players struggled to establish and then maintain the long breaks that are usual feature of their standard of play.
Von Schmieder won a long first game comfortably enough +19 despite failing a triple-peel attempt on the back of the one he achieved in his most recent game in the this competition versus Richard Peperell a few weeks ago.
Today's second game was closer and had an interesting ending, when trailing Roberts pegged-out von Schmieder's front ball, leading to some cat and mouse positioning, before Roberts sloppily failed to hide allowing von Schmieder to execute a good hit in and finish to win +12.
Like von Schmieder, Roberts had beaten Peperell last week and so he finished the competition as runner-up (and gets the Bucknall Tankard) whilst Peperell finished third this year.
- The trio had caught-up with previous unfinished Championships during the second half of this season resulting one win each for von Schmieder (2021) and Roberts (2022), with Peperell as the runner-up in both those years.
~
Today's victory gives von Schmieder the 'PHYLLIS COURT DOUBLE', because he won he GC Championship back in September, and if this isn't impressive enough, von Schmieder has now won the club AC title 11 times in 15 years!
The Boucher Trophy will be returning to its familiar place on display in the von Schmieder family home.
~
You can see the von Schmieder dominance on our 'Past Wieners' webpage (click on the button i the menu above).
Winner Charlie von Schmieder with the Boucher Trophy
27 October -  Patricia Mulcahy has great time in Spain -    Spain Women v Ireland Women - Days 2 & 3  
Ireland were out gunned by Spain who cruised to a comprehensive victory against their game visitors in Saville this weekend.
The 8 strong Spanish team were all ranked much higher than their head to head Irish counterparts.
In Patricia Mulcahy's case, she has a ranking DGrade of 1513 (handicap 6) and her 4 singles opponents - Leticia Gonzalez de la Bastida (1734), Paz Gonzalez de Aguilar (1754), Pilar Plasencia (1792) and Reyes Asmarats (DGrade 1801) - were all ranked between 222 and nearly 300 points higher (in handicap terms 3, 3 and 2) than Patricia and she did very well to be so competitive in such company.
Patricia's single victory was actually at the expense of the best of that quartet, Asmarats, and definitely constitutes a 'scalp'.
~
Ireland were well beaten 12 - 68 but, by the look of the post match celebrations (below), there was no sign of downheartedness.
Well done 'Irish International Player' Patricia!

                                    See this video clip  - Click in the bottom right corner to turn the sound on and off!
Click in the bottom
right corner to turn
the sound on and off
29 October - WINTER rules apply from tomorrow (Sunday)

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All members have been e-mailed today with the Winter Rules that apply from tomorrow (below is acut down version of that fuller explaining e-mail):

- No play if the ground is heavily frosty - you will have to wait for it to thaw (treading on heavily frosted grass seriously damages the grass plant (so please don't do it)
- No play if the ground is waterlogged - you will have to book for another day please.
* Please note that your enthusiasm to play has no baring on whether you should - it is the ground conditions that dictate - if there is any doubt, please do not play.
- NO JUMP STROKES

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GC Mix-in times - To coincide with the clocks having gone back - for the winter, both our Sunday and Thursday GC Mix-ins will be from 1300 - 1600.

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Everyone - Please remove the morning dew and worm casts with our 'Swishers' - otherwise, I'm afraid it's No Swishing = No play

27 October -  Patricia Mulcahy pulls on her Ireland International shirt -    Spain Women v Ireland Women - Day 1  
Patricia Mulcahy will have been mighty proud to pull on her Ireland International shirt and  play for the country for the first time today.
But first there was the march on of the two teams and 'Y Viva Espana" belted out of the loud speakers at Saville this morning.
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                                    See this video clip  - Cick in the bottom right corner to turn the sound on and off!
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Patricia gets her first win!
The Ireland Women team had a very tough opening day and Irish victories were very thin on the ground.
But Patricia did contribute to one of those wins with a 7-4 victory over Reyes Asmarats, and was Ireland's only winner in round 3 of 5 toady.
Patricia lost her other two singes games and had no joy in the doubles with partner Andrea Widdison.

Ireland have it all to do tomorrow and Sunday as they try to chase down Spain's enormous 28 - 4 lead

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Follow Patricia and the match on CrqouetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/3rd-ireland-spain-test-match

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Click in the bottom
right corner to turn
the sound on and off
25 October -  Patricia Mulcahy flys to Saville to play for the Ireland Women's Team! -    Spain Women v Ireland Women - preview  

Follow
Patricia Mulcahy
-
Spain Women v
Ireland Women
- starts on Friday -

Patricia Mulcahy flies to Spain today and will pull on an Ireland international shirt for the first time when she debuts for the Ireland Women's team for Test Match versus Spain Women that starts on Friday.

The three day Test Match is a mixture of Singles and Doubles games and runs from 27-29 October.

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So that we can all follow how Patricia gets on, here is a link to the CrqouetScores coverage -

https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/3rd-ireland-spain-test-match

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Good luck Patricia!

SCF Handicap League winners - PCC 'D'.
Ruth Raunkiaer, Steve Morton, Paul Franklin & Daphne Spiers
[Hugh Crook. Trevor Day & Rob Eagle played in earlier matches]
- photo by Andy Jones -

20 October - Unbeaten Franklin leads PCC 'D' to tie-break SCF Advantage League title!

PCC 'D'  8 - 8  Eynsham (PCC win on tie-break rule)
Captain Paul Franklin inspired his PCC 'D' team to come from behind to clinch the SCF Advantage League title by the slimmest of margins in a thrilling last hour of play today.
Franklin won all four of his games as he first kept the 'D' in the match for the first three rounds and was then on hand to complete the team victory in fitting fashion.
Eynsham showed no sign of travel weariness after a delayed arrival and, despite good preparation by Phyllis Court, the home side could muster only one win from Franklin in the first round as they trailed 1-3.
It was all PCC 'D' could do to prevent Eynsham's lead from growing in the second round, with only Ruth Raunkiaer able to join Franklin with a positive result, to keep the Phyllis Court scoreboard ticking over.
Franklin was in positive mood at lunch, despite the 3-5 match score deficit, and realistically his side were going to need wins from all four players in the afternoon.
The third round brought together Franklin and the likewise undefeated Mike Nightingale in a game that looked pivotal, and Franklin won it with some ease.
However, with only Daphne Spiers adding her first win to that of Franklin, Eynsham's two game lead stayed firmly rooted, at 5-7.
With just the four fourth round games remaining, Phyllis Court's task became clear - they needed to win three times and one of those wins had to be in Franklin's 1 v 1 game, because that result would be the tie-breaker result. it would be cruel indeed on Eynsham, if Phyllis Court could overhaul (or at least tie with) the visitors tally, and things started really well for the home side.
Franklin got well ahead in his game, and impressively off the back of three defeats, Steve Morton soon also enjoyed a lead, so too did Raunkiaer, and the prospects for scoreboard turnaround began to loom large for Eynsham.
Raunkiaer was first to finish with a 7-3 win (her second) to close Eynsham's lead to 6-7 and then Morton played with home supporters' emotions by taking his game to the last hoop before winning to 7-6, to tie the match score at 7-7.
Spiers's game was some way behind that of captain Franklin, who enjoyed a two hoop lead over Eynsham's Paul Cotterell, and he was soon closing-in on the last few and match winning scores, only too well aware that his result would not only ensure PCC 'D' of a last a match draw but a tie-break League title winning victory into the bargain.
Franklin showed great patience to keep positioning in front of the hoop as he waited for Cotterill's errors that were bound to come and eventually did.
Franklin converted a mid-range hoop shot to win 7-4, and that was it - game, match and league title to PCC 'D'.
Spiers was overhauled right at the end of her game, so the scoreboard read 8-8 at the close of play, and with Franklin's 1 v 1 result the deciding factor, there was joy in the Phyllis Court camp.
The Croquet Association's Tournaments Committee member Frances Colman, who had been refereeing the match, complimented both teams before presenting the SCF Advantage League trophy to Franklin and PCC 'D'.
Colman reminded Phyllis Court that their league win will give Phyllis Court two teams in next season's GC Federations Shield national competition, which Colman herself had launched five years ago, and as she is retiring from that committee now, this was a very fitting last act for her to perform in that role.

PCC 'D - Paul Franklin (7, captain), Steve Morton (8), Ruth Raunkiaer (8), Daphne Spiers (9)

Congratulations Team!
19 October - Rick Lilley takes his bow from the Championships -   WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Australia) - Day 5  

Rick Lilley was beaten by Kent Lovvorn (USA) 7-3, 3-7, 2-7 in he Bowl event today.

And that is the end of a tournament that he can look back on with great satisfaction, having out-performed his seeding to qualify for the Main event knock-out stage, which was his pre-event goal.  Well done Rick.

Watch the event live (or recorded) with MySportLive at this link - https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/10992659

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18 October - Rick Lilley knocked-out by No. 1 seed - he now plays in he Bowl -   WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Australia) - Day 4  

Rick Lilley put up a good fight against the No. 1 seed Ahmed El Mahdy (Egypt) today but lost to exit the Championship knock-out but will play on in the Bowl event.

Rick sent a message from Australia:

"It was great to play Ahmed. I lost in a respectable 4-7, 4-7.  He jumped me in the jaws from the boundary, ran hoop11 from the 10 side of the halfway marker (down to 12…) and barely touched every hoop he ran!  I am finally getting the hang of Quads [Quadway hoops] set to 1/32 in hard ground…they are very unforgiving especially to anything angled.

It's a great experience and now I have the Bowl to look forward to :O)"

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Watch the event live (or recorded) with MySportLive at this link - https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/10992659

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17 October - Croquet Blazers on show at the Club this morning

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Here is a first view of our Blazers, modelled by Chris Roberts, Frances Colman and Paul Franklin, and a close-up of our designed pocket badge. We had a good morning yesterday with a number of Croquet Club members calling by to see our bespoke made to measure Blazers - several folks were measured-up and orders were placed.
With another half a dozen or so members unable to make the date but keen to order separately, there are already 15-20 orders in the pipeline.

Important – If you would like to register an interest too, please do so BY FRIDAY – because Kristie, of Henley tailors Collier & Robertson, needs to reserve the necessary fabric from the mill.
Any orders placed very soon afterwards can be fulfilled in time for our Prizegiving Dinner on 28 November. 🙂
Slower timed ordering will also be available, but these won’t make the dinner date.
Register your interest now with Kristie on 07788 131 723 or info@collierandrobinson.co.uk

17 October - Rick Lilley wins twice to qualify for the knock-out phase!    WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Australia) - Day 3  

Rick Lilley rose to the big occasion perfectly today when he beat Ellie Griffith (USA) 7-6, 4-7, 7-6 to record a crucial second match win to earn a place in his block's play-offs.

Also tied on two wins were Begona Elzaburu (Spain) and Basil Ladyman (Australia) and the trio had to play-off for two places.

Elzaburu had the best net games tally of the tied trio, so the play-offs started with Lilley v Ladyman, with the winner to qualify and the loser to play the Spaniard and having to win twice.

Lilley had Ladyman's number having beaten him already in straight games, and the Phyllis Court player made no slip-up in wining again 7-4 and that was it - qualification for the 32-player knock-out stage was ensured!  - Well done Rick!

Rick has the toughest of draws in the knock-out tomorrow - he is to face the Championship's top seed Ahmed El Mahdy of Equpt.

- The Live-Streaming starts today - Watch the event live (or recorded) with MySportLive at this link - https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/10992659

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16 October - Rick Lilley has qualification on a knife-edge   WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Bunbury, Australia) - Day 2  

Rick Lilley scored his first match win today when he beat Basil Ladyman (Australia) 7-5, 7-5, however he lost his other match to the block G top seed Gary Phipps 2-7, 3-7.

This leaves Rick having to win his last match tomorrow against Ellie Griffith (USA) and hope that other results go his way, as he hopes to finish in the top four positions to qualify for the 32-player knock-out sta

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PHYLLIS COURT DO 'THE DOUBLE'
   AC & GC HANDICAP NATIONAL CHAMPIONS   
Our AC team win the Secretary's Shield National Final, adding to our GC success

AC Secretary's Shield winners

by Francs Colman

GC Federations Shield winners

by Robert Jones

15 October - Phyllis Court  4 - 3  Sheffield  -  AC Secretary's Shield National Final
Phyllis Court Croquet came from behind to win a close and exciting AC Secretary's Shield National Final at the neutral venue of Ashby in Leicestershire today.
On slow and heavy courts, the Phyllis Court team struggled to adapt from our own fast short mown surface and it was Sheffield who were soon ahead in all three morning matches.
Both teams chose to filed players 1 and 4 in the doubles match which was a dour cat and mouse affair for the first two hours with neither side able to establish meaningful breaks and hoop scores limited to ones and twos at a time.
The senior players Chris Roberts (AC zero handicap) for Phyllis Court and Trevor Billard (2.5) for Sheffield looked to set-up their junior partners Patricia Mulcahy (20) and Dean Morton (14) respectively, and 
with only two Phyllis Court bisques (extra turns) available, both sides played cautiously throughout.
Sheffield got both balls to 3-back and, although they got rooted there, they sat on a reasonable lead well into the last hour, and then with time becoming a factor, Roberts finally made the game's decisive break, made nine hoops to rover, and got his side in front for the first time.
Mulcahy had some nerve wracking long take-off strokes to far away areas to disrupt the opposition's efforts to re-start their scoring and, despite the challenging court conditions that required heavy hitting, she coped with the task admirably and Roberts competition match experience came to the fore in the final 15, as he helped Mulcahy get her ball round to 3-back as well, whilst keeping Sheffield out of the game, to win 20-16.
However, on the other court, Sheffield were in command, and although the scoring was again slow, they controlled both games well and won both.
Phyllis Court's Ragu Iyer ((9) lost to Sheffield's Adrian Simmerson (12) 10-17 and Kevin Ward (14) lost to Maggie Crossland (12) 14-18, so with the match score at 1-2 to Sheffield at lunch, Phyllis Court had it all to do in the afternoon head-to-head singles games.
Roberts was first to finish having got ahead early against Billard, and with the latter's hooping accuracy of the morning sadly leaving him, the Phyllis Court player won comfortably on the two hour mark 26-9.
By this time Ward had done well to take his first ball to peg using his two bisques and was well in command of his game versus Simmerson, and things really started to look up for Phyllis Court when, Iyer beat Crossland 26-19 in the game between the two captains, to take Phyllis Court into a 3-2 lead.
Mulcahy had burned half her six bisques against Morton very early in the game, setting-up and maintaining a four-ball break, but her tactical decision had been rewarded with healthy lead that Morton took some time to chip away at before he overhauled her in the last 15 minutes for a narrow 11-13 win.
But five minutes before that game concluded, Ward had controlled the closing phase of his game with Simmerson to win decisively 19-6 and deliver the team match victory for Phyllis Court.

CroquetScores on this link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/uk-secretarys-shield-handicap-national-final
Phyllis Court team - Chris Roberts (AC 0), Raghu Iyer (AC 9), Kevin Ward (AC 14) & Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20).

Congratulations Team!
15 October - Tough Day 1 for Rick Lilley at the   WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Bunbury, Australia)

Rick Lilley has a tough opening day of the Championships today and suffered 0-2 losses in his toe 'best of three' matches.

First up was Begona Elzaburu (Spain) who some of you might remember shared commentary duty with Chris Roberts at the Women's World Championship in July.

Rick lost that one 2-7, 3-7 and then faired on slightly better against John Christie (Australia) 2-7 5-7, but with four to qualify from the eight blocks of six, the route to qualification for the knock-out stage is still open.

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COMING-UP on SUNDAY

Another National Cup Final - Phyllis Court 'AC' v Sheffield at Ashby on Sunday 15 October (next weekend)
Phyllis Court Croquet will be going for the 'double' of national handicap titles this week when they play in the AC Secretary's Shield National Final.
Raghu Iyer's team have beaten Winterbourne Valley (Somerset) and Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) on the way to this final which will be played at the neutral venue of Ashby (Leicestershire).
The match results will be posted (in as near to 'real time' as I can manage) on CroquetScores on this link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/uk-secretarys-shield-handicap-national-final
Good luck to our team - Chris Roberts (AC 0), Raghu Iyer (AC 9), Kevin Ward (AC 14) & Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20).
13 October - Helen Essa wins the 10+ Singles Plate Final - concluding our season-long competitions

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Helen Essa played a tidy and controlled game this morning to win the last of our season-long competitions to finish.
She defeated a game Julia Green 7-4, 7-3 in front of half a dozen supporters who were treated to a spirited half-comeback in the second game game Green from 0-5 down.
Congratulations Helen.
11 October - Rick Lilley about to start the  WCF Over 50s World GC Championships (in Bunbury, Australia) 
I was hoping that there would be some live streaming but Rick has told me that only the last four days of the
knock-out stage will be converted in that way. When I get the link, I will forward it on.
In the meantime, see the Croquet Scores link below

Good luck to RICK LILLEY who is one of 6 English players in the field of 48.

Rick is pictured here at the back of the line behind England flag carrying Stephen Mulliner at today’s opening ceremony.

The tournament gets underway shortly, on Saturday morning (Western Australia is 7 hours ahead of us)

and runs through Sunday 21st. 

However, Rick is in Block G and play start for them at 0830 (Western Australia time) on Sunday.

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The Championship website is here: https://over50gcworldchampionship.com/
For the format and timing see ‘The competition’ tab (and scroll down to ‘format’.
In addition to Rick, you can find out who everyone else is on the 'players' tab.
 

The excellent CroquetScores service will allow you see with the results as they come in

– remember Rick is Block G  - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-over-50-world-championship/g     - Good luck Rick!

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11 October - Goldring & Peperell win our Open Doubles Championship Final

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Roger Goldring and Richard Peperell got the better of Frances Colman and Chris Roberts today, to win our Open Doubles Championship Final.
The match was a close one throughout despite Colman and Roberts taking a 0-3 lead in both the first and second games of this 'best of three' contest
In the first game, Goldring and Peperell did very well indeed to come back 3-5 down to win four hoops in a row to win 7-5.
A combination of Colman's excellent close quarter ball placements and Roberts' clearing, effectively shut out their opponents from the second game which they won 3-7 ending with a stylish log hoop score by Colman.
This set up a set up a third and deciding game that was too close to call as all four players were playing well
The difference in the decider was that Goldring's clearance percentage had been improving steadily as the match progressed and in tandem with Peperell's steady hoop running, the pair recovered from 1-2 down after a good fight at hoops 4 and 5, to lead 3-2.
Although Roberts jumped Peperell well at hoop 6 to tie the score, he and Colman were never in front again and the breakthrough came at hoop 8 when Goldring centre-balled a crucial clarence, Roberts missed and Peperell scored for 5-3.
Needing two scores to level, Colman was unlucky to trickle through hoop 9 when trying to jaws for a first approach to 10 and ended with a hampered stroke down to hoop 10 instead of an advantage.
At 4-6 down, Roberts was woefully short at hoop 11, Goldring hit yet another controlled clearance and when Roberts missed a routine clearance back, Goldring scored to win the game, match and title.
Congratulations Roger & Richard.
7 October - COMING-UP

(1) - Another National Cup Final - Phyllis Court 'AC' v Sheffield at Ashby on Sunday 15 October (next weekend)
Phyllis Court Croquet will be going for the 'double' of national handicap titles this week when they play in the AC Secretary's Shield National Final.
Raghu Iyer's team have beaten Winterbourne Valley (Somerset) and Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) on the way to this final which will be played at the neutral venue of Ashby (Leicestershire).
The match results will be posted (in as near to 'real time' as I can manage) on CroquetScores on this link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/uk-secretarys-shield-handicap-national-final
Good luck to our team - Chris Roberts (AC 0), Raghu Iyer (AC 9), Kevin Ward (AC 14) & Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20).

(2) - "Club Blazers morning" - Findlay suite 1000 - 1200 on Tuesday 17 October - an invitation to view
Paul Franklin, Frances Colman and Chris Roberts will be showing off our new blazers (by PCC member Kristie of Henley tailors Collier & Robertson).
All Croquet Club members are invited to come along to view the badged blazers of our own design and if sufficiently impressed, maybe  order a matching one :O)

(3) - SCF Handicap League final - PCC 'D' v Eynsham - 1100 - 1530 (approx.) on Friday 20 October
Please come along to support Paul Franklin's team of Central Division winners as they take on Eynsham who are the Northern Division's best for the SCF Handicap League title.
Good luck to our team - Paul Franklin (7), Steve Morton (8), Ruth Raunkiaer (8), Daphne Spiers (9)
6 October - Maureen Ward is our only prize winner in Corfu

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The Greek AC Handicap tournament on Corfu over that past fortnight saw a much reduced Phyllis Court presence this year, but one of our number, Maureen Ward did come pack with a prize from the 'Golf Croquet with the locals day' when she won lost of doubles games (with different Corfiot partners) o finish as the best non-AC playing Brit.
In the main AC event Chris Roberts, Frances Colman and Kevin Ward were unimaginatively drawn to play each other in the first two knock-out rounds meaning that only one of them got to the quarter final, and when it turned out to be Roberts, he fell by three hoops to the eventual overall winner's 18 bisques.
There was a bit more joy in the consolation event but none matched the brightness and warmth of the rest of the holiday's weather which was the best ever experienced at this tournament.
A lager Phyllis Court contingent is expected in 2024 when our Club will likely take Corfu by storm (hopefully only metaphorically).
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4 October - Dee McKibbin sees off Michael Marcel in the 10+ Singles

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Russell Robinson reports::
One of the best features of this season has been how well several of our “high-handicap” players have improved over the course of the year.  This is exemplified by the 10+ Singles season-long competition in which all four semi-finalists are now handicap seven or better, and only two of the eight quarter-finalists will be eligible to play in the competition next year.  And so it was that the Final was fought out today between two of our better improvers, Dee McKibbin (5) and Michael Marcel (7).  The first game swung in McKibbin’s favour at hoop seven when she jumped over both Marcel’s balls which he had left touching each other in the jaws and at the following hoop when Marcel’s attempted clearance peeled McKibbin’s ball through for a 5-3 lead.  McKibbin wrapped up the game 7-4.  However, Marcel recovered well to dominate the second game which he won by the same margin, hoop seven again proving quite pivotal when McKibbin cleared Marcel into the jaws.  However, McKibbin was then merciless in establishing a 4-0 lead in the deciding game, and with consistently good clearing, refused to let Marcel back into the contest, wrapping the match up 7-3.
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Congratulations Dee!
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4 October - Franklin and Tonks victorious in the 7+ Doubles

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Russell Robinson reports::
The first of today’s two finals saw fourth seeds, Paul Franklin and Doug Tonks, pitch their wits and skills against eleventh seeds, Hugh Crook and Jonathan Pendennis, in the final of the 7+ Doubles season-long competition, having disposed of the first and second seeds respectively in very tight semi-final matches.  The early advantage went to Franklin and Tonks who were generally in control of the first game, running out winners by 7-4, despite a break for a fruitless search for Franklin’s black ball which went AWOL mid-game; playing briefly with the white ball and then the brown, eventually the black was donated from Court 4 and normal order was restored.  The second game was a much tighter affair with Crook and Pendennis holding a slender advantage for most of the game all the way to 6-5.  But when Pendennis put his first approach to thirteen just short, the opposition seized the advantage and despite Pendennis atoning with an excellent long cross-court clearance, Franklin coolly slotted his replacement black with an angled four-yarder to lift the Dorrien Belson Cups.  The four then returned to the shrubbery, eventually locating the errant black lodged in the hedge.
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Congratulations Paul and Doug!
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2 October - Henderson & Johnson victorious in the 3+ Doubles

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Russell Robinson reports::
Having demolished the holders in the first round and beaten the fourth seeds in straight games in the semi-final, Allan Henderson and Phil Johnson had already belied their 8th and bottom seed ranking before they stepped out on court this afternoon in the Final of the 3+ Doubles season-long competition against last year’s runners-up and second seeds, Raghu Iyer and Hugh Crook.  After just one hoop, torrential rain and lightning forced the four to retreat to the clubhouse, but the rain eventually relented to allow Henderson and Johnson to continue their wonderful form in a high-quality match, running out the victors by 7-4, 7-4.  Their repeated, excellent clearances proved decisive despite very good positional play from their opponents.  The triumphant pair put their good form and fortune down to the Lucky Lager imbibed before the match – is that a lesson for us all?
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Congratulations Allan and Phil!
30 September -  *** PCC win the SCF ‘AC’ C-Level League ***
PCC ‘AC’  2-0  Hamptworth ‘AC’

 

Raghu Iyer reports:
Victory at Hamptworth (near Salisbury) yesterday, brought Phyllis Court ‘AC’ the inaugural Southern Croquet Federation C-Level League title!
PCC won 2-0 and completed the league programme undefeated with these latest game scores:
        Raghu Iyer (9) beat Jonathan Cullis (10) 26 - 21
        Robin Coates (12) beat Ann Beard (12) 25 - 8 on time
Iyer and Coates had also beaten Blewbury 2-0 earlier in the season.
 
Congratulations team!
30 September - Brooms win 10+ Doubles season-long competition

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Alastair and Barbara Broom completed their fourth victory of the season, thereby winning the 10+ Doubles season-long competition, in a closely fought contest over almost four hours against Martin Cranstoun and John Howie.  Cranstoun and Howie managed to pull away from 4-4 to win the first game 7-4, but were unable to hold on to an early lead in the second game as the Brooms clawed their way back into the contest, securing that game 7-5, before going on to win the decider by the same margin.
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Congratulations Barbara and Alastair!
29 September -  Rainbow end of Summer season round-up (32 players!)
Hilary Cowley reports:
At the end of the Summer season, we can look back at another successful year for our Rainbow players.
59 games were played by 32 players, and both John Walker and Dilys Gordon got to the top of the Rainbow ladder with seven wins apiece, followed by another 22 players positioned on the Rainbow colour stripes below.
Although the Rainbow has now been completed for 2023, the WhatsApp group will still be available during the winter to arrange other games and we will start with a new Rainbow ladder in April.
As well as playing activity, enjoyable social evenings with a drink and nibbles were held on 11 April, 17 May and 22 August, allowing the exchange of players ‘experiences and further games were arranged.
The Rainbow contacts list has also been used by players to book a court and enjoy a game together, to gain confidence and experience – check this out on the ‘Social’ tab of the Croquet Club website main menu.
The Rainbow was set up for new members and those on Handicap 10+, to have the opportunity to play singles with the others in the group, and gradually get to know more members.
In the last two years, the WhatsApp group has been used for requests to find a playing partner.
For more information in the rainbow, please ask Hilary Cowley.
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2023 PCC - Rainbow Social August 2023 crop web.jpg
Photograph from the August social evening.
24 September -  Dee Mckibbin is runner-up in the Grass Roots (8+) National Final
Dee McKibbin finished runner-up at the National Final of the Grass Roots competition at Hunstanton today, and this was a super achievement. it was the second runner-up spot in national tournament in three weeks following her similar great performance at the recent All England Handicap Final.
McKibbin won two of her three morning block games, losing only to Phyllis Court club mate Alastair Broom, but still won the block ahead of Broom on net hoop points.
She then beat Gary Lewis (Hunstanton) in the quarter-finals 7-4 , and after that, she beat our own Michael Marcel 5-4 in a timed-out game in the semi-finals.
She finally met her match in the Final when Enfield's Nigel Owens repeated clearances won him a 5-7 victory and the Grass Roots trophy.
Also performing well in the tournament today were the rest of the Phyllis Court quartet, with our club providing the largest number of qualifiers.
As above, Michael Marcel made it to the semi-finals where he fell to McKibbin, and Alastair Broom went out one round earlier to the eventual winner Owen. Marcel finished 4th and Broom 5th or 6th (to be confirmed)
Rob Eagle also flew the Phyllis Court flag in today's tournament, and won a block game against Marcel, but he failed to progress to the main knock-out and so contested the 'plate' event in the afternoon.
Here is the link to the results on CroquetScores - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/ca-grass-roots-final
 
23 September -  Good Luck to the Phyllis Court quartet at the Grass Roots (8+) National Finals TOMORROW (Sunday)
Tomorrow (Sunday) it is the turn of Alastair Broom, Rob Eagle, Michael Marcel and Dee McKibbin to fly the Phyllis Court flag in a third consecutive weekend of competition National Finals.
This time it is the Grass Roots competition final and the Phyllis Court quartet join 12 other players for a single day tournament at far off Hunstanton, which is nor too far from King's Lynn, on The Wash.
Qualification for this one was via our own club round, for which we used our 8+ Singles tournament contesting the Black Ball trophy.
I am sure that we all which our clubmates the best of luck tomorrow and you can following the results 'in real time', as usual, on she fabulous service provided by the CroquetScores website
here is the link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/ca-grass-roots-final
 
22 September -  Russell Robinson wins the AC High Handicap (18+) Singles 'Rothwell' competition
Russell Robinson won his fourth consecutive game in the AC High Handicap (18+) and so ended the competition undefeated.
He wins the Rothwell Cup ahead of four others, in the first year that the competition has been run since 2017 - Congratulations Russell!
21 September -  Andy Jones wins the 3+ Singles competition
Andy Jones beat Russell Robinson in the 3+ Singles final  this morning and described the win as being "hard-fought to the point of being like arm-wrestling!"
Jones won a competitive match 7-5, 7-6 - Congratulations Andy!
21 September -  Dee McKibbin wins the 7+ Singles 'Plate' event
Dee McKibbin beat Carol Huntington in a nearly 4 hour marathon 7+ Singles Plate Final this morning.
McKibbin won the first and third games, recording a 7-5, 6-7, 7-2 victory - Congratulations Dee!
19 September (evening) -   We are the GC Handicap NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!  
                                                     - Phyllis Court team win the Final of the GC Federations Shield -
                                                             Phyllis Court   4 - 3   Chichester & Fishbourne
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Phyllis Court got off to a cracking start by going 1-0 in all three of the morning matches.
Patricia Mulcahy (6) even managed a rare 7-0 score line in her first game against Keith Burt (5) and was, not surprisingly, the first game to finish.
Burt recovered extremely well to win the second game 3-7 but then Mulcahy reversed that score to get Phyllis Court a first match win on the scoreboard.
Phyllis Court's Andy Jones (2) had a very pedestrian paced encounter with Martin Emmett (6) and eventually won in straight games 7-3, 7-3.
In the doubles match, Phyllis Court pair Chris Roberts (-2) and Paul Franklin (2) managed the extra turns of their opponents well, as Chichester and Fishbourne's David Russell (2) and Tony Elkin (7) struggled to make their greater number of extra turns (3 versus 5) tell.
With so many extra turns available to the weaker player of each side, the pattern of the games in this 'best of three' match was well removed from usual level play tactics, and instead the 'how and when' to use an extra turn became key. Franklin was playing well and he used his three extra turns to greater effect that opponent Elkin's five, as Phyllis Court weeded-out Chichester and Fishbourne's extra turns well in the first game and early enough to be able to manage the closing passages of play with good control.
Phyllis Court won the first game 7-4 and the second game followed a similar path until Roberts hit an excellent clearance at hoop 10 and also got the bonus of an unexpected, and very fortunate, 'in-off' score from fully three yards out, and with the score going to 6-4 Chichester and Fishbourne were effectively done for, and eventually lost 5-7.
With the half-time score at 3-0 to Phyllis Court and the Henley side needing just one more victory from any of the four afternoon 'head to head' singles matches, the prospects for Chichester and Fishbourne looked bleak.
However, the Sussex side had read a different script and, with first class self belief, launched a wonderful come-back.
Jones was undone 6-7, 4-7 by Chichester's Burt who played his three extra turns well in both games of the no.2 players' match.
And after two long battles in the match between the two number 1s, Roberts just couldn't overhaul Russell's four extra turns advantage once the latter found his clearing accuracy, and the Phyllis Court captain went down 6-7, 6-7.
With the team match now very much in the balance at 3-2, eyes turned to the remaining matches in progress and the contest was very tight indeed.
Both matches were being played without any extra turns and, with equally handicapped players, it was no surprise that both matches had gone to deciding third games.
Phyllis Court's Franklin was at 7-5, 5-7 and surprisingly well behind at 0-4 to a re-inspired Elkin, whilst Mulcahy at 7-3, 5-7 and 5-3 up against Emmett.
With Franklin unlikely to come back from so far behind, Phyllis Court's hopes were riding with Mulcahy, and it was probably just as well that she didn't know the significance of her result.
Franklin scored the next two hoops in his game as if to indicate that he wasn't to be written of just yet, but Elkin soon restored his lead to 2-6 and attention was all on the Mulcahy-Emmett match.
Mulcahy's 5-3 lead became 6-3 with a confident score at hoop 9 and when Emmett peeled his own ball through hoop ten left himself very out of position for hoop 11, he had it all to do to save the game.
He then pulled out two terrific clearance shots on Mulcahy and was rightly rewarded with the hoop 11 score and ran though to beyond the centre peg with the score now closed to 6-5.
Mulcahy stayed cool, didn't panic, placed a ball blocking hoop 12 and was mightily relieved to see Emmett miss a clearance at last.
Mulcahy's next ball also went to a scoring position and, with the pressure mounting, Emmett's attempted clearance sent Mulcahy into the jaws of the hoop and it was game over - match, fixture and GC Federations Shield to Phyllis Court.
Chichester and Fishbourne had been splendid opponents and to have come back into the match so well, was creditable indeed.
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Phyllis Court were presented with GC Federations Shield (that they previously held in 2021) by CA Executive Board Member Andy Dibben.
He was standing if for Competition Director Frances Colman who, due to illness was disappointed to have missed the action in person, but had been glued to Roberts' ball-by-ball text message commentary of the closing satges.
Thank you to George Noble and Andy Dibben for their hosting duties and Surbiton CC members for the use of your club for this National Final.
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Phyllis Court: Chris Roberts (-2), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (6) & Paul Franklin (7).
Chichester and Fishbourne:  David Russell (2), Keith Burt (5), Martin Emmett (6) and Tony Elkin (7).
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The match detail is here on CrqouteScores - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/uk-federations-shield-handicap-extra-turns-national-final/phyllis-court-vs-chchester-fishbourne

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Congratulations to our team and to everyone in our Club,
because we can all share in this fabulous national victory!

Photo by Robert Jones

19 September (am) -  PCC are in the Final of the GC Federations Shield today (Tuesday)
Good luck to our GC Federations Shield team today as they contest the Final of the competition against Chichester and Fishbourne at the neutral venue of Surbiton CC.
Phyllis Court are looking to regain the Shield that they won in 2021 and go into tomorrow's match with confidence having beaten Swanage and Sheffield on the road and Meldreth in the semi-final at home in August.
Our team is the same as in the previous two rounds:  Chris Roberts (-2), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (6) and Paul Franklin (7).
Chichester and Fishbourne line-up like this:  David Russell (2), Keith Burt (5), Martin Emmett (6) and Tony Elkin (7).
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- This will be the last match that Phyllis Court will play to the old 'extra turns' rules, because this competition will be switching to the newer Advantage rules next season.
Overseeing this match will also be the last duty of our Frances Colman who has been the Director of the GC Federations Shield since its inception in 2019, and she is standing down from the Croquet Assocuations; GCTournaments Committee at the end of this season

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21 September -  Dee  McKibbin wins the 7+ Singles 'Plate' event
Dee McKibbin beat Carol Huntington in a nearly 4 hour marathon 7+ Singles Plate Final this morning.
McKibbin won the first and third games, recording a 7-5, 6-7, 7-2 victory - Congratulations Dee!
18 September -  Angus beats Dee in the 'McKibbin Final' of the Advantage Singles competition
Angus McKibbin (8) beat Dee McKibbin (6) in the household challenge that was the final of the Advantage Singles completions today.
Dee had to concede a two hoops head start to her husband, under the Advantage rules, and that was more than enough for him to stay out in front of both games of their 'best of three'.
Angus won 7-1, 7-5 and the winner and runner-up trophies will look good side by side on the McKibbin mantlepiece.
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17 September -   Charlie von Schmieder wins our Club Open Singles Championship  
Charlie von Schmieder won our Club Championship Open Singles title this afternoon when he defeated Chris Roberts 7-4, 7-6.
An overcast day turned cold as prelude to heavy rain before the second game of the match was old but the worsening conditions actually brought out the best from both players.
Von Schmieder's long loop accurate running was a feature of the first game which he lead from start to finish as Roberts struggled to keep pace.
The tables were briefly turned early i the second game when Roberts took a 3-1 lead due to a failed jump shot by  von Schmieder that hit the hoop 4 crown.
But when Roberts attempted score at the next hoop only made it to the jaws, von Schmieder's executed his more difficult angles jump perfectly to get right back into the game.
Roberts heal a single score advantage until late in the game and did well to maintain that difference with two good clearances at hoop 11, and monster hoop saving strike from nearly 30 yads at hoop 12.
However, an attempted blocking shot to protect both his own partner ball and the hoop, only covered the former and von Schmieder levelled the game with a super score from 15 yards to take the game to the last hoop with Roberts snookered behind his own ball.
Roberts jumped the obstacle but in doing so, sent his first approach stroke off the back of the court but still with a 7 yard shot at the target.
Von Schmieder's approach was very good from the far penalty area and when, after a game saving clearance. Roberts could only hit the wire of 13 with his long shot, von Schmieder set for a winning jump shot in a position that Roberts couldn't get to.
Von Schmieder still had to nail the jump but do so with ease despite the torrential rain softening the ground significantly.
Charlie von Schmieder is our Club GC Champion for the ninth time and congratulations to him.
- see the Championship history here: https://www.phylliscourtcroquet.com/gc-past-winners

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16 September -  PCC 'B'  5 - 3  East Dorset 'B' - Jones and Iyer both win outstanding single games to win us the match and deny East Dorset the league title.
Andy Jones and Raghu Iyer scored two very hard fought single game wins today to conclude this team match that had previously been halted by bad weather back in June.
A provisional draw had been agreed for that match, but with the proviso that  the two outstanding games would be played if the league title depended on it, and that was how it turned out.
Phyllis Court's opponent for both games was David Fuller, who drove all the way from Poole near Bournemouth for these two games, knowing that a win in either one of them whole be enough to win the tile for his East Dorset team - but a loss in both games, would mean Phyllis Court would win the team match and Ryde, from the Isle of Wight, would be the B-League Champions.
That both games went to the last and deciding hoop was cruel on Fuller, and when he shaped to jump Iyer in the second of the two games, he knew that it was all on that stroke.
Fuller failed convert and East Dorset's fate was sealed.
Jones and Iyer will be toasted royally on the Isle of Wight tonight!

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16 September -  Ward, Huntington & Essa end in the mid-field at the C-level Series National - Day 2
Day 2 proved to be a difficult one for the Phyllis Court trio at Guildford today.
Sow play from the filed yesterday resulted in only 7 rather than 8 round being completed and, to catch-up, time limits were imposed by the Manager, but from lunchtime the weather had the biggest say.
Heavy rain soaked and puddled the courts and stopped play for more that 2.5 hours, ending all hope of getting to the end of the 'all play all' programme.
Although play did re-convene, last 2 of the scheduled 15 rounds had to be abandoned, with the tournament standings as at the end of round 13, being taken as the Tournament result and Paul Green (Sussex County) was a clear winner of 11 wins from his 13 games.
Of our trio:
Kevin Ward ended on 7 wins.
Carol Huntington scored 6 wins.
Helen Essa recorded 5 wins.
The resuls from all the completed rounds are showing on CroquetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/c-series-final/bloc
16 September -  Ward, Huntington & Essa have mixed results at the C-Level Series National Final - Day 1
Kevin Ward started very strongly with three wins and was one of only two undefeated players going into round 4, but a loss in his next game popped his balloon and he ended the day of 4 wins from his 7 games.
Carol Huntington also chalked up 4 wins but did it the other way round, with a poor morning giving way to a much better afternoon.
Similarly, Helen Essa struggled early on but recovered to end on 3 wins.
Results from only 7 of the scheduled 8 rounds Day 1 rounds are showing on CroquetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/c-series-final/block
So there is either one more set of results to come, or the players are in for a tough 8 games to complete the 'all play all' formant tomorrow.
Undefeated Paul Green (Sussex County) leads on 7 wins.
Go Phyllis Court!

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15 September -  Good Luck this weekend to Helen Essa, Carol Huntington, Patricia Mulcahy & Kevin Ward who are playing in a NATIONAL FINALS!
Phyllis Court has a presence in TWO National Finals this weekend!
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Patricia Mulcahy travels all the way to Chester to compete in the AC All England National Final, a trip that means three overnight stays.
I can't think that any Phyllis Court member has ever played at Chester before and so Patricia will literally be breaking new ground as well as appearing in her first AC National Final.
Unfortunately, the results are not going to be on CroquetScores but I've asked Patrice to text me after each game, and i will post her results as news items so we can follower her that way :o)
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Meanwhile, and closer to home at Guildford, Helen Essa, Carol Huntington and Kevin Ward have all qualified for the C-Level Series National Final and i think this is the first time that Phyllis court have had three representatives in a Finals tournament at any level.
Here are the CroquetScores links so that you can follow our trio - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/c-series-final/block
Go Phyllis Court!

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13 September - Dee McKibbin & Alastair Broom win our Restriced Doubles 'Cave & Wolfe' tournament
Whilst most pairs went with high-low handicapper partnerships, the Restricted Doubles tournament was won today my two closer match players, Dee Mckibbin (5) and Alastair Broom (6).
By consensus this was one of your most enjoyable tournament of the season - largely down to the minimum 10+ Combined handicap restriction but also due to the use of timed games to ensure swift progress and a reasonably timed finish.
The morning block winners were Frances Colman (2) & Paul Franklin (7), Raghu Iyer (5) & colin Morgan (6), Andy Jones (2) & Ruth Raunkiaer (8) and Dianne Brown (3) & Hugh Crook (7), and they all qualified along with the runners-up in the four blocks.
And i was tow of those runners-up that came through to take semi-final berths and the tournament had a wide open feel to it by mid-afternoon.
Colman and Franklin beat Helena Fensome (1) & Liz Smith (11) in the closest of games by drawing level at 5-5 with one of the 'after-time'  regulation 8 last strokes, and than after a tremendous trussell they too the true 'golden hoop' to win 6-5.
In the other semi Mckibbin and Broom got home 7-5 within the allocated time, and as others played off for the middling and minor places, all was set for what looked like being a very close final.
Colman and Franklin lost their sixth toss of the day and so were on familiar territory in having to chase yet another game.
McKibbin & Broom had their noses in front throughout and broke away to a two hoop lead in the second half of the untimed final, eventually wrapping up the contest at the 12th hoop, 7-5.
Winners Dee Mckibbin & Alastair Broom won the
Setlla Cave and Josephine Wolfe Salvers.

