Les Gibbney

Les Gibbney

October 1923 to December 2008

FAREWELL LES GIBBNEY

Les, our Life Member has gone to join a very exclusive Croquet Club and won't be playing at York any more.

He will be fondly remembered as our only male member for several years when it was not the done thing for men to play croquet in York.

He served the club in various capacities as President, Secretary, Captain and Greenkeeper.  He freely admitted he knew nothing about growing grass, but was given plenty of conflicting advice from gardeners among the members, most of which he ignored.  He was happy to volunteer when needed and definitely pulled his weight as a club member.

He enjoyed Association Croquet and progressed quite quickly from novice to division 2 and was always prepared to help others with the finer points of play.

He will be remembered for reciting lengthy poems with very little encouragement but his enduring legacy for the York Croquet Club are his words for the club song

set to the music of The Men Of Harlech, which he loved to sing at every given opportunity.

Lots of memories Les.

Pat McGregor

President

10th December 2008.

An extract from "The Potted Autobiography of Les Gibbney"

.... But the loss of Golf was overbalanced by a new love affair called CROQUET!!

Aileen had already fallen for this and she conned me into coming to watch a few of the State Team members who had accepted an invitation to York to demonstrate some of the finer points of the game.  As I watched, I thought... "At golf I cart round a whopping great bag containing 13 sticks with which to bang a ball.  Why do I need 13 bangers when these gentlemen use only one with which they perform astonishing tricks?"  That was the moment I fell.

The public image of Croquet is of a lot of old women eating cucumber sandwiches and watched over by the local vicar.

My image is of hours of practice to even hit a ball properly:  even more hours to hit another ball with the one you've hit:  many more to make the ball go through a hoop whose opening is no more than one or two millimitres bigger than the diameter of the ball:  and finally hours of study to learn the rules of the game and the necessary tactics.  Despite all this 'sweat' it is the most intriguing game I know.

In a few years I almost made the State Team.  In fact, I actually made the State Team Development Squad, but unfortunately there were better players in the squad than me.  Also, as with Golf, my form started to deteriorate and people I had coached and even taught the game, began to have the dammed effrontery to beat me!!!  Such is life with advancing years.

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill!