PHYLLIS COURT CROQUET CLUB
16 May 2024 - Colman and Roberts at the GC European Championships - starts today (follow on Croquet Scores)
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts will fly the Phyllis Court Flag at the GC European Championships that start today and finish 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 tournament on the fabulous Croquet Scores website here -
ttps://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/european-championship/block-a
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
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.
10 May 2024 - PCC 'C' draw with Blewbury
PCC 'C' 8 - 8 Blewbury
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)
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Raymond's croquet achievements are many!
Competitions
Open Doubles - Winner 2012, 2013, 2011 - runner-up 2011
3+ Singles - Winner 2011, 2016 - runner-up 2028
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 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 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
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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 SAF 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'.
The full results will be up-loaded to the 'Teams' tab in the main menu (above) shortly.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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)
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.
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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.
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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'.
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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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25 October - Patricia Mulcahy flys to Saville to play for the Ireland Women's Team! - Spain Women v Ireland Women - preview
Follow
Patricia Mulcahy
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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).
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!
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!
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 - 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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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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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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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 ​
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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 ​
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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
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
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.
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.
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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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).
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).
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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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