Runners-up Frances Colman & Paul Franklin won the Hilda Dobson Cups.

11 September - Bridge Section win the annual Croquet v Bridge match
After a gap of nine years, the Bridge Section finally won the annual duel-discipline contest thanks mainly to the large lead they took over the Croquet Club in the morning bridge session.
Bridge won that half of the contest with a score of Croquet 25% and Bridge 75%, leavings Croquet with  a, not insurmountable, but nonetheless high mountain to climb.
With the total number of hoops rather than game wins being thought a fairer way to judge proceedings this year. 'not conceding hoops' was the game plan for the Croquet team in he afternoon.
That turned out to be easier said than done and despite winning each round of six, bar the last which was drawn, Croquet didn't achieve the required margins of victory and the afternoon score was; Croquet 58%, Bridge 42%.
The percentages from both halve of the team match were added together and then divided by two to give a final match score -
Croquet 41.5%, Bridge 58.5
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Croquet team - Ian Norris (-1) & Delia Norris (6) - Frances Colman (2) & Jeff Smith (5) - Roger Goldring (1) & Christine Searle (10) - Raghu Iyer (5) & Colin Morgan (6) - Helen Essa (9) & Rob Eagle (10) - Alastair Broom (6) & Barbara Broom (14).
Bridge team - Robin Coates (1) & Dianne Browne (3) - Michael Christmas (5) & David Young (8) - Carol Wadsworth (11) & John Howie (12) - Kathy Toumey (9) & Fay Ahara (14) - Deon Melck (11) & Des Walsh (14) - Sue Rumford (12) & Carolyn Boyle (20).

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9 September -  Patricia Mulcahy is selected for the Ireland Women's Team! 

 

Congratulations to Patricia upon her International call-up.

She will pull on an international shirt when she meets up with her Ireland team mates to play Spain Women in Seville on 27-29 October.

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This is but the latest accolade for Patricia following her 'Most Improved Female Golf Croquet Player Award in 2022 and with it, the impressive Colman Trophy, designed by ourown Allan Henderson and donated to the Croquet Association by Frances Colman

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Nearer the time of the Ireland Women v Spain Women match, I will post a link to the CrqouetScores coverage nearer this time, so we can follow how Patricia gets on.

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10 September - Dee McKibbin is Runner-Up at the GC All England National Final
 
Dee Mckibbin had a terrific tournament in the National Final of the GC All England Handicap (Advantage) competition at Ryde CC on the Isle of Wight this weekend.
She won 9 of the 13 games and finished Runner-Up in a tight field of 14, just one win behind the winner Walter Hall from Maldon in Essex
This was a super display in Dee's first two-day tournament outing and she should be proud of the 'podium place' achievement.
Our other qualifier Carol Huntington was disappointed to have done less well than expected, but let's not forget the achievement of qualifying in the first place.
All the results from the national Final are on CroquetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/all-england-handicap-final-advantage/final
8 September - Rick Lilley gets call to the Over 50's World Championship in Australia


Rick Lilley has told that he has been called-up from the reserves list to fill a ranking place and he is excitedly looking forward to the fabulous experience of World Championship competition. He joins 6 other Englishmen in the 48 strong field at the 2023 retraVision Over 50's Golf Croquet World Championship which is being held at the Moorabbin Croquet Club and the Bunbury Tennis Club, Western Australia on 14-21 October.
Hopefully there will be some live-streaming from this Championship and I will forward the link for that nearer the time.

Congratulations Rick.

8 September - Rick Lilley brings the Suzanne Roberts Memorial Trophy back to Phyllis Court

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Rick Lilley won the Croquet Association's National Third Eight two weeks ago at Budleigh Salterton, Devon

(see the news item dated 28 August below).

Today Rick brought the Suzanne Roberts Memorial Trophy back to Phyllis Court for the first time.

Chris Roberts is especially pleased because he donated this trophy to the Croquet Association in memory of his late wife.

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08 September -  Croquet in the Dark!
- Charlie and Chris play by car headlights until 20.53!
 
Not for the first time (but with better pictures) Charlie von Schmieder and Chris Roberts played by the light of three cars this evening (thanks also to Patricia Mulcahy and Rob Eagle).
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Such was the determination of both players to see their AC Club Championship match through to a conclusion, play went on until 20.53, by which time, remembering where that black ball had gone to was the biggest challenge!
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Fab Photos by Helen Essa & Rob Eagle

08 September -  Good Luck this weekend to Dee McKibbin and Carol Huntington who are playing in a NATIONAL FINAL!
The Phyllis Court pair qualified, via two previous rounds, for the National Final of the GC All England Handicap (Advantage) competition being played at Ryde Cc on the Isle of Wight.
The format for the 14 players is one big 'all play all' block and you can follow the progress of Dee and Carol on CroquetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/all-england-handicap-final-advantage/final
Go Phylis Court!

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08 September -  PCC 'A'   6 - 2   Blewbury 'A'  -  Phyllis Court go top of he league (for now)

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PCC 'A' went t the top of the SCF Open League today with a comfortable win over Blewbury at Phyllis Court.

On a lovely day to watch croquet a small number of spectators enjoyed well contested matches.

PCC 'A' lead 3-1 at half time with only Rick Lilley suffering a morning match defeat as both Chris Roberts and Roger Goldring won 2-0 and Helena Fensome won 2-1.

Roberts and Goldring both won again 2-0 in the afternoon session, as did Lilley, whilst Blewbury added a consolation 1-2 win over Fensome.

This 6-2 win means that East Dorset must win or draw the League's last fixture to overtake PCC 'A' for the title,

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PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-2), Rick Lilley (1), Roger Goldring (1), Helena Fensome (1).

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06 September - John Rumford win the 7+ Singles competition title - this first final of our season-long competitions

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John Rumford won a very close 7+ Singles season-long competition final against Alastair Broom this morning.

Broom ran away with the first game 7-0, but slow starter Rumford sneaked home in the second game 7-6. and then overhauled Broom's 3-5 lead in the decider to Rumford clinch the win 7-5.

Congratulations to winner John Rumford who wins the Suzanne Roberts Quaich, and to runner-up Alastair Broom who wins the Colman Quaich.

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The two teams are intermixed in this photo, with Corfiot leaders Richard and Karen Quilter in the centre of the front row (by Chris Roberts)

PCC invitation team (doubles Pairs)
Andy Jones & Hilary Cowley;     Kevin Ward & Julia Green;
Raghu Iyer & Maureen Ward;    Dee McKibbin & Rob Eagle,
Paul Franklin & Helen Essa;       Ruth Raunkaier & Joana Iyer.
The Croquet Club of Corfu - Our Secretary Patricia Mulcahy played on the Corfu side throughout, and Frances Colman, Rick Lilley, Angus McKibbin all stood in on the Corfu side to cover for an injury.
05 September - PCC   17 - 13   The Croquet Club of Corfu  - a lovely two days day enjoyed by all

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Under a cloudless sky and in baking temperature today it was a pleasure to welcome our friends from the Croquet Club of Corfu, and to be able to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality that many of our members have enjoyed on the island over the years.

The 11 strong Corfiot party came to Phyllis Court as the second port of call on a week long tour the started at the All England Cob, Wimbledon and, after a two night stay at the Phyllis Court Hotel, was to conclude with a visit to Southwick, near Brighton (and the scene of the recent Women's World Championships).

Yesterday, our visitors enjoyed a afternoon of familiarisation on our courts which are laying much faster that the Corfiots are used to, and that was followed by a kind invitation toa barbeque at Frances Colman's home at Hambleden, which was a lovely occasion on a balmy evening which rounded off a scorching hot day.

Today was another very hot day and the heat certainly got to one or two players on both sides in a 12-a-side match that consisted of five rounds of GC doubles (with our own Patricia Mulcahy donated to play on the Corfu team for the whole match).

The Phyllis Court invitation team  was drawn from members who have bent to the Corfu Club, are likely to play in the annual tournament there next your, committee members and coaches of the appropriate playing standard to match our visitors.

Unfortunately, Rich Quilter. the Corfiot leader (and best player off handicap 3) was out of action by and large with knee injury, which was so disappointing for him, and Frances Colman, Rick Lilley and Angus McKibbin all stood in for him as honouree Corfiots - and later in the day, when Paul Franklin had to leave for an appointment, Des Walsh (who had arrived early for a social booking) took his place for a short game.

Phyllis Court took an early 5-1 lead in the first round but were held 3-3 in the second round.

The third round followed the first with another 5-1 to Phyllis Court, but the afternoon belonged to Corfu who scored another 3-3 in round four before finishing off in style 1-5 in the last round.

The overall match score finished at 17-13 to Phyllis Court was a fair reflection of the play although it was noticeable how more competitive Corfu became as they got used to the speed of our courts.

In concluding words, both sides thanked each other for a lovely day and gifts were exchanged between Manager Chris Roberts and Rich Quilter for Corfu.

A convivial evening followed for all involved at Zizzi's Pizza restaurant in the town.

30 August - PCC 'A'   6 - 2   Winchester 'A'  -  Phyllis Court keep slim league title hopes alive

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PCC 'A' had number 3 and 4 players Helena Fensome and Andy Jones for contributing the most points in the victory over Winchester today.

Both won both their 'best of three' games' matches and together with single match wins from Chris Roberts and Rick Lilley, the fixture result was never really in doubt.

This win sees PCC 'A' keep their slim League title hopes alive as they head to their last league match at home to Blewbury next Friday (8 September).

If they win that one, all eyes will be on the East Dorset v High Wycombe final league match of the season, with the following scenarios:

If East Dorset win that fixture, they will win the league title outright.

If East Dorset draw and PCC' 'A' win their last fixture v Blewbury handsomely 8 - 0, the league tile will come to Henley.

If East Dorset lose  and PCC' 'A' win their last fixture v Blewbury by any score, the league tile will come to Henley.

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PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-2), Rick Lilley (1), Helena Fensome (1), Andy Jones (2)

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2 & 3 September - Andy Jones end up one win short at the B-Level (3+) Series National Final

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Andy Jones is competing in the B-level (3+) Series National Final at Compton (Eastbourne) this weekend - and good luck to him.

Like all 16 competitors, Jones qualified for this final by winning a Series tournament during the season, and in his case he won at Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

The format for the final is one big 'all play all' block with a total of 15 games for everyone.

Follow the results as they come in on CroquetScores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/ca-b-level-national-final/block-a

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At the halfway point on Saturday evening, Jones has won 4 out of 7 games played and was in a group of chasing players looking to catch Robert Cook (Cheam) on 5 wins and, out in front, Neil Adams (Westmoreland) on 6 wins.

The competition really hooted up on Day 2 as those in contention jockeyed for position as the rounds went by.

Jones won his first two games to briefly hold joint second place, just one win behind the leader Adams but then two looses in succession severely dented his chances.

He ended with 9 wins from his 15 games alongside three other players, all just one win behind a quartet all tied on 10 wins forcing the Manager's calculator into action to decide the National Champion on 'net hoops'.

And Robert Cook (Cheam) got the decision by the slimmest of margins with his +21 net hoops tally, which beat Neil Adams (Westmoreland) score of +20.

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Our Andy Jones should be well pleased with his performance in this, his first B-Level National Final.

And in fact. it will probably be his last too, because he went from 3 to 2 handicap last week, meaning it will be national A-level (0+) Series for him next sesson.

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2 September - Carl Billson wins 10+ Evening Series competition

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Summer returned from a long absence in time to bathe the four finalists in this year’s 10+ Evening Series in beautiful afternoon sunshine on Court One.  The top three in the end of season table, respectively Rita Sharman-Crawford (handicap 12), Ruth Raunkiaer (8) and Carl Billson (7) were joined by fifth-placed Alastair Broom (6) by virtue of Michael Marcel being unavailable.

Congratulations should go to all four for coming through a difficult series of qualifying evenings contested by 61 players.  With three of the finalists being amongst the eight who have effectively disqualified themselves from next year’s competition by moving to a single-digit handicap, special plaudits should go to Sharman-Crawford for overcoming several theoretically “better” players to secure a well-deserved place in the play-offs.

In the opening games, which took over an hour with a lot of keenly contested hoops, Broom prevailed 7-5 over Sharman-Crawford, while Billson beat Raunkiaer 7-4.

Raunkiaer then gave Broom a difficult time, but the latter edged ahead after being all square after eight, and a 14-yarder into the jaws of hoop 12 was the decisive stroke, Broom winning 7-5.  Meanwhile, Sharman-Crawford continued to belie her significantly higher handicap, trading hoops tit-for-tat with Billson; however, she was unable to build on a 5-4 lead and Billson ultimately converted a good approach to the thirteenth hoop, winnning 7-6.

That set up the de-facto final game between Broom and Billson to determine who would lift the trophy.  With his lower handicap, Broom may have started favourite, but these two had previously contested four competitive games and, having won all four at the thirteenth hoop, Billson may well have had the psychological advantage.  And so it was to prove, as Billson established a strong early lead 3-1 and then 5-3, before wrapping up the game at the eleventh.

Meanwhile, Raunkiaer won the first four hoops against Sharman-Crawford, who then staged a spirited comeback, but the gap was just too big and Raunkiaer ran out the 7-4 winner to secure third place.

And so it was that competition manager, Russell Robinson, presented Billson with his first ever croquet trophy.  Hearty congratulations go to Carl for a well-deserved victory!

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Photo - Winner Carl Billson (right) receives the 10+ Evening Series trophy from Manager Russell Robinson (photo by Ruth Raunkaier)

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PHOTO-2023-09-02-17-14-47.jpg
30 August - PCC 'A'   6 - 2   Winchester 'A'  -  Phyllis Court keep slim league title hopes alive

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PCC 'A' had number 3 and 4 players Helena Fensome and Andy Jones for contributing the most points in the victory over Winchester today.

Both won both their 'best of three' games' matches and together with single match wins from Chris Roberts and Rick Lilley, the fixture result was never really in doubt.

This win sees PCC 'A' keep their slim League title hopes alive as they head to their last league match at home to Blewbury next Friday (8 September).

If they win that one, all eyes will be on the East Dorset v High Wycombe final league match of the season, with the following scenarios:

If East Dorset win that fixture, they will win the league title outright.

If East Dorset draw and PCC' 'A' win their last fixture v Blewbury handsomely 8 - 0, the league tile will come to Henley.

If East Dorset lose  and PCC' 'A' win their last fixture v Blewbury by any score, the league tile will come to Henley.

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PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-2), Rick Lilley (1), Helena Fensome (1), Andy Jones (2)

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29 August - PCC 'AC'   5 - 2   Peterborough  -    Phyllis Court reach another NATIONAL FINAL  
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PCC 'AC' reached the final of the national Secretary's Shield competition for the first time ever today.

Fielding a team of middle to high handicappers, our side was in marked contrast to the firepower of Peterborough's big guns that included, the CURRENT WOMENS' AC WORLD CHAMPION Debbie lines and a fellow former England international Ian Lines (both AC -2), and their number 3 and 4 players had handicaps of -0.5 and 8 - so all four of their players were considerably more accomplished than Phyllis Court's team in the head to head mitch-ups.

However, through the joys of handicap play and the forest for bisques (extra turns) conceded by Peterborough, Raghu Iyer's Phyllis Court team were not only competitive but established an early lead that they were never to relinquish.

Kevin Ward was the stand out player for Phyllis Court ton thus fixture as he swept to duel 26-0 victories either side of lunch and Robin Coates nearly follow suite with a 26-0 before the break but ran out of extra turns in the second session when 23-0 ahead, and Debbie lines needed only two breaks to overhaul that lead 23-26.

Peterborough had had success in the morning doubles too, but that was their only other contribution to the score line as Iyer won 26-0 in the afternoon for Phyllis Court and in a late finishing a game, Patricia Mulcahy did very well indeed to hold off her opponent for over an hour with no extra turns left, so win 14-10.

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- This was a terrific win by Phyllis Court and right up there as one of the best in our history!

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-  Phyllis Court will play Sheffield on a September date to be agreed, most likely at the neutral venue of Nottingham CC.

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PCC 'AC' - Raghu Iyer (AC 9), Robin Coates (AC 12), Kevin Ward (AC 16), Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20),

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28 August -    Rick Lilley wins the National Third Eight    - and brings the Suzanne Roberts Memorial Trophy back to Phyllis Court

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In what is certainly the biggest achievement of his career to date, Rick Lilley won the Croquet Association's National Third Eight title at Budleigh Salterton this weekend.

This is a 'big one' and a feather in his cap for Lilley himself and in reflected glory for Phyllis Curt Croquet too.

The action at the 'Eights' is always close and intense with closely matched ability groups battling it out, firstly in a 'all play all' block of seven 'best of three games' matches, with the top four to qualify for semi-finals and final thereafter - all with in a tight three days play.

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In the block games, Lilley scored 4 match wins over Giles Pepperell (Llanfairfechen), Louise Smith (Sidmouth), David Cornes and Sandra Cornes (both Crake Valley) and this qualified him for the semi-finals

In his semi he beat Kim Taylor (Enfield in three games and then had took to the court in the final to face David Cornes for the title.

In a match that stretched well into the evening, Lilley won th first game 7-4, lost the second 5-7, but came back to win the decider 7-4.

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Congratulations Rick!

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Chris Roberts is especially please because this victory brings back the Suzanne Roberts Memorial trophy which Chris donated to the CA in memory of his late wife.

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* Also see the photo story dated 8 September (above) 

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27 August - PCC '2+'   1.5 - 5.5   East Dorset  -  Phyllis Court lose Murphy Shield semi

Report to come

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PCC '2+' - Andy Jones (2), Dianne Browne (3), Patricia Mulcahy (6), Alastair Broom (6)

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27 August - PCC 'Shield'   4.5 - 2.5   Meldreth  -    Phyllis Court reach the NATIONAL FINAL  
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Phyllis Court is through to the National Final of the GC Federations Shield following a narrow 4.5 - 2.5 win over Meldreth, from Cambridgeshire, on Saturday.

Handicap Play is never easy to predict and all the more so when playing the, soon to be phased-out, ‘extra-turns’ variant of the game, which will be giving way to the Advantage game next season.

Phyllis Court had experience aplenty at the top of their team with captain Chris Roberts (handicap -2) staying with the same team that beat Sheffield convincingly in the quarter-final three weeks ago.

Roberts again partnered Phyllis Court number four player Paul Franklin (8) in the morning doubles and the pair combined well to see-off the four extra-turns of Meldreth’s John and Sue Bishop (4 and 6 respectively) and use Franklin’s own two extra turns to better effect.

Roberts' jump over two balls at hoop six in the first game made up for his unfortunate grievous peel (croquet’s version of a own goal) at hoop five and better end game tactics by the Phyliis Court pair, gave Franklin a less than easy last hoop angled shot to win the first game 7-6.

This loss seemed to knock the confidence of the Meldreth pair in game two and Phyllis Court won comfortably 7-3 to get the first match win on the scoreboard.

Both morning singles were long drawn-out affairs and gave Meldreth heart when Phyllis Court’s Patricia Mulcahy (5) went down to David Edwards (5)  4-7, 6-7.

There was disappointment too for the hosts’ Andy Jones (2) who, having won his first game 7-4 against Roger Wallbridge (6), failed to convert his first approach advantage to the final hoop of the second game, missed a long range hoop shot and lost 6-7, denying Phyllis Court a lunchtime lead when that rubber was suspended at one game each.

Phyllis Court got off to a cracking start in the afternoon’s second round matches by winning the first games of all four matches.

Roberts had to defend six extra turns against John Bishop whose clearances were good but lacking in control of the striker’s ball on too many occasions and the Phyllis Court player was again able to out manoeuvre his opponent tactically to win 7-6, 7-5.

Franklin’s performance to defeat Sue Bishop 7-2, 7-4 was probably the star turn of the day and put Phyllis Court in a great position at 3 -1 up in the team match, with three rubber to finish, but Meldreth were not done yet.

Jones and Muchahy both lost the second games of their matches against Edwards and Wallbridge respectively and there was last hoop drama in the deciding games of both contests.

Mulcahy fell 7-5, 1 -7, 6-7 to Wallbridge and that brought Melderth right back in to the team match 3-2, as all eyes fell on Jones and Edwards.

Jones bravely took on a long hoop, remembering his late morning miss from the same position, and this time lodged in the jaws of the hoop. Edwards got too much height into his attempted jump which sailed over the hoop crown and Jones tapped in for the game, match, and fixture 7-5, 4-7, 7-6.

Jones suspended morning match became a dead rubber and was halved by agreement.

This will be Phyllis Court’s second final appearance in three years and they will look to emulate their success of 2021 against new opponents Chichester & Fishbourne.  This match will be played at Surbiton Croquet Club on 19th September.

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PCC 'Shield' - Chris Roberts (-2), Andy Jones (2), Patricia Mulcahy (5), Paul Franklin (8)

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20 August - RECORD NUMBERS attended last week's HC Mix-in

Hilary Cowley reports - 

We had record numbers at Mix-In on Thursday, when 40 players enjoyed the sunshine with several games each and only minimal sitting out.

Play started about 13.45 with the last players including myself finishing about 5.30

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This is excellent support everyone - i wonder how many players will come along next week?

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THe excellent photographs above were taken by Paul Franklin

20 August - Mulcahy just misses out on AC All England Final place

Patricia Mulcahy only just missed out on qualification for the national Final of the AC All England Area Final at Surbiton this weekend.

She finished with three wins from her five games  and was placed 6th on 'net hoops' when five qualification places were available at this national semi-final tournament.

Patricia reports that she should have beaten Ealing's Simon Tuke but lost by one hoop 'on time', and that one extra victory would have made all the difference.

Nevertheless this was a n excellent performance from Patricia.

20 August - Roberts, Goldring and Jones couldn't save poor Oxfordshire

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Phyllis Court trio, Chris Roberts, Roger Goldring and Andy Jones, couldn't rescue the Oxfordshire County team in Division Two of the Inter-Counties Championship this weekend.

Former Women's World Champion Jenny Clarke (New Zealand) was playing with an injury and Raouf Allim (High Wycombe) had a recurrence of his 'yips' problem and both layered under par by their own standards.

Clarke recovered her form on Sunday but over the weekend, Oxfordshire only managed two match wins from five and so missed out on a hoped for promotion back too Division One.

Clarke was complimentary about the play of Phyllis Court's Goldring and Jones whom she partnered in doubles games on Saturday and Sunday respectively, and one deft ball placement by Jones to within inches of hoop 12 from 'miles away' drew particular praise from Clarke.

Phyllis Court's Roberts won five of his seven singles games over the weekend but overall the Oxfordshire team underperformed and were left ruing three 3- 4 match losses and what might have been. . .

Oxfordshire  5 - 2  Derbyshire/Lincolnshire/Warwickshire.

Oxfordshire  3 - 4  CA Select team

Oxfordshire  3 - 4  Gloucestershire

Oxfordshire  3 - 4  Berkshire

Oxfordshire  4 - 3  Buckinghamshire

- link to block positions - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/inter-county-championship-blocks/division-2

- link to 'test matches' resume - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/inter-county-championship-tests/division-2

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18 August - Roberts, Goldring and Jones to play for Oxfordshire this weekend.

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Phyllis Court trio, Chris Roberts, Roger Goldring and Andy Jones, line up for Oxfordshire in Division Two of the Inter-Counties Championship tomorrow and Sunday.

Also in the Oxon. team are former Women's World Champion Jenny Clarke (New Zealand) and former Phyllis Court member Raouf Allim (now with High Wycombe).

Roberts, Clarke and Allim will play on both days of the Championship which is being held Southwick, near Brighton; and both Golding and Jones will play one day each.

The format for the event is for each 'test match' to be the best of 7 rubbers (one doubles and six singles).

You can follow the results on CroquetScores, certainly at the end of each day (or during the day if someone is available to input):

- link to block positions - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/inter-county-championship-blocks/division-2

- link to 'test matches' resume - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/inter-county-championship-tests/division-2

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18 August - Reminder: All welcome at the 'Rainbow' social get-together on Tuesday 22nd  (next week)

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A Rainbow Social  is planned for Tuesday 22 August, come and enjoy a catch up in the Clubhouse bar at 6pm.

Players have been enjoying the courts in rain and sunshine and the Whatsapp has been buzzing.

45 Rainbow games have been played and many of you have gone on to have further games with Rainbow or Mix-in members

All members are welcome and if you have not played a Rainbow game why not come and hear about this friendly group aimed at 10+ members.

Any queries please contact Hilary Cowley. 

19 August - Jones 4th place is his best yet in the A-Level Series - as he reduces his handicap to 2

Andy Jones had a good A-level (0+) Series tournament at Guildford on Friday and Saturday, and seems increasingly at home with this increased level of opposition.

He won 7 games, just 2 less that the tournament winner, and brought is handicap down to the 2 mark for the first time.

Well done Andy/

16 August - Roger Goldring & Rick Lilley retain the Open Doubles tournament 'Iain Lindsay Cups'

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The Goldring / Lilly combo won our Open Doubles tournament for the second year in a row, at the end of a very hot and long day today. 

They qualified in second place in their block behind Helena Fensome and Andy Jones who were undefeated in the morning.

In the other block, Robin Coates and Dianne Browne were also undefeated and were joined in qualification by Chris Roberts and Frances Colman.

In the afternoon 'Trophy Block' is was the two morning runners-up who emerged into a de facto final game that went on to 1845, and thanks to some super and consistent clearing stoked Goldring & Lilley defeated Roberts & Colman 2-7 to retain the Iain Lindsay Cups.

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There was some good play by the higher handicapped players today, most notably from John and Sue Rumford who were fearless when taking (and scoring) long range hoops - the took top seeds Roberts and Colman to 6-7 and beat Terje Johansen & Raghu Iyer in  morning block games.

Johansen & Iyer recovered from three morning losses to win the Plate event in the afternoon.

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15 August - Kevin Ward earns CA Bronze Award (AC) as quartet do well at Cheltenham

Details to come

Kevin ward achieved an 12 hoop break (with bisques) to earn a CA Bronze Award at a tournament at Cheltenham over the past couple of days.

- Well done Kevin!

Paul Franklin also did well, winning three of his four games at the same event, ad is closing in on an automatic handicap reduction from 18 to 16.

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In the GC event also at Cheltenham, Maureen Ward reports that 'Monday was a timed coaching day and yesterday the tournament.

In a group of 16 10+ players Liz came 5th and I came 8th. it was well worth going down to Cheltenham!"

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Pictured at Cheltenham are: Maureen Ward, Kevin Ward, Paul Franklin and liz Smith.

14 August - Frances Colman Referees the FINAL of   The Women's World Championship 
                                                                                                                           - Day 8 of 8
Phyllis Court's Frances Colman was appointed to be the Referee the Final of the Women's World Championships at Southwick today. This was undoubtedly the biggest honour of her already impressive international refereeing career so far.
She conducted the 'toss' between the finalists Rachel Gee (England) and Jamie Gumbrell using an 18th century solid silver coin that was given to her by long-standing Phyllis Court member and former Croquet Club President Smokey Eades (who died two years ago at the age of 102).
The action was streamed live on YouTube - Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD5lxNZLnx8
- and the coin toss is at 23 minutes in.
 
12 August - Carol Huntington and Alastair Broom 2nd & 3rd at the Hamptworth C-Level Series tournament

Details to come

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12 August - Helena Jansson (Fensome) bows out of Plate at  The Women's World Championship  -  Day 6 of 8

Phyllis Court's Helena Jansson (Fensome) had a good day in the Plate event yesterday, winning 3 out of 3 single games,
Today she lost to Bev Cardo (USA) 3-7, but her earlier 3 wins qualified her for the Plate knock-out this afternoon.
The Plate knock-out is being played as a 'best of three' and in the quarter-final Fensome lost to Gerda Lambeck (Australia) 3-7, 3-7, and that will likely be the end of Fensome's tournament.
- In the main event it was the quester-finals today and there were victories that set-up tomorrow's semi-finals between Soha Moustafa (Egypt) v Rachel Gee (England), and Maram Nabli (Egypt) v Jamie Gumbrell (Australia).
The action is being streamed live on YouTube - Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD5lxNZLnx8
11 August - PCC 'C'   8 - 8   Littleton 'A'

Report to come

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11 August - Helena Jansson (Fensome) is in the Plate event today at
                      The Women's World Championship  - Day 5 of 8

Phyllis Court's Helena Jansson (Fensome) had a good day in the Plate event today, winning 3 out of 3 single games,
She beat Jane Morrison (Ireland ) 7-6, Lindsay Hobbs (South Africa) 7-3 and Karen Davidson-Perrins 7-1, and has one Plate block game to play tomorrow.
Championship Referees Frances Colman and Chris Roberts are back on duty having had a rest day yesterday.
The action is being streamed live on YouTube - Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD5lxNZLnx8
09 August - PCC 'D' WIN THE CENTRAL DIVISION - and now for the Advantage League play-offs
PCC 'D'   10 - 6   Caversham - 

Steve Morton won the last game of this fixture that was rain affected back in July. He won 7-3.

PCC' D' have already secured the fixture win with victories in the other three last round game played last wee, but ths win by Morton today was icing on the cake.

Wrapping up this fixture gave Paul Franklin's PCC 'D' a 4 win and 1 draw record to complete their Central Division programme, and that was sufficient to win the Divisional title.

Play-offs against the winners of the North and South Division winners beckon when those opponents ts are known.

Congratulations PCC 'D'

07 August - PCC 'D'   13 - 3  Littleton 'A'

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An excellent home win for PCC' D' today.

Report to come. . . .

07 August - Helena Jansson (Fensome) plays her first match at
                      The Women's World Championship  - Day 1 of 8

Phyllis Court's Helena Fensome had to wait until after 1600 to player her first match at the Championships today, and she had a tough start against number 2 seed Amany Hassan form Egypt.
Jansson struggled to keep pace with Hassan in the first game and lost 4-6 but was more competitive in the second game when she won hoops 10, 11 and 12 to take Hassan to the last 'golden hoop'.
Hassan put her first stroke short and wide of the hoop, and Jansson jumped on the chance with a better positioned ball of the won. But Hassan's second ball made an excellent block from distance and a rotation of all four balls later, Haaasn wrapped up the game and match 6-7.
Championship Referees Frances Colman and Chris Roberts were kept busy until 20.00 with frequnt calls to courts to judge stroke and to give rules information.
The action is being streamed live on YouTube - Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD5lxNZLnx8
06 August - Mary Berry (Hunnings)  'Opens' 
                      The Women's World Championship  

Phyllis Court Croquet member Dame Mary Hunnings (Mary Berry) ws the quest of honour at the Official Opening Ceremony of the Women's World Championships this afternoon at Sussex County CC, Southwick, near Brighton.
A number of our members are known to have 'tuned-in'  to watch the proceedings that were streamed live on YouTube and are recorded for you to view here - Link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-womens-world-championship-qualifier/block-a
Mary spoke fondly of her relatively new discovery and now love of croquet and hold how she found the sport at The Phyllis Court Club in Henley when she moved to the town juts a few years ago.
Mary cut a specially baked croquet themed cake to mark the opening of the Championship and made a touching speech in which she paid tribute to all the lovely people that she has met through the sport and paid tribute in particular to her trainer and qualified coach Helena Jansson (Fensome) how lives at Kingwood Common.
Mary's comment that she would like to see croquet as an Olympic sport drew applause and cheer from the all the competitors who had stated the formalities with a trooping for national flags and a parade of the 56 players from 16 different countries.
Helena Jansson (Fensome), from Kingwood Common, is playing in the Championships under her native Finland flag and is joined at the event by fellow Phyllis Court members and Championship Referees  Frances Colman from Hambleden and Chris Roberts from Henley town.
Photograph's (top) - Dame Mary Berry with her croquet coach Helena Jansson (Fensome), flanked by Championship referees Frances Colman and Chris Roberts.

(Far left) - Dame Mary cuts a cake to formally 'open' the Championships

(Left middle) - Helena Jansson  proudly carrying her Finland national flag/

(close left) - the parade of players from 16 countries.

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05 August - Mary Berry (Hunnings)  to 'open' the main event at   The Women's World Championship  - Opening Ceremony Today (Sunday)

Phyllis Court Croquet members Mary Hunnings (Mary Berry) will be the quest of honour and perform the Official Opening Ceremony as the Women's World Championships this afternoon.
The Ceremony is 'live' on You Tube at 153o hours - Link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-womens-world-championship-qualifier/block-a
As well as Mary, look out for Helena Fensome (player, carrying the Finland Flag) Frances Colman and Chris Roberts (Championship Referees.
04 August - PCC 'B'   6.5 - 1.5   Hamptworth 'A'

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An excellent home win for PCC' B' today.

Report to come. . . .

05 August - Mulcahy recovers to joint lead of Plate event at the  qualifying event for the Women's World Championship  - Day 3 of 3

Patricia Mulcahy enjoyed a last day at  the Qualifying event for the GC Women’s World Championships which concluded at Eastbourne today.
She added two more wins to her overnight tally in the Plate event, beating Maria Fernandez-Pereira (Spain) 9-5 and Ellen Nielsen (USA) 7-2,  to end of 5 wins from 9 games.
Patrice reflected this evening, that it had been a wonderful experience playing in in such a prestigious event even with such a wide international flavour.
All the results are here on the excellent CroquetScores service here - Link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-womens-world-championship-qualifier/block-a
05 August - Roberts and Wales end up Silver Medallists at the  European Teams Championship  - Day 4 of 4

Chris Roberts and the rest of his Wales team beat Sweden 2-1 this morning's semi-finals but were narrowly beaten in the final by England this afternoon.
In the semi, Wales took an early lead by winning the AC rubber in quick time but then lost the first of the two GC matches, leaving Roberts match with Eje Elwbo to decide Wales fate.
Roberts had won their first game 7-3, but with increased clearing accuracy, Elebo had won the second game by the same score and, by the time he focus fell on their match, Roberts held a 4-2, the 5-2 lead.
He executed a superband difficult jump at hoop eight to put a strangle hold hold on the match and two hoops later scored for 7-3 to take Wales into the final against England who's got past tricky opponents Latvia.
Roberts had been very competitive against England's Euan Burridge yesterday evening in going down 1-2, but in toady's final there was to be no repeat and Burridge repeatedly hit our man all over the court.
Roberts did little wrong but had no answer to the power and accuracy of Burridge who is almost unplayable when in such form, Roberts lost 2-7, 3-7.
All was not lost for Wales however, with Ian Burridge (father of England's Euan) up in a deciding third game in the other GC match and Chris Williams on a finishing turn in the AC rubber,
Sadly, neither Welshman was viable to convert these promising positions into wins and although England were flattered by the 0-3 final score line they were, nevertheless, worthy winners of the European Teams title.
All the results are here on the excellent CroquetScores service here - Link -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/european-teams-tests
04 August - Mulcahy recovers to joint lead of Plate event at the  qualifying event for the Women's World Championship  - Day 2 of 3

Patricia Mulcahy had the frustration of more close scoring defeats but then a long awaited victory at the opening phase of the Qualifying Event for the GC Women’s World Championships  was concluded at Eastbourne today.
She beat England representative Christina Rice 7-3 and, in a reliction of closeness of her scores throughout, ended with a net hoops tally of just -14 over her nine games.
Mulcahy then moved on to the Plate event and win 3 out of her 4 games and has a share of the lead with Karen Bisley (Australia).
Today Mulcahy beat Rice again 7-5, maria Jose Montojo (Spain) 7-2, and Rosario Gracia-Zozaya (Spain) 7-2.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Mulcahy plays the remaining fice games and is in with a real shout of the Plate event title.
Good luck Patricia!
Follow Patricia's fortunes on the excellent CroquetScores service as the results come in here - Link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-womens-world-championship-qualifier/block-a
04 August - Roberts and Wales through to semi-finals of the  European Teams Championship  - Day 3 of 4

Chris Roberts was back in action for Wales and he was joined by supporting Paul Franklin and Frances Colman (the letter refereeing) at the championships hosted by Cheltenham CC.
Wales beat Czechia and Ireland with Roberts winning both his GC matches 2-0, but then came the crunch game against hot favourites England.
Roberts was paired with England International Euan Burridge against who he has a reasonably good record, and went into the late afternoon encounter on the back of last weekend's upset victory against Burridge in National Doubles with partner Colman.
Both players performed to their best in this one which was tight throughout as the pair traded 4-7, 7-4 victories and continued to be well matched in the decider where Roberts. trailing 5-6, declined to run an easy hoop 12 to look for an advantage at the last hoop 13, and fell victim to a long range power score that won Burridge the match.
England won that Test Match 3-0 to finish the 'all play all' 10 team block undefeated, Sweden were second having only lost to England and Wales came third after losses to both England and Sweden.
Latvia qualified in fourth place for Saturday's semi-finals and will be no push-over for opponents England in the GC having taken both matches to a deciding game in the block stage.
Wales will be looking for revenge against Sweden for their earlier defeat, and are at full strength with Roberts replacing Gary McElwain in GC, and Chris Williams starting favourite in the AC match.
You can follow the results in 'real time' as they come in in 'real time on the excellent CroquetScores service here - Link -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/european-teams-tests
03 August - Mulcahy plays in  qualifying event for the Women's World Championship  - starts TODAY through to Saturday (5th)

Patricia Mulcahy played in the opening day of the Qualifying Event for the GC Women’s World Championships at Eastbourne today.
Patricia, who is playing under the Ireland flag is in Block A with 9 other players (4 Spain, 2, England, 2 USA, 1 Australia).
She had a disappointing day results wise with no wins, but she was in the contest eith 5 of her 7 games ending 6-7 or 5-7.
Hopefully the manager will be updating the excellent CroquetScores service as the results come in and you can follow Patricia' progress here - 
Link - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/wcf-womens-world-championship-qualifier/block-a
03 August - Roberts plays for Wales in the  European Teams Championship  - Day 2 of 4

Chris Roberts had a rest day today was Wales 4-player squad take it in turns to sit out orr a day.
Wales beat Latvia and Switzerland but surprisingly went down 1-2 to Sweden today.
Roberts is back in action tomorrow (Friday) for Wales' three remaining Test Matches versus Czechia, Ireland and hot favourites England.
You can follow the results in 'real time' as they come in in 'real time on the excellent CroquetScores service here - Link -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/european-teams-tests
02 August - Roberts plays for Wales in the  European Teams Championship  - starts TODAY (2nd) through to Saturday (5th)

Chris Roberts and Wales got off to the best possible start to day at Cheltenham winning all three of their Test matches in this 10 Nations tournament.
Roberts beat Joren Vinnen (Germany) 7-6, 7-6; Jose Cano (Spain) 7-6, 6-7, 7-2; and Alan Clark (Scotland) 7-2, 7-5.
Wales rotate their four player squad with each player having one rest day and tomorrow (Thursday) it's Roberts' turn - he will retun to action on Friday.
You can follow the results in 'real time' as they come in in 'real time on the excellent CroquetScores service here -
Link -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/european-teams-tests
01 August - PCC 'A'   6 - 2   Ryde 'A'

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Report to come. . . .

01 August - RAINBOW NEWS

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The Rainbow Group WhatsApp has been buzzing this summer with more than 40 games played by our social players and John Walker is the first member to reach the top of the Rainbow having won 7 games. - Well done John.

A number of other players are on 4 and 3 wins of rainbow ladder so we expect to see more players in the Red by the end of the summer season.

With 50 players registered in the group it gives members with a Handicap 10+ and over, the opportunity to play singles with the others in the group, and gradually get to know more members.

Another popular Rainbow social get-together is planned for Tuesday 22 August where group members get a chance to meet other players socially and set up games.

For more information, ask Hilary Cowley or look on the website by clicking on the Social Play tab.

John Walker (by Hilary Cowley)
31 July - PCC 'B'   3 - 5   Ryde 'B'

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Phyllis Court ‘B’ had a long road (and sea) trip today when they took their unbeaten B-League to Ryde on the Isle of Wight on Monday, but fell 3-5 to the islanders.

Kevin Ward was the star turn for Phyllis Court, winning both his matches, but captain Andy Jones could only win his morning match and there were twin defeats for Dianne Browne and Patricia Mulcahy.

PCC 'B' - Andy Jones (3), Dianne Browne (3), Patricia Mulcahy (5), Kevin Ward (5)

31 July- PCC 'D'   9 - 6   Caversham (part 2 of previously rain affected fixture)

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PCC ‘D’ finally wrapped up victory in their Advantage League match against Caversham which had been halted by lightening in mid-June, with just the final round of game to play.

Phyllis Court’s Hugh Crook, Paul Franklin and Ruth Raunkiaer beat Caversham’s David Dibben, Tim Small and Mark Keogh to win the team match 9-3 with Steve Morton's now ‘dead’ rubber outstanding.

28 July - PCC  'Federations Shield'   5.5 - 1.5   Sheffield
                  ~ through to the National Semi-Finals ~

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Phyllis Court scored a convincing win over Sheffield to reach the semi-finals of the National GC Federations Shield competition last Friday.

Paul Franklin and Andy Jones were undefeated in the 5.5 - 1.5 victory which was played at the neutral venue of Leicester CC, under the old ‘extra turns’ version of handicap play which is being used for the last tie this season before the competition adopts the newer Advantage rules.

Both sides fielded teams that covered a wind range of playing grades, with closely matched abilities on paper in each of the four positions, setting up some likely close matches with few extra turns involved, in the afternoon head-to-head match-ups.

The first morning match to finish also a closely matched affair in which Phyllis Court’s Patricia Mulcahy (5) played very well to defeat Maggie Crossland (4) in quick time 7-5, 7-4, whilst the Andy Jones (3) versus Sheffield captain Eugene Chang (-1), was a much longer match.

Chang was fresh from last week’s AC World Championship’s and displayed the accuracy of stroke that one would expect from that skill level, but Jones used his extra turns well to establish and maintain good leads to win 7-5, 5-7, 7-2.

Phyllis Court stayed with their successful high/low pairing for the morning doubles rubber and the tactical match-play experience of Chris Roberts (-2) together with steady strokes of Paul Franklin (9) were enough to counter the large number of extra turns conceded to Sheffield’s father and son Ki Hulme (4) and Fin Morton-Hulme (9), for a 7-3, 7-6 Phyllis Court win.

Sitting comfortably on a 3-0 team match lead at lunch, Phyllis Court looked well set for the afternoon, needing just one win in any of the four remaining singles rubbers, and it was Franklin who got his team over the winning line with a 7-3, 7-2 win over Morton-Hulme.

Jones beat Crossland 7-5, 7-4 soon after, before Hulme got one back for Sheffield defeating Mulcahy 3-7, 4-7, and the captains’ match between Robets and Chang was halved as a dead rubber after the latter’s close first game 6-7 victory.

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Phyllis Court march on to a home semi-final versus Meldreth, from south Cambridgeshire on Saturday 26 August

27 July - Christine Searle wins final of our 10+ Singles (Green Ball) tournament no.2.

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The second 10+ Singles tournament of the year was a close run affair won in the end by the experienced Christine Searle.

the morning blocks were won by Maureen Ward, Diana Zatouroff and Searle who were all undefeated, and Jonathan Pendennis who lost one game but had a better 'net hoops' score than Liz Smith.

There were joined in the quarter-finals by Rob Eagle. Jeff Cornacchia, Smith and the returning Mireille O'Brien, who it was good to see back playing again.

O'Brien looked the strongest on show and she got past Ward 7-4, a score line that was match by Pendennis and Searle who defeated Cornacchia and Smith respectively, whilst Eagle made short work of Zatouroff 7-2.

Pendennis stopped O'Brien's run in their semi 7-4 and he now took on the favourite tag for the final, especially as Searle had a very tough semi against Eagle, eventually winning a very long game 7-6.

Searle did well to get straight back into action after a minimal rest and she turned back the years to win 7-5, as Pendennis fell away at the end of his first six-game tournament.

Eagle beat O'Brien for third place and the Plate final (for 9th place) was left un-played by mutual consent between Ian Runnalls and Hilary Cowley.

26 July - Dee McKibbin & Carol Huntington qualify for All England National final

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An exiting day's croquet in Area Final South yielded success for two home club players at Phyllis Court today.

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Report to come. . . .

21 July - PCC 'A'   6.5 - 1.5   High Wycombe 'A'

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Phyllis Court 'A’ got back to winning ways today with a convincing 6.5 - 1.5 victory away at High Wycombe whose competitiveness was not suitably rewarded in that score line.

High Wycombe’s Richard Peperell, who is also a long-standing Phyllis Court member, played the best golf croquet of his career and took the middle game from the victors’ much higher ranked captain, Chris Roberts, in the highlight of the morning’s play.

Earlier, Phyllis Court’s Ian Norris had made short work of Wycombe captain Paul Gunn, winning 7-4, 7-6, inside an hour and a half, whilst repeated clearing of opposition balls prolonged the other three first round ‘best of three’ matches.

Roberts eventually got past Peperell 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 when the latter stuck in hoop 10 and Roberts executed a good jump to score leaving Peperell hampered in the hoop jaws.

Phyllis Court’s 2-0 lead was pegged back when Rick Lilley was unexpectedly beaten 7-6, 5-7, 2-7 by Wycombe’s Michael Bowker and the slowest match between Phyllis Court’s Roger Goldring and Alan Clark was suspended for lunch at 3-7, 7-5.

The 2-1 half-time lead was closer than Phyllis Court captain Roberts had imagined given the national rankings of the two sides’ personnel, but in the afternoon those pre-match expectations and wishes all came true in the head-to-head matches.

Roberts finished first with a 7-4, 7-5 win over Gunn and soon after Goldring secured the team win with a 7-2, 7-5 victory over Bowker.

Lilley was pushed all the way to the last hoop twice before winning 7-6, 7-6 against Clark just as Norris ran away with the last game of the number 2 rubber 3-7, 7-6, 1-7.

This gave Phyllis Court a flattering 6-1 team scoreline and it was agreed not to play out the final morning game of Goldring v Clark match, and for each side to take a ‘half’.

Phyllis Court ‘A’ continue in Southern Croquet Federation Open League action next week when they entertain Ryde from the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.

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PCC 'A: Chris Roberts (-2, captain), Ian Norris (-1), Rick Lilley (1), Roger Goldring (1)

21 July - PCC 'D'   8 - 8   Winchester 'B'

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Phyllis Court ‘D’ were on the road today and put their undefeated record on the line at Winchester ‘B’ in the first meeting of the two clubs under Advantage Handicap rules.

Captain Paul Franklin was disappointed to have only drawn the team match 8-8 and felt there were at least two more games that should have been won, including his only loss as he lead his team with three personal game wins.

Only Daphne Spiers recorded a Phyllis Court win in the first round of four, but the other team members Steve Morton, Ruth Raunkiaer and Franklin all won in round two, and thereafter the team match scores locked in harmony until the final 8-8 result.

Phyllis Court ‘D’ have the postponed final round of games versus Caversham to play on Monday which will complete their unfinished team match which was suspended by torrential rain at 6-6 back in mid-June.

 

PCC 'D': Steve Morton (8), Ruth Raunkiaer (9), Paul Franklin (9, captain), Daphne Spiers (10)

19-20 July - Aldermaston's Martin Burger wins the Phyllis Court & High Wycombe AC Advanced 7+ tournament

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In a close tournament, hosed jointly at Phyllis Court (day 1) and High Wycombe (day 2), Martin Burger of Aldermaston CC used all his long experience to remain undefeated over the two days.

He established and unassailable lead going into the last round of five and saved his closest game to last when he beat Mervyn Harvey (Kenilworth) by one hoop in extra time.

Raghu Iyer (2 wins from 5 games) was Phyllis Court's only representative in the truncated field of seven, which pressed manager Chris Roberts into play a friendly hnadicap game again the sitting out player.

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Finishing order: Martin Burger (Aldermaston, 4 wins/4 games - 100%), Steve Fisher (Blewbury, 3/5 - 60%), Peter Adams (Guildford, 2/4 - 50%), Tony Mayer (Swindon, 2/4 - 50%), Raghu Iyer (Phyllis Court, 2/5 - 40%), Mervyn Harvey (Kenilworth) 1/4 - 25%), Robin Morrison (High Wycombe, 1/4 - 25%).

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Click here for the full results on Croquet Scores

18-20 July - Rick Lilley just misses the cat at the GC National Seniors

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Rick Lilley was just one win away from qualifying for the knock-out stage of the GC National Seniors Championship at Southwick, near Brighton, this week.

His 6 wins wins from 11 block games landed him in 5th place in his block, but with only 4 to qualify.

Rick was then dreadfully unlucky to win 3 Plate block games but lose four times to 6-7 score lines which would have made him a real contender had those scores been reversed.

Rick has no rest and tomorrow lines-up in the ranks of PCC 'A'' for their away league match at High Wycombe.

17 - 19 July - Richard Peperell is behind the lens at the AC World Chaampionship

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Richard Peperell has had a great time at Hurlingham this week as a volunteer cameraman for the 'live steaming' video of the AC World Championship action.

15 July - PCC 'AC'  2 - 1  Harwell / Eynsham

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 . . .

PCC 'AC'

14 July - Phyllis Court 'AC'  5 - 2 Winterbourne Valley - National Inter-Club Secretary's Shield (AC Handicap) quarter final
- Great win for PCC who reach semis for the first time!

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Phyllis Court AC scored a famous victory today to reach the semi-finals of the AC Secretary's Shield national competition for the first time in our history.

South -West Februation Handicaps Champions Winterbourne Valley from Dorset where first time visitors to Henley in this CA competition that brings together the handicap Champions from a nine regional Federations.

Phyllis Court captain Raghu Iyer (handicap AC 10) and partner Roger Goldring (AC 16) got Phyllis Court off to a good start with a 19-14 victory on time against visitors Kath Burt (AC 9) and Martin Strange (AC 11).

Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20) added to the Phyllis Court lead with a comprehensive 26-0 defeat of Mark Strachan (AC 5), but the hosts Robin Coates (AC12) lost out narrowly to Winterbourne Valley's Teddy Wilmot-Stillwell (AC 0) 20-26.

In the afternoon session, Iyer beat Willmot-Stillwell 26-0 in quick time leaving Phyllis Court looking for victory in any one of the other three games in progress.

The team match victory was confirmed when only Coates failed to win For Phyllis Court, going down narrowly again, 23- 26 to Strachan, whilst Goldring and Mulcahy romped home 18-2 and 18-3 against Burt and Strange.

PCC 'AC':  Raghu Iyer (AC 10), Robin Coates (AC 12), Roger Goldring (AC 14), Patricia Mulcahy (AC 20)

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PCC AC will play ethe winner of Peterborough v Newport in the semi-finals, probably in August.

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12 July - Phyllis Court  4 - 3 Roehampton - National Inter-Club Championship quarter final
- Mulcahy keeps cool head to win match deciding game at hoop 13

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Andy Jones reports:

Phyllis Court '2+' beat holders Roehampton with a dramatic last hoop victory in the National Inter-Club ‘Murphy’ Shield today.

Results don't come any closer than this 4-3 victory for the home side who completed ‘the doubles’ over their guests having knock-ed Roehampton out of the top tier Inter-Club Championship in May.

In the morning matches, Phyllis Court's Dianne Browne and Andy Jones won doubles match in three games over Roehampton's Andrew R Wilson and Mark Green 7-4, 5-7, 7-4.

However, the first-round singles were shared with straight games victories by Raghu Iyer for Phyllis Court and Trevor Campbell for Roehampton over Mike Tumath and Patricia Mulcahy 7-4, 7-5 and 6-7, 4-7 respectively.

This gave Phyllis Court a 2-1 lead at lunch but Roehampton fought their way back into the tie with Campbell defeating Iyer 2-7, 7-6, 3-7 and Green winning over Browne 3-7. 3-7 for a short term 2-3 team lead.

Phyllis Court captain Jones restored parity in the match at 3-3 when he recorded a win in three games over counterpart Wilson 7-3, 6-7, 7-3 which left just the Mulcahy v Tumath match to decide the whole fixture and their match was incredibly close.

By the time Jones had completed his rubber, Tumath had won the first game 6-7, Mulcahy had taken the second by the same score and their deciding third game was locked at 5-5.

Mulcahy took hoop 11 for a 6-5 lead but couldn't prevent Tumath levelling at 6-6 however the Phyllis Court player had the crucial first approach strokes to the last hoop 13.

Mulcahy made good use of that advantage and put both her balls into scoring positions, before Tumath blocked the hoop, entering from the non-scoring side with a shot from more than 20 meters.

When Mulcahy's first jump shot at hoop 13 failed, it looked like the tables had turned against her but her second shot cleared Tumath’s jawsed ball and follow it through the hoop to score for the win, bringing Phyllis Court team victory by 4 matches to 3.

Phyllis Court captain Andy Jones said afterwards "We were fortunate to have an experienced tournament player standing over that last shot. Patricia knows well that the secret to a pressure shot is that there is no secret. You just have to take your time, go through your process and give yourself the best chance of making a good shot. Sometimes you’ll hit and sometimes you’ll miss, but luckily for us, on this occasion, Patricia absolutely nailed it."

 

Phyllis Court will now face either East Dorset or Sussex County in the semi-final.

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PCC '2+':  Andy Jones (3+), Dianne Browne (3+), Raghu Iyer (4), Patricia Mulcahy (5)

 

8 July - Chris Roberts wins Open Singles (Blue Ball) Tournament by one hoop in three-way tie

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Chris Roberts won the Open Singles tournament today by the slimmest of margins when he tied on game wins with Rick Lilley and Robin Coates, but had the superior net hoops tally, so won the coveted Blue Ball Trophy.

The trio were tied on 4 wins apiece after a highly competitive day of mixed weather that, in part, lead to a very late finish at just after 1900,

Roberts net hoop score was +6, to Lilley's +5 and Coates -1, so the winning margin was just one hoop and it doesn't get any closer than that!

More details to follow  . . .

07 July - PCC 'A'  1.5 - 5.5  Dulwich - National Inter-Club Championship

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PCC 'A' put up a stiff challenge at Dulwich today and came away from the fixture with credit and heads held high, albeit in defeat.

Without Charlie von Schmieder and Ian Norris, this was always going to be a tough encounter against a host side who had superior Ranking Grades in all positions over our side.

PCC' 'A' gave a Championship debut to the improving Andy Jones and also called-up the experience of Frances Colman, fresh from her unexpected outing at the British Open a fortnight ago, for her first Championship match since 2017. 

And it was this pair who stole the show for Phyllis Court, with Jones (handicap 3) scoring his best yet 'best of three' match win over Guy Scurfield (0) in straight morning games, and then taking the first game in an afternoon 1-2 defeat to David Pitman (1).

Colman (2) got off to a terrific start, winning her first game against Pitman 7-4 and later, the middle game of three (the last of which was a 6-7 cliff-hanger reverse) against Scurfield, in going down honourably 1-2 in both rubbers.

For both Phyllis Court players, consistently better ball placement featured highly throughout and, against Scurfield in particular, steady accurate hoop running paid dividends as the host player missed with longer range hard hoop attempts.

In the top half of the fixture, Phyllis Court's Chris Roberts (-2) and Roger Goldring (0) toiled for three hours in the scorching morning and early afternoon sun to take their doubles rubber with Dulwich's Simon Carter (-2) and Jonny Claxton (-1), before losing-out at the 13th hoop twice.

In the afternoon, Roberts, who was playing all match with his old mallet having mislaid his new 'Trimmer', competed well versus Carter in the top singles rubber, but the latter's repeated centre-ball clearances were right on the money and, together with two trademark long jumps, were enough to seal him a straight games win.

Goldring matched Dulwich captain Claxton in the number two singles, with the second game especially being a very high-quality positioning and clearing affair which Goldring won, before the pair agreed to a 1-1 result and to half their singles rubber when Dulwich secured the fixture win on another court.

This was a good performance by Phyllis Court 'A' and amongst other credits, showed the strength in depth that the Club can call upon.

PCC 'A' : Chris Roberts (-2), Roger Goldring (0), Frances Colman (2), Andy Jones (3)

Dulwich: Simon Carter (-2), Jonny Claxton (-1), Guy Scurfield (0), David Pitman (1)

06 July - Phyllis Court still in 4 National Inter-Club team competitions - in action TOMORROW and coming weeks

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Our teams are still in all four of the national competitions that we entered.

Fixtures have been finalised in recent days, including only yesterday - here is an update so that you can look-out for results - starting tomorrow!

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Friday 7 July              - PCC 'A'   v Dulwich (away)                         - GC Inter-Club Championship
Wednesday 12 July     - PCC '2+' v Roehampton (home)                 - GC Inter-Club 'Murphy' Shield
Friday 14 July            - PCC 'AC' v Winterbourne Valley (home)       - AC Secretary's Shield
Friday 28 July            - PCC 'FS' v Sheffield (neutral venue)            - GC Federations Shield (playing at Leicester CC)

Additionally, there have been some minor changes to the fixtures for the PCC 'C' & 'D' teams following the withdrawal of Littleton 'B' from the SCF Advantage League and, although Littleton 'A' are continuing in the league, they are having to play their 'home' matches at the opposition's venue.
The captains of both PCC 'C' & 'D' are aware of the changes and all of the above is reflected on the website calendar (click on the menu bar above).

28 June - PCC 'B'  4 - 4  Blewbury 'B'

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PCC 'B' are fast becoming draw specialists as Andy Jones' team were held for a third successive match, this time away at Blewbury today.

Dianne Browne scored a comfortable 7-4, 7-4 straight games victory over the always tricky Steve Fisher in the morning and was joined in success by Michael Christmas who took three games to get the better of Avril Rangoni- Machiavelli.  However Blewbury countered and inflicted defeats in Phyllis Court captain Andy Jones and Raghu Iyer before lunch.

Strangely, fortunes were exactly reversed for Phyllis Court in the afternoon session, with both Phyllis Court morning victors losing and teammate Jones and Iyer getting the victories over Fisher and A.R-M.

So, another 4-4 result, Phyllis Court 'B's season now hangs in the balance.

PCC 'B' : Dianne Browne (3), Andy Jones (3) (c), Raghu Iyer (4), Michael Christmas (5)

25 June - PCC trio Morton, Essa & Wadsworth do well at the Guildford C-Level Series tournament

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Steve Morton was runner-up at the C-Level (7+) Series tournament at Guildford today.

He lost in the final to Guildford player Fraser Wilkes but the 6 series points earned from his second place take him to 12 and level with our own Carol Huntington.

The series points accumulate through the season and could result in the leaders being invited to the national final if any places are not taken-up by qualifying tournament winners.

Also enjoying success at the same tournament were Helen Essa and Carol Wadsworth who here both losing semi-finalists.

25 June -   The GC British Open Championship - Singles Day 4  
              - follow the results on Croquet Scores -


Chris Roberts was in the semi-final the Bowl event (for main knock-out first round losers) versus Former Women's World Champion Jenny Clark in, what wil be, the first meeting of the pair this morning. Clark got off to a great start and commended the first game, to win 2-7. Roberts put up a better fight in the second and got 4-2 up, but three missed mid-range clearances in quick success ion sealed is fate and he went down 5-7.

Roberts finished in 11th place overall.

Frances Colman has changed from white to pink hat and resumed her refereeing duties, which yesterday included an unusual 'wrong ball' resolution for Double World Champion Rg Bamford.

- In the Main Championship semi-finals, Reg Bamford (South Africa) beat Euan Burridge 7-6, 5-7, 7-2 and Robert Fletcher (Australia) beat Stephen Mulliner 7-5, 7-5. So we reached the final with neither player having lost a match all tournament, and Fletcher having lost a single game. The Final was a demonstration of outstanding long distance shooting from Fletcher, who inflicted a firts ever 7-0 defeat on Banford and then won the second game 7-5. A remarkable faultless performance by the young Australian against the 'Greatest GC player of all time' Bamford, who was very much second beat today.
Follow the tournament on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/british-open-championship/block-a

24 June -   The GC British Open Championship - Singles Day 3 
              - follow the results on Croquet Scores -


Chris Roberts reached the Main Knock-Out of the British Open for the first time in a number of seasons this morning.

He did it the hard way, when he lost 1-2 to Lionel Tibble in his last block match, so went into a three-way play-off for two last-16 knockout places with Tibble and Richard Bilton. As the player with the better record of the three, Roberts had a slight advantage in the play-off sequence and eventually prevailed to play England International Euan Burridge in the main event Round of 16.

His match with young Burridge this afternoon was a complete contrast in styles with Burridge smashing the balls all over the court at terrific pace but with some inaccuracy, whilst Roberts opted for gentle centre ball clearances and long tactical battles at hoops.

Roberts lost the first game just, 6-7, and then as Burridge found more composure, the second game went the way of the younger player 4-7.

The Bowl event (for main knock-out first round losers) was next on the agenda for Roberts who faced fast improver Dom Aarvold from Bristol this evening, winning 7-3, 5-7, 7-3, but was exhausted after ten demanding games in the day. 

Frances Colman played Double Would Champions Reg Bamford this morning, got a hoop in both games and compliments from the big man.
Follow the tournament on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/british-open-championship/block-a

Double World Champion Reg Bamford with Frances Colman before their match
23 June - PCC 'C'  11 - 5  Caversham

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PCC 'C' scored a convincing win over Caversham in the SCF Advantage League today with debutants Alastair Broom and Helen Essa doing particularly well.

Our team lead 3-1 after the first round and then drew and won the subsequent rounds to lead progressively 5-3, 8-4, and finally 11-5.

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PCC 'C' - Patricia Mulcahy (5), Kevin Ward (5), Alastair Broom (6), Helen Essa (9)

23 June -   The GC British Open Championship - Singles Day 2 
              - follow the results on Croquet Scores -


Chris Roberts had a terrific day today at the British Open and is now assured of a play-off place at least as he vies for a place in the last 16 knock-out.

Today he beat England International Richard Belton in straight games for the first time, and also beat top-50 layer Richard Brooks also 2-0.

Roberts would have qualified for the knock-out 'as of right' if he hadn't squandered a 6-4 lead in his first game versus England AC International Mark Avery, eventually losing 6-7.

He won the send game of three and was again in the lead of the decider until Avery played a magnificent 'flick-off' up to hoop 13 and Roberts went done 6-7 again.

The result is that if Roberts can beat Lionel Tibble tomorrow morning, he qualifies - if not he will be in a play-off for a qualification spot.
Frances Colman, is looking for her first win and continues to take hoops off much higher ranked opponents.

Tomorrow morning Colman faces Double Would Champions Reg Bamford!
Follow the tournament on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/british-open-championship/block-a

22 June -   The GC British Open Championship - Singles Day 1 
              - follow the results on Croquet Scores -


Chris Roberts got off to a good start at Southwick (near Brighton) today, taking double World Champions Reg Bamford to 5-5 in hsi forts game of the tournament before going down 5-7 and then 3-7. He them beat Frances Colman 7-2, 7-2 and Morgan Case 7-2, 7-5.
Frances Colman, who is unexpectedly in the playing field rather than refereeing, is playing as the bottom seed but has been far from out-classed whilst looking for a first win. 
Follow the tournament on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/british-open-championship/block-a

22 June - Frances Colman joins Chris Roberts in   The GC British Open Championship - (Singles preview)  
              - follow the results on Croquet Scores -

We know that a number of you like to follow the progress of the big tournaments and your fellow Phyllis Court members in particular.
TODAY (through to Sunday) is The GC British Open Championship, at Southwick near Brighton.

Chris Roberts starts as 16th seed in he 32 strong field.
Championship Referee Frances Colman, has downed he rule book to play as well!
Frances has not played competitive Singles for many years and has answered an emergency call to stand-in for a sick absentee.
Fresh from the doubles event, where Frances & Chris missed the cut for the knock-out stage by one win, they are both paired in the same Block A for the Singes.
Also in Block A is the double World Champion Reg Bamford - Chris plays him first!

Follow the tournament on Croquet Scores here -  https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/british-open-championship/block-a

Unfortunately there is no live-streaming this year, but Chris will also post an up-date on our website each evening.

19 June - Carol Huntington wins the Women's Advantage Tournament

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Carol Huntington was undefeated today at the Women's Advantage Singles tournament and won the new pink ball trophy.

It tuned out that her first three games were her closest, each ending in 7-5 wins despite different Advantage starting scores against Liz Smith, Carol Wadsworth and Hilary Cowley.

Patricia Mulcahy was the most accomplished player on national ranking and handicap on the day ad so had the biggest Advantage leads to claw back and she did well to be undefeated after three of the five rounds.

But round four proved pivotal when Huntington scored early to make Mulcahy's task harder and the former pulled away for a comfortable victory in that match and did likewise in the last round over Marie Pearce.

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 Finishing order: Carol Huntington (5 wins from 5 games), Patricia Mulcahy (3 wins), Liz Smith (3), Carol Wadsworth (2), Marie Pearce (1), Hilary Cowley (1).
 

Congratulations Carol

Winner Carol Huntington
Winner Roger Goldring
(photo by Chris Roberts)
16 June - Roger Goldring is a new name on our 80+ Singles trophy 

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Roger Goldring was undefeated in winning our 80+ Singles tournament Yellow Ball trophy today.

In doing so, he became the first simultaneous holder of that Seniors tournament trophy and the Open category Blue Ball trophy

The six round 'Loose Swiss' formatted tournament proved to be just the ticket on an extremely hot day, as it allowed the nine participating players to play as much or as little croquet as they wished and a few of the players did opt for a reduced playing programme.

It was good to welcome John Howie to his first tournament and he defied his handicap by being very competitive in a number of his games, including taking the experienced Michael Christmas to the 13th hoop and winning one game against Stuart Crippen.

At the other end of the experience scale were our nonagenarians Robin Morrell and Don Rutherford, and the latter reprised form of old to give Goldring his biggest scare at hoop 13.

In the end it boiled down to a de facto final between Goldring and Christmas, both undefeated on four wins.

Christmas paced favourite Goldring in the first half of the game and lead at 2-3 but Goldring always looked to be in control, wrestled the lead at 4-3 and then won the remaining hoops, despite a prolonged battle at hoop 10, for a 7-3 win.

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                Finishing order: Roger Goldring 5 wins/5 games), Michael Christmas (4/5), Bill Pitkeathley (3/5), David Young (2/4), Don Rutherford (2/5), John Howiw (1/5)

                                       - Stuart Crippen (1/4), Jim Walter (1/3), Robin Morrell (0/2)
                Congratulations Roger

15 June - Alastair Broom wins the Woking C-Level (7+) Series tournament​
- and Carol Huntington is runner-up in an 'All Phyllis Court' Final

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Alastair Broom won his second C-level (7+) Series tournament today, this time at Woking.

And Carol Huntington was the runner-up in an 'all Phyllis Court' final.

Broom had already qualified for the C-Level Series National Final at Guildford on 16-17 September, and Hutington who now has 12 Series points is well placed to qualify too!

Detail of this tournament will follow shortly . . . 

Congratulations Alastair (again!)

Winner Alastair Broom with Woking Tournament Manager Sara Anderson
14 June - Helen Essa win the Ealing C-Level (7+) Series tournament​

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Helena Essa scored a fabulous win at the Ealing C-level (7+) Series tournament today.

She won four out of her five games to win her block (including beating Phyllis Court clubmates Carol Huntington and her partner Rob Eagle).

In the final against the other block winner, she was a comfortable 7-3 winner.

Helen was presented with a miniature mallet trophy and her win also qualifiers her for the C-Level Series National Final at Guildford on 16-17 September.

Congratulations Helen!

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Phyllis Court's other players at Ealing today were Daphne Spears, Carol Huntington and Rob Eagle

Winner Helen Essa (photo by Rob Eagle)
14 June - Richard Peperell wins the Budleigh Salterton AC B-class tournament undefeated

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Richard Peperell was undefeated in the AC classed tournament at Budleigh Salterton yesterday and today, and he duly won his B-Class event.

His closest game was a 21-19 win on time over local player Nigel Amos, but he cruised to comfortable victories over his other four opponents.

Congratulations Richard!

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Phyllis Courts' other players at Butleigh were Frances Colman and Chris Roberts, who had also enjoyed the baking sun at the Sidmouth AC tournament a few days previously.

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Richard Peperell with engraved glass tankard trophy presented by Budleigh chairman John O'Gorman and manager Chris Williams.

(photo by Chris Roberts).

11 June - Charlie von Schmieder wins the GC Home Internationals with Ireland

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Phyllis Court's Charlie von Schmieder was part of the Ireland team that won the GC Home Internationals at Carrickmines CC, near Dublin this weekend.

Von Schmieder won all six of his singles games beating in straight games: Jim Beach (Wales) 7-4, 7-5; Roger Binks (Scotland) 7-3, 7-4 and Stuart M Smith (England) 7-6, 7-4.

He added a doubles victory in the Scotland match as Ireland scores]d a clean sweep of 3-1 victories in test matches against the other home nations.

Charlie von Schmieder (far left), with victorious Ireland teammates Simom Williams, Patsy Fitzgerald and Mark Stephens (photo by Nick Holman)
Winner Alastair Broom with the Black
Ball trophy (photo by Patricia Mulcahy)
7 June - Alastair Broom wins our 8+ Singles & Black Ball trophy​​

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A scorcher of a day and some very competitive croquet was enjoyed in equal measure today by the best of our 8+ handicapper players on the way to eventual winner Alastair Broom winning another trophy.

The ten players were seeded into two blocks, each playing all the opponents in the other block so as to avoid any sit-outs, and although it was the top two seeds, Dee McKibbin and Broom, who contested the final, no player emerged from the block stage undefeated.

Michael Marcel impressed during the first four block play rounds and despite a slip up to Carol Wadsworth in the fifth, topped the blue block and qualified for the semi-finals. McKibbin qualified alongside him, with a last round 7-5 pivotal victory over Broom, which turned out to have been a dress rehearsal for the final.

In the Red block, Aly Warren lost her first game of the day to Marcel, but was undefeated thereafter to command block top spot on four wins, ahead of a trio on three victories, which had to be ordered on 'net hoops' - Broom's +7 got him the last semi-finals berth ahead of Wadsworth on 0 and David Young on -1.

Fittingly close semi-finals both ended 7-5 in favour of McKibbin and Broom over Marcel and Warren respectively, and in placing games played alongside, Rob Eagle and David Young beat Colin Hall and Carol Wadsworth respectively 7-4, to finish in equal 5th place.

Most of the competitions stayed to watch a high quality final, despite it not starting until 1745, and as manager Chris Roberts had to beat a retreat (off to work), Broom established a strong 4-0 lead.

Mckibbin wasn't done for that easily though and fought back valiantly to 4-3, the last score being a super angled jump shot at hoop 7.

Broom then really turned on the style and his ball placements became faultless as he stretched away for an eventual comfortable 7-3 win and collection of the  Black Ball trophy.

National Grass Roots (8+) competition qualification

This tournament also acted as our club qualifying round for the National Grass Roots (8+) competition and we have four places in the final of that which is at Hunstanton, on the north Norfolk coats on 24 September. Players will be invited to participate in today's finishing order:

1 Alastair Broom, 2 Dee Mckibbin, 3= Michael Marcel & Aly Warren, 5= Rob Eagle & David Young, 7= Colin Hall & Carol Wadsworth,  9= Christine Searle & Jim Walter.

5 June - PCC 'A'  1.5 - 6.5  East Dorset 'A'​

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A tough day was endured in good spirits at Poole today, as East Dorset's three 'minus 3' players were just too good for our side, who were out gunned.

Ian Norris scored an excellent match win over England AC international Jeff Dawson, and although Phyllis Court Captain Chris Roberts took a single game off the same player, the Henley side’s only other success came from first team debutant Andy Jones who halved an unfinished match at 1-1 with the hosts' David Kendrick.

PCC 'A' - Chris Roberts (-1), Ian Norris (-1), Roger Goldring (0), Andy Jones (3).

4 June - 60+ spectators at PCC as Roberts is runner-up in SCF Championship​

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Chris Roberts was runner-up un the inaugural Southern Croquet Federation Championship today.

He lost only once in seven games, and that to eventual winner Steve Leonard (East Dorset & England).

Roberts' day started in the best possible way with a 7-6 victory over top seed Jonathan Powe (East Dorset and England) and by lunch he was still undated with a share of the lead in the eight-player 'all play all' block.

The fourth round brought Roberts and Leonard's together in the pivotal game of the tournament, and the letter's deft positioning play on the lightning-fast Phyllis Court courts proved to be the difference between the two and enough to win 5-7.

Subsequent rounds were played out to victories by the pair without much incident, as the other Phyllis Court representatives Ian Norris and Andy Jones finished in 4th and 8th positions respectively.

Noris scored a god win over international Powe, and Jones victory over the greater experienced Paul Gunn was a deserving end to a good day's play as the outsider in the field, and the experience gained from the day will be invaluable to his development as he moves up the playing classes.

The planned play-offs between the top two finishes had to be abandoned due to the later hour of finishing which was a good call by the manager Frances Colman, who presented winner Leonard with a bottle of champagne donated by Phyllis Court Club.

Finishing Order:

Steve Leonard (East Dorset & England)  - 7 wins

Chris Roberts (PCC & Wales)                 - 6 wins

Jonathan Powe (East Dorset & England) - 4 wins

Ian Norris (PCC)                                   - 3 wins

Paul Gunn (Wingrave)                           - 3 wins

Raouf Allim (High Wycombe)                 - 2 wins

Duncan catterall (High Wycombe)          - 2 wins

Andy Jones (PCC)                                 - 1 win

4 June - Patricia Mulcahy finishes 12th at the  Women's Open Championship - Day 3 (of 3)​

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Patricia Mulcahy played the last of her seven block games this morning and went down 4-7, 3-7 to Colchester's Ann Brookes.

She then went into a series of single consolation games to decide the minor positions and ended up a creditable 12th.

The Championship was won at something of a canter by former Women's World Champion Jenny Clark (New Zealand), who beat Sue Lightbody (Dulwich) in straight games in the final.

You can follow the tournament remotely on Croquet Scores - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/womens-open-championship/block-a

3 June - Patricia Mulcahy gets a win at the Women's Open Championship - Day 2 (of 3)​

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Patricia Mulcahy played three more 'best of three games' matches today and chalked up her first game win and then a match victory too.

This morning she won the middle game against the second seed in her block, Louise Smith (handicap 1) but went down 4-7, 7-4, 1-7.

However, Mulcahy bounced back to score a convincing win over Yvonne Marrinan (handicap 3) 7-5, 7-1.

She lost her last match of the day in straight games to the experienced Kath Burt of Winterbourne Valley.

Mulcahy has one more block match tomorrow morning versus Ann Brookes of Colchester.

You can follow the tournament remotely on Croquet Scores - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/womens-open-championship/block-a

2 June - Patricia Mulcahy plays in the Women's Open Championship - Day 1 (of 3)​

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Patricia Mulcahy played two 'best of three games' matches today on the opening day of this prestigious tournament

Her first opponent could hardly have been tougher, in former Women's World Champion, Jenny Clark (New Zealand), but Mulcahy took her to 5-7 in their first game, which was a terrific result for the underdog,

Mulcahy then lost to Northumberland's Jane Pringle in straight games, and will be looking for an easier day tomorrow.

You can follow the tournament remotely on Croquet Scores - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/womens-open-championship/block-a

2 June - PCC 'Murphy Shield'  4 - 3  Camerton & Peasedown (away)​
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This is a really good result from our Murphy Shield team, and the latest in a string of successes for our sides in National Competitions.
The 'Murphy Shield' is the second tier of the GC Inter-Club competitions and is restricted by handicap - (one player may have a handicap of 2, and the other players must be higher).
Kevin Ward got Phyllis Court on to the scoreboard with a straight games win over Marion Button 7-5, 7-5.
But that was countered by the home side when Jeff Smith was defeated 4-7, 6-7 by Des Back.
That left all eyes on the doubles rubber where Phyllis Court captain Andy Jones and Raghu Iyer were taken to a third deciding game by hosts' Brian Wilson and Mo Boys.
Jones reported later that it was Iyer's good positional play that kept them in it early in the match, and as Jones himself warmed to the task, the Phyllis Court pair eventually won 6-7. 7-5, 7-3, for a 2-1 team match lead at lunch.
In the number 3 head-to-head, Smith suffered a second 6-7 loss of the day to Button, who then levelled the team match with a 3-7 win, as the other three afternoon singles went to deciding third games.
Camerton went one game up in all three contests but only converted the number 4 game when Phyllis Court's Ward was beaten by Camerton's Back 7-5, 2-7, 3-7.
Iyer's 5-7, 7-3, 7-5 victory over Boyes tied the team match at 3-3 before Jones and Wilson embarked on the third game of their match, both knowing that the fixture hung in the balance.
Jones reported hooping better in that decider and he got well ahead before winning ''in style' with a 15 yard in/off!
Click here for the full match results.
The detail is also on Croquet Scores here - https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/uk-inter-club-murphy-shield-camerton-peasedown-v-phyllis-court/camerton-peasedown-vs-phyllis-court
PCC 'Murphy Shield': Andy Jones (3), Raghu Iyer (4), Jeff Smith (5), Kevin Ward (5)
- Congratulations team :O)

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Phyllis Court' Murphy Shield' will next play the winner of Hurlingham v Roehampton (who also played yesterday but the result is not yet known)​

28 May - Patricia Mulcahy wins Plate in Dublin debut​

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Patricia Mulcahy returned to her native Ireland this weekend and impressed her countrymen by winning six games and the Plate event at the Carrickmines Championship.

She won two of the four block games but missed the cut for the main event knock-out.

In the Plate, however, it was all Mulcahy and she won all 6 games to win that section.

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30/31 May - Woking visitor Michael Newman wins our AC 7+ Advanced Tournament jointly hosted with Blewbury​

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This was a close one that looked likely to be ending in a 4-way tie for most of the last round of five.

Fortunately for managers Chris Roberts and Frances Colman, the results fell the right way and Michael Newman (Woking CC)  was the only player to achieve 4 wins from his 5 games, and so was the clear winner.

Phyllis Court players Raghu Iyer (last year's winner) and Robin Coates didn't fair so well this time.

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Finishing order: Michael Newman (Woking, 4 wins), Julian Gibson (Middlesbrough, 3), Stephen Wingrove (Purley Bury, 3), Tony Mayer (Swindon, 3), Brian Jamieson (Blewbury, 2), Steve Fisher (Blewbury, 2), Raghu Iyer (Phyllis Court,2), Robin Coates (Phyllis Court, 1).

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Click here for the full tournament results on Croquet Scores.

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28 May -   GC European Championships, Day 4   - 
  Roberts finishes 11th, von Schmieder 17th, and Fensome 21st (field of 32) 

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Day 4 was a even hotter than yesterday at Budleigh Salterton CC, in Devon.

Chris Roberts (Wales), lost  his second round Bowl match to Patrico Garay Jnr. (Spain) 1-7, 6-7 this morning but bounced back to defeat Gerard Ehmes (Gernany) 7-4, 7-6 to finish in 11th place for the Championships.

Charlie von Schmieder (Ireland) had a better day today in the Plate event knock-out, starting with an avenging win over Begona Elzaburu (Spain) 7-6. He then beat Henri Hafgelbeerg (Finland) 7-4 to reach the final of the Plate, but his luck ran out soon after as Glenn Fausk (Norway) hit everything to win 2-7. 2-7. von Schmieder finished  in 17th place overall.

Helena Fensome (Finland) lost to fellow Finn Henri Hagleberg this morning, so went into the 21st-24th places games section, where she beat Peter Balchin (Wales) 7-4. She ended in 21st place with largest increase on pre-tournament seeding of our trio.

Championship Referee Frances Colman was thanked by the tournament manager, overall winner and sevearl of the foreign players for giving up all four days to referee for their benefit. The overall winner was Rachel Gee (England), who is now Champion of Europe once again

The results of all four days are on the excellent 'Croquet Scores' website:

https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/erc-european-golf-croquet-championship

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28 May - PCC 'AC'  4 - 0   Caversham 'AC'​

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Raghu Iyer reports -

Our Association Handicap team enjoyed another satisfying win n the SCF AC Handicap league today, but all four games were timed out with close scores.

Caversham arrived in good time to start our match in glorious sunshine, with the courts looing in excellent condition.

The sun shine of the last few days had dried the court significantly and ball control was somewhat difficult for players on both sides.

Raghu (AC handicap 10) was matched against Michael Kay (4) and after a slow start in which Raghu used up all his bisques without much gain, most of the match was effectively played level with Iyer coming through to win 16-11.

Robin Coates (11) played Bob Eales (11), so a 'no bisques' game in which Coates managed an early lead after a good hit in when Bob got stuck in hoop 1. Thereafter, Coates maintained a small lead  a very close game finished 16-14.

Roger Goldring (16) made a fine start against Mark Keogh (14) making 9 hoops with his 2 bisques but then the game slowed down and finally a Goldring win 15-9.

Kevin Ward (16) and  Charles Briggs (16), both had a difficult game without any bisques and Ward came out on top 10-6.

Well played everyone!

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PCC 'AC': Raghu Iyer (10), Robin Coates (11) , Roger Goldring (16), Kevin ward (16)

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27 May -   GC European Championships, Day 3   -   Roberts qualifies for main Championship K-O but the loses to Spanish no.1 

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Day 3 was a scorcher here at Budleigh Salterton CC, in Devon.

Chris Roberts (Wales), beat Thomos Freimannis (Latvia) 7-2 , 6-7, 7-3 this morning to qualify directly for the 16-player Championship knock-out.

He then faced Spanish no. 1 international Andrez Alvarez-Sala and enjoyed a highly competitive match, including getting into the jaws of hoop 13 in game one, only to be jumped eventually going out  6-7, 5-7.

Roberts then fell into the Bowl event (for places 9-16) and beat Joi Elebow (Sweden) in a topsy-turvy match 7-2, 2-7, 7-3.

The bowl semis (for places 9-12) take place tomorrow morning with Roberts to play Patrico Garay Jnr. (Spain).

Charlie von Schmieder (Ireland) lost his play-off game to Lars Boman (Finland) this morning and so played in the plate event thereafter, winning two out of three block games, and is now in the plate knock-out (for places 17-24). He starts tomorrow with a re-match of his main block encounter with Bergona Elzaburu (Spain),

Helena Fensome (Finland) mirrored the record of von Schmieder, losing her play-off game to  Jan Kral (Czech Rep.) but then winning two out of three plate block games.

She is now in the plate knock-out (for places 17-24) and will play fellow Finn Henri Hagleberg tomorrow morning, the prize of a possible meeting with von Schmieder if they both win.

Championship Referee Frances Colman had another exhausting day today, including judging probably the best shot of the Championships so far when Wales International Ian Burridge had to play over the top of another ball (that was incredibly close) to run his hoop, which he pulled off with aplomb.

You can follow the scores in real time via this link to the excellent 'Croquet Scores' website: https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/erc-european-golf-croquet-championship

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26 May -   GC European Championships, Day 2   -   Roberts on brink of qualification with three wins today  

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Day 2 was easier for our three players, with mostly maatches against mid-lower seeded opponents.

One significant item of note however is the increased accuracy of the younger players in the field, which has been seen to be very much better than only a year ago, with centre ball clearances being reeled off with unsettling regularity.

Chris Roberts (Wales), still smarting from three match defeats on Day 1, turned it all round today, with three moral boosting victories over Karen Davidson-Perris (Ireland), Daniel Studerus (Switzerland) and Glenn Fauske (Norway), the last of which required a scrambled recovery from 4-6 down to win the last three hoops to win 7-6 in the decider (all matches are the best of three games).

Roberts will qualify 'as of right' with victory over homos Freimannis (Latvia) tomorrow morning, and even with a defeat Roberts is assured of a play-off place.

Charlie von Schmieder (Ireland) continued his Day 1 woe with another defeat this morning, this time at the hands of Bergona Elzaburu (Spain) taking qualification out of his own hands,

He then pulled off a big surprise in beating the number one seed Richard Bilton (England) and the bottom seed david Fell (Scotland).

Von Schmieder now needs to beat Lars Boman (Finland) tomorrow morning and hope that Gerhard Ehmes (Germany) loses, which will then result in a play off between the two (and possibly others)

Helena Fensome (Finland) was pleased to win another match today. This morning she lost to Nicjolas Denziot (Spain), then beat Jan Kral (Czech Rep.) and the lst to England International  Stuart M. Smith.

Fensome (playing under her Finish name Jansson)was bottom seed in her block and so has done well to pick-up two wins.

Championship Referee Frances Colman had an other busy day today, including adjudication two very different ball collisions with double-bankers and several balls jamming in in the incredibly tough hops here at Budleigh Salterton.

You can follow the scores in real time via this link to the excellent 'Croquet Scores' website: https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/erc-european-golf-croquet-championship

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26 May - PCC 'B'  4 - 4   High Wycombe 'B'​

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Russell Robinson reports:

It was the turn of our ‘B’ team today to enjoy a day’s croquet in unbroken sunshine at Phyllis Court, this time against our friends from High Wycombe, with a pleasant breeze off the river stopping us from sweltering.  The morning started well for the home team with team captain, Andy Jones, and Russell Robinson both winning their matches comfortably in two games.  Meanwhile, Dianne Browne recovered well from losing the first game to win in three, while Raghu Iyer was just on the wrong end of a tightly fought match, which meant that we took lunch on the terrace with a 3-1 lead.  That became 4-1 when Robinson completed his second win, but unfortunately that was to be our high point as High Wycombe fought back valiantly to take the other three afternoon matches, two of them in the third game, thus drawing the tie at 4-4.

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PCC 'B': Russell Robinson (3), Dianne Browne (3), Andy Jones (4), Raghu Iyer (4)

Click here for the full match results.

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25 May -   GC European Championships, Day 1  -  Tough opening day for PCC playing trio and Ref Colman  â€‹

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Day 1 was a tough one for our four Phyllis Court members who are participating in the Golf Croquet European Championships at Budleigh Salterton, with an energy sapping schedule of 3 'best of three' matches for each of the players.

Championship Referee Frances Colman had no rest covering all 11 courts here at 'Croquet Heaven' as the sun shone gloriously for most of the day.

Charlie von Schmieder (Ireland) surprisingly lost all three of his opening day matches, with the only consolation being taking a game off Wales international captain Ian Burridge.

Chris Roberts  (Wales) also had a torrid time and played 8 games virtually back to back after getting behind schedule thanks to a 4-hour encounter with sharp shooter Anton Kamne (Sweden) who cleared his Roberts center ball from distance multiple times. Roberts lost that match 1-2, lost to Spain international Manuel Alvarez-Sala 0-2, and then got a welcome game off current European and World under-21 Champion Aston Wade.

Helena Fensome (Finland) was the only one of our playing trio to win a match today, when she got the better of Ulf Saewart (Germnay) in straight games.

You can follow the scores in real time via this link to the excellent 'Croquet Scores' website: https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/erc-european-golf-croquet-championship

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24 May - PCC 'C'  12 - 4   Winchester 'B'​

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Russell Robinson reports:

PCC 'C' today entertained Winchester ‘B’ in the SCF Advantage League on a beautifully sunny afternoon at Phyllis Court. After the early excitement of some of the irrigation sprinklers briefly springing into action just after the first balls were struck, the home team started well, establishing a 3-1 lead from the first round of games.

With honours even in the second round, Winchester threatened a comeback by winning the first game of round 3 to narrow our lead to 5-4, but then our team went into overdrive, winning the remaining seven games to secure a comprehensive 12-4 victory.

Christmas recovered very well from a difficult start to win twice, including coming from behind to win the final game 7-6, the only game to go the full distance.

While many of the games were nevertheless tight affairs, Smith epitomised the PC spirit on the day as, keen to get off to work, in his final game he didn’t allow his luckless 2 handicap opponent, starting the game on minus 2, the luxury of getting back to zero, thus also securing his second win.

McKibbin continued her season’s excellent form, all the more impressively for having played a 3-hour doubles match in the morning, followed by an hour’s coaching beginners, she showed no apparent need for rest or sustenance as she continued by dominating all four of her opponents, rounding-off by allowing the visiting captain in her final game to run just one hoop and that from 14 yards with the wrong ball!  Meanwhile, Ward continued his impressive form by completing a clean sweep of four victories, always looking in control after battling for 20 minutes on the first hoop of the day.

Some issues with the Advantage arithmetic and a number of wrong ball situations kept referee, Russell Robinson, on his toes for the duration. 

The absence of any cake for the post-match tea on the terrace didn’t prevent a convivial chat before we sent our guests back down to Hampshire, perhaps slightly with tails between legs, but nevertheless saying how much they had enjoyed their afternoon on our hallowed turf.

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PCC 'C': Jeff Smith (5), Michael Christmas (5), Kevin Ward (6), Dee McKibbin (8)

Click here for the full match results.

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23 May -   Follow PCC members at the GC European Championships   â€‹

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Four Phyllis Court members are participating in the Golf Croquet European Championships at Budleigh Salterton, starting tomorrow (Thursday) through to Sunday.

Championship Referee Frances Colman is again in demand and is in charge of this latest top-class event that brings together 32 players selected by 13 nations.

Charlie von Schmieder is the seventh seed playing under the Ireland flag.

Chris Roberts is the ninth seed representing Wales

Helena Fensome will hope to capitalise on recent good form in the colours of Finland.

You can follow the scores in real time via this link to the excellent 'CroquetScores' website: https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/erc-european-golf-croquet-championship

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18 May - PCC 'Federations Shield'  6 - 1  Swanage​

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Phyllis Court were flattered by a convincing score line in defeating South-West handicap champions Swanage in the national Federations Shield competition last week.

The Henley side, themselves handicap champions of the Southern region, won all the afternoon session games to run away 6-1 winners at the home of East Dorset CC at Poole, near Bournemouth, which gave the lie to just how tight this match actually was.

Chris Roberts (handicap -1) and debutant Paul Franklin (10) won an excitingly close doubles match in the morning session in which the former’s repeated clearances from distance, partnered by Frankin’s deft ball placements, seemed to dishearten the opposition, who played well enough, but were out manoeuvred by the Phyllis Court pair who won 7-5 , 7-3.

In the two morning singles rubbers, Raghu Iyer (4) fell to the hosts’ Nick O’Connor (5) by 3-7, 4-7, but Phyllis Court’s Patricia Mulcahy (6) took out William knight (6) 7-4. 7-3 in a game without any handicap extra turns.

The Phyllis Court team was quietly confident on a 2-1 lead at lunch, and not long after the break Roberts overpowered the Swanage number one Greg Vaughn 7-3, 7-4 despite conceding five extra turns in each game, leaving his side needing one more victory in any of the remaining three afternoon matches.

It was not easy to see where that crucial fourth win was likely to be coming from though, especially when Iyer dropped his first game in his ‘best of three’ match against Swanage captain Tony Green, and later each of the remaining three matches became tied a 1-1.

Iyer finally got into gear however, ran some long-range hoops with great confidence and sealed the team match with his own win 4-7, 7-5, 7-5.

News that the team result was in the bag, didn’t reach Phyllis Court’s Mulcahy and Frankin mid-games, but with the former exuding confidence with every stroke and the latter showing growing maturity in extra turns usage, a double icing of the metaphorical victory cake was applied when the pair won 5-7, 7-3, 7-6 and 7-2, 5-7, 7-4 respectively.

This victory sets up an intriguing quarter-final tie with Sheffield, who Phyllis Court have never played before, at a time and venue to be decided.

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PCC:  Chris Roberts (-1), Raghu Iyer (4), Patricia Mulcahy (6) & Paul Franklin (10)

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17 May - Andy Jones wins our internal 3+ tournament (and the Red Ball trophy)

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Fresh from his win a Ryde the previous week, Andy Jones was in great form again today, to win our 3+ Singles and the Red Ball trophy but a clear two games.

Jones was undefeated until the last game when Dianne Browne, so often a tricky opponent, dented his otherwise clean record.

This was a very closely contested tournament behind Jones out in the lead with three players ending tied on 4 wins and three more on 3 wins.

Manager Frances Colman did the 'net hoop' maths to sort out the finishing order and had proceedings done and dusted before 1730!

Finishing order: Andy Jones (6 wins), Jeff Smith (4), Patricia Mulcahy (4), Dianne Browne (4), Raghu Iyer (3), Michael Christmas (30, John Rumford (3), Colin Morgan (3).

Congratulations Andy!

14 May - Rick Lilly wins High Wycombe AC handicap tournament​

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Rick Lilley won his first AC tournament today in a close finish at High Wycombe.

A three-way tie (all on four wins from five full-length games) had to be separated by 'quality of wins', in which Lilley got the nod over fellow Phyllis Court members Kevin Ward and Richard Peperell.

Also in the field were Raghu Iyer and Paul Franklin, the latter making his AC debut away from Phyllis Court.

Congratulations Rick!

10 May - Andy Jones wins B-Level (3+) Series tournament at Ryde
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Andy Jones was undefeated across all six games and won the latest B-level (3+) Series qualifying tournament at Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, today.

He won three games in his morning block, then saw off the tough challenge of Tom Grievson 7-6 in the quarter-finals before defeating Nick Westmore and Marian Manning in the semis and final 7-3, 7-2 respectively.

This super win qualifies Jones for the National B-Level (3+) Final at Compton (Eastbourne), on 2-3 September.

Patricia Mulcahy scored a very good win over Peter Adams but thiat ws the highlight of her day as she went on to finish 16th.

Congratulations Andy!

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5 Phyllis Court players are in the Ryde C-Level (7+ ) Series tournament tomorrow, so it's the best of luck to Alastair Broom, Rob Eagle, Ruth Raunkiaer, Liz Smith and Helen Essa.

Charlie von Schmieder
5 May - PCC 'A'  4.5 - 2.5  Roehampton
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Fabulous win for PCC 'A' knocks holders out of National Inter-Club Championship
 

Phyllis Court knocked-out GC Inter-Club Championship holders Roehampton in an intriguing tie between two evenly matched sides on paper, and as it turned out, on grass too. A novel late afternoon / evening match had been agreed between team captains, Chris Roberts for hosts Phyllis Court and Tim Russell for Roehampton, in order that both sides could field working age players but the visitors were still without top gun international Harry Fisher.

Down the playing card, the opposite number clashes really were too close to call with any certainty, and as Phyllis Court fielded a vastly more experienced side than the visitors, the match looked like hinging on whether Roehampton’s improving, yet unproven, number three and four players, Nick Yates and Dan Pearson, could live with the tournament nous of the hosts Ian Norris and Roger Goldring.

At the top end of the teams, Phyllis Court’s Irish international Charlie von Schmieder also had all the experience and an interesting match-up was in prospect with Roehampton’s sharp-shooting AC player Joel Taylor. Roberts and Russell both played as their sides number two players and later in the fixture played out yet another in their series of evenly matched encounters that punctuate their busy tournament seasons.

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Play got underway at 3pm as a moderate crowd of spectators assembled on a dry but chilly late afternoon beside the Thames.

Phyllis Court were straight out of the blocks and scored first game wins in all three of the first-round matches.

Roberts’ long range clearance shooting was on fire in the doubles match between the number one and two players, and his repeated successes kept his team in the match as rusty von Schmieder took time to find his form.

Norris beat Pearson 7-4, 7-6 in the first match to finish as the other two matches went to deciding third games.

Yates got Roehampton back in the tie when he came from behind to beat Phyllis Court’s Goldring 7-5, 4-7, 2-7, showing his great promise in only his second full season in croquet, which he is now juggling with his international standard paddle tennis career.

The doubles match was tighter still, with Phyllis Court winning the last three hoops in the first game to snatch a 7-6 win, only to see Roehampton fight back 5-7 in the second and then a cliff-hanger finish in the third that the hosts again wrestled from Roehampton’s grasp to win 7-6.

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The second round saw Norris with too much cleverness and relentless accurate ball placements for the relative novice Yates and Phyllis Court moved 3-1 ahead in the overall team match score and so only needing one more win for victory.

However, Roehampton stayed alive thanks to Pearson’s accuracy and Goldring’s own usual reliability in that department deserting him when needed most, and the visitor won comfortably 4-7, 3-7.

Roberts and Russell both managed croquet ‘own-goals’ peeling each other through a hoop and Roberts threw away a potentially pivotal hoop score to lose the first game 5-7.

Russell matched Roberts long range clearance strikes in their second game which the latter won 7-4 as the evening gloom arrived to scupper the playing of the deciding game.

Fortunately for the hosts, and the resolution of the fixture, von Schmieder had made short work of Taylor 7-1 in their first game, and was always in control of the second despite Taylor’s spirited defence, and the Phyllis Court man wrapped up the match 7-5.

This gave Phyllis Court a joyful 4-2 team victory with the Roberts/Russell match halved.

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The Phyllis Court spectator gallery remained well attended throughout despite the 8:45 finish.

It included the visiting captain’s dog, who was beautifully behaved throughout and didn’t seem to mind at all which of several Phyllis Court members took turns walking him around the club’s beautiful grounds, while keeping a keen eye on the unfolding action.

It is great that we get such wonderful support form our members; it really does make a difference to the whole atmosphere - thank you to all who came along. 

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Phyllis Court advance to the quarter-final round for the first time in three seasons and will face the winner of Sussex County v Dulwich.

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Scores digest (Phyllis Court names first):

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Charlie von Schmieder & Chris Roberts beat Joel Taylor & Tim Russell   7-6, 5-7, 7-6

Ian Norris beat Dan Pearson           7-4, 7-6

Roger Goldring lost to Nick Yates     7-5, 4-7, 2-7

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von Schmieder beat Taylor              7-1, 7-5

Roberts drew with Russell               5-7, 7-4 (unfinished)

Norris beat Yates                            7-5, 7-5

Goldring lost to Pearson                  4-7, 3-7

4 May - Ruh Raunkiaer earns yellow Club Coach badge
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Following attendance at a Coaches Qualification Course at the Chiltern Academy a few weeks ago, Ruth Raunkiaer has now completed the required five observed coaching sessions necessary for the awarding of a yellow Club Coach badge.

Congratulations Ruth!

Fellow course attendees, Paul Franklin and Dee McKibbin are expected to complete their observed coaching sessions shortly.

3 May - Kevin Ward wins our Advantage Singles (White Ball) tournament
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Kevin Ward won his second trophy in a week when he added our Advantage Singles tournament to his national C-Level tournament win (see the 26 April item below).

Ward dropped a morning block game to David Channon, who had an excellent tournament himself today.

In the morning blocks, Rodger Goldring came through unscathed which really was quite something given that he played successive games conceding the full -4 : 2 advantage to his opponents and he was joined by the also undefeated David Young and also Carol Wordsworth and Christine Searle.

The other two blocks both had ties with three in each block on two wins, so net hoops had to be calculated to separate the six hopefuls.

Carol Huntington and Dee McKibbin came through block A, ahead of Patricia Mulcahy who missed out, while in Block B Ward and Channon made the quarter-finials at the expense of Ian Norris.

There were comfortable quarter-final wins for Wadsworth, Searle, McKibbin and of course Ward, over Huntington, Channon, Young and Goldring respectively.

Ward had to work a bit for his 7 4 semi-final success over Wadsworth but the on-form Mckibbin sailed past Searle 7-2.

Ward established an early lead in the final against McKibbin and the latter did will to keep pace with the favourite's solid hoop running.

Eventually, Ward got home by the slimmest of margins 7-6, and with it came the White Ball trophy and qualification for the end of season 'Grass Rotes' competition.

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28 April - Carol Huntington's runner-up spot at Watford C-Level (7+) Series heads good day for PCC players
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Carol Huntington squeezed through the morning block rounds on 'net hoops' but had a storming afternoon at Watford today, going all the way to the final and only losing out by a single point 6-7.

The achievement is rewarded by 6 points in the national C-Level (7+) Series competition which will go towards qualification for the national final.

Helen Essa also had an excellent day to finish in 4th place and win 2 Series points, whilst (winner two days ago, see below) Kevin Ward was 5th this time out and Hilary Cowley finished a creditable 8th.

Jane Probitts missed the halt-time 'cut' but was undefeated in the afternoon and won the 'Plate' for 9th overall (adding +21 points to her handicap index tally), and Rob Eagle and Ruth Raunkiaer were 11th and 12th respectively.

26 April - Kevin Ward wins our National C-Level (7+) Series tournament - and qualifies for the National Final
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Kevin Ward's tournament victory headed a great day for Phyllis Court today as our club dominated this National C-Level (7+) Series tournament.

Not only did our club fill 11 of the 16 places, they showed very well indeed in the final positions too, with Alastair Broom finishing runner-up, Steve Morton third amongst home players qualifying from the block for the afternoon main knock-out.

The four morning blocks were very evenly contested with only Morton winning all three games, and the other three blocks all had to be decided on net hoop scores to separate players tied on two wins each.

One had to feel for visitors Paul Brown (Sussex County) and Nigel Wulco (Camerton and Peasedown) who both missed the 'cut' by a single hoop.

Only top seed Carol Jamieson (Blewbury) and Phil Hendy (C & P) kept the visitors' hopes alive in the main knock-out and the latter fell in the quarter finals to Broom.

In the other quarters Ward beat late replacement Hugh Crook, Morton beat Christine Searle, and Jamieson got past Ruth Raunkiaer.

The semis were unexpectedly one-sided 7-1 successes for Ward and Broom over Morton and Jamieson respectively, and then Ward established an early lead in the final to win 7-3.

Meanwhile a fully completed plate event was won by Wulco to give the visitors some consolation.

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This victory for Ward sees him join Broom in qualifying for the end of season National C-Level (7+) Final at Guildford on 16-17 September.

Congratulations Kevin

26 April - PCC 'AC'  4 - 0  Blewbury 'AC'
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Raghu Iyer's AC team got their season off to a terrific start this afternoon with a maximum 4-0 victory away at Blewbury in the Southern Croquet Federation (SCF) AC Handicap League.

Judging by the scores, all four games were competitive and all went to 'time'.

Phyllis Court scores first (with handicaps in brackets):

Raghu Iyer (10) beat Steve Fisher (9)            18-8

Robin Coates (11) beat Andy Robertson (12)  23-14

Rick Lilley (12) beat Minty Clinch (18)            14-9

Roger Goldring (16) beat Claire King (24)       14-7

PCC 'AC' - Raghu Iyer (10), Robin Coates (11), Rick Lilley (12), Roger Goldring (16)

24 April - PCC 'B'  3 - 3  East Dorset 'B'
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Heavy rain that quickly produced standing water this afternoon, resulted in the early curtailment of this first SCF B-League fixture of the season.

Andy Jones and Chris Roberts put in good effort pushing the Bowdry water removal machine ahead of the play of two matches that were close to finishing as the rain poured down.

This allowed those two matches to be completed to make the fixture score 3-3, with a further two matches left unfinished.

A 'provisional' draw was agreed between the teams, with the proviso that, if the League title ends up being dependent on the completion of this fixture, East Dorset's David Fuller will return to Phyllis Court to complete his two outstanding matches (v Andy Jones and Raghu Iyer) which are suspended at one game apiece.

Of the completed matches, Russel Robinson and Raghu Iyer were morning winners, whilst Dianne Browne lost 5-7 twice.

And in the afternoon, Jones got the third win for Phyllis Court, as Robinson and Browne put up good fights before going down in deciding third games.

PCC 'B' - Russell Robinson (3), Dianne Browne (3) Andy Jones (4, captain), Raghu Iyer (4)

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22 April - Roberts wins Blewbury Open
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Chris Roberts (left), with manager Brian Jamieson, was undefeated over seven games in an 'all play all' block that won him the Blewbury Open today.

Phyllis Court represented half the field of eight, with Roger Goldring (four wins) only a last game defeat away from claiming second place.

Helena Fensome and Andy Jones scored two game wins apiece.

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21 April - PCC 'C'  4 - 12  PCC 'D'
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PCC 'D' scored a resounding 4 - 12 victory in this opening Advantage League match of the season.

Starting late because of previous over-running competition matches and then some highly contested hoops, all made for a long afternoon and the final ball wasn't struck until nearly 1900.

Hero of the day was debutant PCC 'D' Rob Eagle who was undefeated in his four games, and with only one loss, was a second debutant Daphne Spiers.

PCC 'C' - Michael Christmas (4), Gillian Symons (6), Patricia Mulcahy (6, captain), Kevin Ward (8)

PCC 'D' - Trevor Day (9), Paul Franklin (9, captain), Daphne Spiers (10), Rob Eagle (10).

Click here for the full match results.

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19 April - Dee McKibbin wins the delayed final of our 10+ (Green Ball) tournament
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This final was delayed from 5 April tournament which was reported earlier (scroll down to that date below).

Dee McKibbin and Michael Marcel agreed to contest the matter as a 'best of three' match, and it turned-out to be a close encounter and well worthy of a final.

The first game was very evenly matched, going with the 'serve' that saw toss winner Marcel's hoop score countered at the next hoops by McKibbin's own scores, until the break came at hoop 7 when McKibbin got into the jaws, and score to take the lead for the first time.

Again the hoops were score alternately and this eventually gave Mckibbin the first approach to hoop 13 which she converted to win the game 7-6.

The second game was quite different and Marcel lead throughout to win comfortably 3-7, before the tables were turned again in the deciding third game, where McKibbin got away well and stayed in command to win 7-4, for game, match and tournament victory.

There was some impressive play here today from both players with Marcel's repeated centre ball clearances and McKibbin's excellent confident hoop running very much in evidence.

McKibbin was duly presented with the Green Ball trophy.

Congratulations Dee

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18 April - Richard Peperell qualifies as an AC Referee
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Richard Peperell received notification this week that he had qualified as an AC Referee, following his attendance at Chiltern Academy course and examination a couple of weeks ago.

He joins Chris Roberts and Frances Colman in our ranks of qualified AC Officials.

Congratulations Richard

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Russell Robinson and Roger Goldring
  All our independently playing AC players
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It has been more than 15 years since we have had this many competing AC players. Long-time AC supremo Raghu Iyer sits proudly centre stage for this recent times record setting group photo (taken by Cliff Hampton)

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Back row: Russell Robinson, Paul Franklin, Rob Eagle, Robin Coates, Richard Peperell, Kevin Ward.

Front row: Jeff Smith, Chris Roberts, Frances Colman, Raghu Iyer, Patricia Mulcahy, Rick Lilley, Roger Goldring.

18 April - Goldring wins our AC Handicap tournament Senior Class at the 'golden hoop'
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There was high drama at the end of the final of the senior class of our 2-day AC handicap tournament today, when Roger Goldring and Kevin Ward ended with tied scores at the time limit.

Both had been undefeated going into the final, having each won their four player blocks.

Ward looked to have been in the box seat when in play at 'time' but he stuck in the jaws of a hoop that would given him a crucial lead with Goldring permitted one more visit to the court.

Goldring had to hit the jawsed ball from a tight angle but so gently that he didn't cause it to score the hoop point and he managed this with a deftness of stroke to be proud of.

The game went the into a 'first to score' tie-break, and after much cat and mouse inter-play Goldring got the 'golden hoop' victory, and was rewarded with the senior Barnes Cup for the first time

Congratulations Roger

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Robinson wins our AC Handicap tournament Junior Class 

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Russell Robinson beat a competitive field of five (the largest for many years) and was undefeated in the Junior Class that ran alongside as the other half of our AC Spring Tournament.

Russell reports:

Playing 14-point games in an 'all play all' format over the two days, each player had between two and four bisques in each game.

The two-hour time limit seemed apt in the opening game which saw Robinson peg out his second ball in the 'after-time' turn to defeat Patricia Mulcahy 14-3.

Mulcahy had two closer games on day one, a 9-7 win over Rob Eagle but she lost on the 'golden hoop' to Jeff Smith who jawsed his ball with the scores tied at 7-7 in the time turn, presenting an easy tap-in win in extra time.

Earlier Robinson had defeated Smith 10-3 and then Paul Franklin entered the fray in style, beating Eagle 14-4, and then took that excellent form into the second day, to get the better of Mulcahy 14-3 well within the time limit.

Meanwhile, Eagle was very much in the hunt against Robinson, before the latter pulled away at the end to win 14-9, again needing the full two hours.

Undefeated Franklin and Robinson then fought out what was probably going to be the 'title decider', in which Robinson established a strong early lead and, with more bisques left in hand, looked the favourite.

As both players struggled with Court 4’s undulations, Franklin overhauled Robinson's early tally and ground his way to an 8-6 lead himself.

Robinson then pounced on a Franklin error, made a break in the last fifteen minutes and ran out an 11-8 winner, thus staying unbeaten in his four games.

By then, the early morning sunshine had turned into a very cold afternoon; Franklin and Smith went back into action for the last game of the event, in what had become, the 2nd/3rd place decider, which proved to be one of the best and hard-fought games of the tournament.

Smith led for much of the game, but a late break saw Franklin prevail 14-10.

Congratulations Russell

16 April - Kevin Ward represents us at the SCF Champion of Champions (GC) alongside Carol Wadsworth for Blewbury
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As the winner of our Advantage season-long competition last season, Kevin Ward represented Phyllis Court at the Southern Croquet Federation (SCF) tournament at Hamptwortb today.

The event gathers together all of the SCF club's handicap competition champions and/or representatives.

Carol Wadsworth was also in the field representing Blewbury.

Wadsworth beat Ward 7-5 in their block game and, after some play-offs for position, they finished 4th and 5th respectivly.

16 April - Roberts and Norris have mixed results at the Cheltenham Open Series tournament
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Chris Roberts played to his third place seeding by finishing in that very position at the end of a tough player/manager weekend at Cheltenham.

Roberts set a gruelling day 1 schedule of 9 games for the field of 20, and qualified with ease from his block despite three losses, including one to Norris, who himself was in-line to qualify for the day 2 main knock-out before a last game stumble scuppered his progress.

Norris played well in the Bowl event on Sunday and finished 10th overall, while Roberts got to the main event semi-finals before losing-out to Engald international James Death.

16 April - Broom wins debut CA tournament at Budleigh Salterton
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There was a fantastic win today for Alastair Broom, in his first CA tournament, at Budleigh Salterton, Devon.

He lost one game in his block to Sue Custance-Baker but was undefeated thereafter, and made his way through two knock-out rounds to reach the final, where revenge was sweet when he beat Custance-Baker 7-3.

Rob Eagle also qualified for the main knock-out, impressively winning his block on net hoops, but his afternoon was more difficult and he had to settle for 8th place.

Paul Franklin was also involved in a tied block and his 6-7 loss to Ruth Raunkiaer proved costly when he missed qualification by a single net hoop point, but he rallied well in the afternoon Plate event to finish 10th overall.

Helen Essa got a late place in the tournament thanks to a withdrawal, and did well in her first tournament, where she beat Ruth Raunkiaer for 13th/14th place.

- The five strong Phyllis Court contingent at Budleigh today represents the tip of an iceberg of Phyllis Court players who have entered C-Level Series tournaments this season. 17 different players have entered one or more Series tournaments, and have amassed a whopping collective 87 entries between them.

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15 April - Jones and Mulcahy step-up to the B-Level Series at  Budleigh Salterton
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Andy Jones and Patricia Mulcahly out-grew the C-level (7+) Series last season, and dipped their toes into the B-Level (3+) series at Budleigh Salterton today.

They finished in 7th and 12th places respectively.

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14 April - PCC 'A' v Blewbury 'A' abandoned (wet court conditions)

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There was disappointment this morning when the first SCF League match of the season was called-off inside its first half hour when rain retuned to puddle the courts.​

Chris Roberts and Rick Lilley had worded hard, respectively moving the hoops to new holes and pushing the Bowdry (water removal) machine for a couple of hours before the visitors arrived.

We could have easily used the Bowdry for a hour or so, to return conditions to those deemed playable at the start of the match, but Blewbury requested the abandonment and that was reluctantly agreed.

12 April - Charity One-Ball raised £ 340 for the UNHCR - Robin Coates enjoys a narrow victory

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This is our contribution to the Croquet Association's annual charity fund raining effort, and this year, funds are being raised for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). 

The a money raised, allows three of our players to attend the National Final at Surbiton on 7 May.

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Robin Coates won this One Ball Handicap tournament by the narrowest of margins, from Patricia Mulcahy and Chris Roberts, who all tied on 4 wins from six games, and had to be separated (in that order) by the 'who beat whom' tie-break.

Mulcahy lead the field of 12 after four rounds but was pegged back in the last two rounds by the other two.

Coates is away on the date of the finals unfortunately, but Mulcahy will be be flying the Phyllis Court colours.

Finishing order: Robin Coates (4 wins/ 6 games), Patricia Mulcahy (4/6), Chris Roberts (4/6), Jeff Smith (3/6), Rick Lilley (2/5), Carol Wadsworth (3/5), Jim Walter (1/4), Julia Green (0/4), Raghu Iyer (2/3), Joanna Iyer (2/3), Dee McKibbin (1/3), Frances Colman (0/3).​

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11 April - Rainbow Social Evening

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Hilary Cowley (Rainbow Manager) reports: 

A successful Rainbow Social was held on 11 April and, despite the rain, 30 players attended and we were delighted to welcome 16 of our new members. 

We all gathered in the Isis room with a drink in hand, with Madeleine Probert (referring to the new website on her iPad) and Julia Green assisting, we explained the initiatives offered to our 10+ hnadicapped players.

Rainbow, Evening Series, 10+ competitions and the twice weekly Mix-In were all discussed and questions were answered by members in the room who explained their experiences.

Ten of our new members have signed up for the Rainbow and some players will be applying for the Evening Series and 10+ Competitions following the evening.

The social was a good way to put names to faces and was appreciated by the members who were able to attend, another social is in the planning stages for May.

Click here for more details of the Rainbow.
5 April - Our season-long competitions are launched

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The seeded playing grids for most of our season-long competitions have been made and are now showing on their respective web pages.
Open Singles & Doubles
3+     Singles & Doubles
7+     Singles & Doubles
Advantage (Handicap) Singles

 

Who is your first opponent?
From the main menu (above), hover over ‘GC Comps.’ to reveal a drop-down list of the competitions and click on each one to see the playing grids and your ‘oppo’.

The entry deadline for the 10+ Singles & Doubles has been extended to 30 April, to allow for additional entries.
- Please enter if not already done so (simply e-mail Chris Roberts)

Our new beginners are especially encouraged!

Michael Marcell in action (photo by Chris Roberts)
5 April - Dee McKibbin and Michael Marcel reach final of the 10+ Singles day-tournament

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Dee McKibbin and Michael Marcel won through to their tournament final today, before essential ground maintenance works had to take priority, forcing a postponement of the final to a later date - subsequently decided to be 19 April by mutual agreement.​

- Having had such a wet Spring, our splendid groundsman Mark and his team had not been able to complete the top-dressing works that follow the solid tining undertaken a couple of weeks ago, and this afternoon presented a narrow window of opportunity before more forecast rain tomorrow.

So, unfortunately yet understandably, the climax of today's  tournament was the casualty.

The day started well with everyone arriving on time which allowed a prompt start with expeditious play in the first two rounds of three in the blocks phase.

Round 3 was rather more disjointed and three games were very delayed in finishing and, with others taking far too long over a simple sandwich lunch, the afternoon programme (which was already on a tighter than usual schedule), got an unhelpful staggered start.

X-Games (for those not making the last 8 main knockout) were organised as players became available, to get as many games in as possible.

Star of the morning was Sue Rumford (seeded 15 of 16) who won all three of her games, a feat equalled by Carol Huntington and Aly Warren.

Rumford fell in the quarter-finals to McKibbin, while Marcel, Warren and Alastair Broom beat Huntington, Stuart Crippen and Julia Green respectively.

In two close semi-finals, Marcel beat Broom 7-5, and Mckibbin survived a spirited comeback from Warren to win 7-4.

And that was it, as groundsman Mark closed in with the top-dressing machinery, the hoops were removed to the side of the courts and the players went to the bar! 

The final will be played at 1200 on 19 April by McKibbin and Marcel's agreement, and they also went with the 'bast of three' games option offered by manager Frances Colman, who had officiated all day, along with referee duties that were supported by Andy Jones and Helena Fensome.

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Click here for the full results.
Groundsman Mark Becinsale spreading the top dressing this afternoon (photo by Chris Roberts)
4 April - PCC 'A'  6 - 1  Camerton & Peasedown, National Inter-Club Championship first round

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Phyllis Court 'A' cruised to a comfortable 6 - 1 victory over visitors Camerton & Peasedown in the national Inter-Club Championship first round today.

Robin Coates and Roger Goldring were each pressed to a 7-6 result on one of their games, but both recorded straight game victories over their morning and afternoon singles opponents and Ian Norris (playing at number 2) was also undefeated throughout his morning doubles (partnering Chris Roberts) and afternoon singles.

Camerton's Andy Loakes was on fire in the afternoon 1 v 1 rubber and he hit Chris Roberts centre ball repeatedly from up to 14 yards in a quite remarkable display that earned him a thoroughly deserved personal victory and consolation for Camerton.

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Phyllis Court 'A' will now play defending National Champions Roehampton in the last 16 of this competition, in an unusual afternoon / evening match on Friday 5 May (starting at 1500).

PCC 'A': Chris Roberts (-2), Ian Norris (-1), Robin Coates (1), Roger Goldring (0).

Click here for the full results.
1 April - Goldring wins exciting Open Singles Tournament

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Roger Goldring retained the Open Singles day-tournament title, and with it the Blue Ball trophy, ahead of a quality field of 8 of our top 10 players today.

it was nice to see a good number of croquet members supporting the tournament this afternoon, on what was not a warm day.

Many thanks to Frances Colman for Managing and Refereeing all day in the cold, and to Andy Jones and Russell Robinson who manfully helped Chris Roberts push the heavy Bowdry water removal machine this morning (despite not being in the playing line-up themselves).

It was a long day (starting with Bowdry at 0800) and the highly contested tournament went on until 1840 with an exciting deciding last game.


Going into the last round, Charlie von Schmieder was out in front on 5 wins, followed by Roger Goldring and Ian Norris on 4 and this trio had Chris Roberts, Helena Fensome and Robin Coates to play respectively.
If von Schmieder won his last game, he would win the tournament but if he lost and either or both Goldring and Norris won, there would be a tie on 5 game wins each, with net hoops deciding the tournament winner.
Norris lost surprisingly to Coates, who had had a bad day up to that point, so that put Norris out of the running, before Goldring beat H.Fensome to equal von Schmieder's 5 wins, and so the tournament hung on the von Schmieder v Roberts result.

Roberts stormed ahead to 5-2 due to some tidy hoop running and a lucky fortune ricochet at hoop 6.
Hoops 8 and 9 were long contests but eventually Roberts lead 6-3 and then ran hoop 10 for the win, which created the tie on 5 games win each for von Schmieder and Goldring.

Manager Frances Colman calculated the net hoop tallies which were +9 and +12 making Goldring the winner at the end of an excellent day all-round.

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Finishing order: Goldring (5 wins from 7 games), von Schmieder (5), Roberts (4), Norris (4), M.Fensome (3), Lilley (3), H.Fensome (2), Coates (2).

Click here for the full results.
27 March -  Paul Franklin, Dee McKibbin and Ruth Raunkiaer all pass Club Coaches course
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There is super news this past weekend with Paul Franklin, Dee McKibbin and Ruth Raunkiaer all successfully completing a Club Coaches course at the Chiltern Croquet Academy (High Wycombe).

The trio put in much pre-course preparation work before attending the two-day course, which is the initial step in earning a first coaching badge, and observed coaching sessions now beckon on the way to full qualification.

Of course, coaching qualifications benefit others more than the coaches themselves and we should all be very grateful to Paul, Dee and Ruth for the selfless generosity to our sport.

- Well done Paul, Dee and Ruth

27 March - New website goes live!
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Our new website was published for all to see this morning.

It is the marvellous work of our Treasurer Russell Robinson, who has kept the look and feel of the old site, whilst introducing a much improved method of navigating the pages.

All the old features (including all our recent history) are retained and some new features (such as pages dedicated to our teams) have been added.

Everything is now much easier to find via the menu buttons above, which appear on every page.

We are indebted to Russell for the hours of work he has put in to making our new website such a valuable recourse.

- Thank you Russell.

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2019 Robinson, Russell, PCC 3+ T'ment 2019 032 (head) - web.jpg
Website architect

Russell Robinson

21 March - Beginners' Training gets underway 
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We are so far delighted to welcome 27 new members to the Croquet Club this year.  They have been allocated places on one of seven Beginners' Training courses that have been arranged during March and April.  The first of these courses got underway today with Sonia Birkholm, Sally Blackwell, Ellen McKenzie and Pippa Wynne-Ellis all enjoying their first session under the tutelage of coach, Russell Robinson.

We remain keen to receive further new members into our ranks as the early season progresses, for whom additional courses will be put on by our eager band of coaches. 

19 March - Julia Green qualifies as a Golf Croquet Referee 
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Hearty congratulations to Julia Green, who studied hard before attending a preparation course and examination last weekend at the Chiltern Croquet Academy, High Wycombe.
Julia, who is also a qualified GC Club Coach, is a very welcome addition to our band of ten Qualified Referees.
Few other clubs have anything like this number of qualified referees in their memberships (most clubs have none at all!) and, as members of Phyllis Court Croquet Club, we are especially fortunate to have this expertise in such abundance.

18 March - Coaching Classes for existing members this weekend and next for 48 members
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Chris Roberts' offer of Coaching Classes for existing high handicapper members, saw all the classes oversubscribed within days.

So heavy was the demand that Chris Roberts called in fellow CA graded Coaches Helena Fensome and Frances Colman to asset with over-flow classes, to meet the demand.

A total of 48 members were lined up in 12 two-hour classes to be delivered today (Saturday) and tomorrow, followed by both days next weekend too.

Rain and court waterlogging scuppered some of the classes today and these will be rescheduled withing the next couple of weeks.

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14 March - Ann Clayton R.I.P.

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It is with sadness I must report the death of long-standing member, Mrs. Cecilia (Ann) Clayton, who passed away on 5th March.

Ann had been a member of the main Phyllis Court Club for thirty-seven years.

 

Croquet membership Secretary Hilary Cowley spoke to Ann (as we knew her) about a month ago when she renewed her Croquet membership, and she was hoping to return to the GC mix-ins soon after her successful knee surgery.

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Ann returned to croquet from golf in 2020, having played some years previously, and she embraced competition croquet a year later when she supported the inaugural 10+ Singles competition in 2021. But throughout her Croquet Club membership, Ann’s interest was firmly on attending the GC mix-ins at which he was a regular and enthusiastic attendee.

 

Chris Roberts - Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club

10 March - Colman & Roberts exit South African GC Doubles at semi-finals 
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Frances Colman and Chris Roberts perfoirmed well again as a doubles pair in the second leg of their croquet trip to South Africa.

Playing in the GC Raindow International at Somerset West, near Cape Town, the experienced duo finaly met their match at the hands of eventual winners Lionel Tibble and Mike Town at the sem-finals stage.

Roberts also played in the Singles event and was unbeaten in the block stage until the final round when he lost 1-2 to former Women's World Champion Judith Hanekom (South Africa).

This meant that he got an unfavourable draw in the knock-out quarter-finals and he slumped out with a poor performance, loing to the eventual winner Tibble again.

5 March - Croquet in the Henley Standard every week 
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Chris Roberts has started up weekly croquet reports for the Henley Standard sports pages again, and the edition currently in the shops features Helena Fensome’s CA Diploma for Services to Croquet.

The next edition (on Friday) will cover Patricia Mulcahy’s Most Improved Player Award, and thereafter reports will feature the 2023 competitive croquet season of our teams and individual members in competitions and tournaments at Phyllis Court and around the country (and world!).

This and more internally based news is posted very regularly on the news page of our website, so do keep up to date with that too.

1 March - Season-Long Competition Entry Forms sent out today 
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Entry forms for our Season-Long Competitions were circulated today, along with an explaination sheet and a guide to playing in your first competion and/or tournament.

Participation is very encouraged for everyone and the programme of competitions has been tailored so that all members can be competitive in relevant classes.

The 2023 offering (below) is the same as in recent seasons, and there are additional 'plate' events (for first game losers) in each catagory except the Open and Advantage.

 

2023 Programme of competitions

Open Singles

Open Doubles

3+ Singles

3+ Doubles

7+ Singles

7+ Doubles

10+ Singles

10+ Doubles

​Advantage Singles

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Please support the efforts of your organisers by joining-in and submitting your entry - by the deadline 31 March.

25 February - Frances Colman wins in South Africa 
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Frances Colman scored probably her best ever AC tournament win today at the Western Cape Championships in South Africa.

She made light of her 7 handicap in winning the Restricted (3+) Advanced Singles event at the Somerset West club, about 30 miles east of Cape Town.

Frances beat Alan Clark (High Wycombe) and South African player Sylvia Dreyer, both 3 handicapers, and three other players to be undefeated this week.

She played probably her best croquet ever and her sucesses see her now back to her pre-injury 6 handicap and up to the highest Ranking position of her career so far.

- Congratulations Frances!

 

Frances and Chris Roberts were runners-up in the Handicap Doubles and Chris ended up with a 50% record in the Open Advanced event.

Flowing a few days off, the Phyllis Coourt pair will contest the 'Rainbow Internatinal GC tournament' starting n Friday.

24 February - David Bromilow R.I.P.

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It is with sadness I have to report the death of our long-standing member David Bromilow who passed away peacefully last week.

 

David always had such a happy and friendly manner and I remember that so fondly from my earliest days at Phyllis Court until so recently.

He and Mary were amongst the first friends that I made at the Club thanks to her rowing with my late wife Suzanne and David's support for their crew.

In croquet competition, David earned accomplished a handicap of 10, however his interest centred mainly on attending the GC mix-ins at which he was a regular participant.

 

David's funeral will be a family affair, and there will be a celebration of his life in the Riverside pavilion on 24 March.

 

Chris Roberts - Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club

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