News

While most of us just hung up our mallets as the croquet season ended this October, WCC member Phil Hyman packed his hockey gear and flew to South Africa to play for the over-55 England B Masters hockey team in the World Masters Hockey World Cup tournament, held in Cape Town.

The England team triumphed, winning the Spirit of the Masters World Cup. See the photo above to see Phil in action at the tournament. 

Phil writes: We played 6 matches over 10 days. Started with a comfortable win vs USA 10-0 and then Ireland 8-0. Our hardest group games were against the hosts South Africa, a 4-1 win, and an Alliance of international players from countries not sending a full team like Spain, who we beat 6-1. In the semi-final we played a very defensive Ireland and won 2-0. The final was against South Africa. The home crowd were getting excited as RSA recovered from 4-0 down to get close. The game ended as a really exciting 6-4 win. 

You can view the final at https://youtu.be/zIgsrCEJ60g

Fiona Armer reports: A Croquet social was held at Levens Village Hall on Tuesday 18th Oct 2022. A domino drive attended by 16 eager to learn players. Mike H sorted everyone out with the rules and play got under way.

Players scored points from each game of 5/4/3 or 2 depending on finishing position. then the winner moved tables. A supper of sandwiches and cake was served at half time Kindly made by Margaret H. Many thanks to Margaret.

At 10 pm the scores were counted. Highest Man scoring 93 points was Mark Hutchinson and Highest Lady was Fiona Armer with 85 points.

A great night which raised £120 for the club.

Westmorland Croquet Club

Competitions 2022

The trophies for the 2022 season go to:

AC Handicap Block: Phil Hyman

AC Doubles Block: John Shakespeare and Phil Hyman

AC Handicap Knockout: Norman Winter

AC Level Play Block: Roger Brooks

Short Lawn Handicap Block: Elaine Newman

Short Lawn Handicap Knockout: Rob Harvey

Golf Handicap Block: David Snaith

Golf Handicap Knockout: Rob Harvey

Golf Level Play Block: Neil Adams

New Members Golf Level Play Block: Jeannie McNeill

The quiz night held on Wednesday 21st September was attended by 20 members and partners/friends. A great turnout, with the winning team of David M, Hilary and Mark H and John A romping away with 111 points. 

The remaining teams all scored a similar number of points to each other in the mid 70's.

A sandwich supper was served mid way through to help re-invigorate the brains. Well done everyone. A total of £141 was raised for club funds.

Our thanks to Fiona for keeping social events and raffle going through the season, and contributing this report.

The Raffle season ended with September's draw, the featured attraction being Margaret's home-made cake, won by Les. Neil M won some toiletries.

In August Brenda won a room diffuser, and Norman a bottle of rose wine.  In July, Roger B'ton won 4 bottles of Levens Hall craft beer, Norman won toiletries. And right back in June, John and Fiona won a pot made by John S, and Les won a room diffuser.

Thanks to Fiona for organising the raffle once again.

Hunstanton Club in Norfolk hosted its 123rd Annual AC Tournament over the August Public Holiday weekend 27th-30th August. WCC's Neil Adams emerged victorious in the A-class [Advanced] section.

Scores here: https://croquetscores.com/2022/ac/hunstanton-123rd-annual-tournament/a-class-advanced 

Westmorland travelled to Bury on the 25th August to play Short Lawn. With Chester conceding their game at Levens on the 1st of September, this was Westmorland's last Short Lawn game of the season. A win at Bury would put Westmorland in a strong position to win the league, although relying on Bury to beat Southport the following week.

Westmorland fielded a strong team: Mike Hodgson [Captain], Neil Adams, Sue Pritchard and Robert Harvey. The team arrived early at Whithead Park in continued sunny warm weather to set about their task. The first four games went in Westmorland's favour 3-1. The second phase of four matches finished all square so at the lunch break Westmorland were 5-3 up. With all to play for, Westmorland would not give in, and drew the afternoon session 4-4 giving a final result in Westmorland's favour 9-7.

This was a good victory away from home, and Bury returned their help in Westmorland winning the league by beating Southport the following week by the same margin.

Westmorland are the North West Federation Short Lawn Champions, and will receive their trophy at Manchester in November.

Norman Winter, team member, reports: The AC Handicap league remains wide open, with Westmorland in contention to emerge the winners in their final match against Bury next week [on Thursday 11th August]. WCC had to win against Pendle today [Thursday 4th] in a match postponed from earlier in the season.

Sue Pritchard [captain] and John Shakespeare paired up in the morning doubles, while Phil Hyman and Norman Winter played singles. WCC won all 3, so were in a strong position at the start of the afternoon, when everyone played singles, with a further 4 points at stake. Sue and Phil both won very close games, with Sue on an equal number of hoops with her opponent when the 3 hour time had  elapsed and final turns been played, so the match was decided by continuing until either player could run their next "golden" hoop, which Sue duly did.

Westmorland now play host to Bury in next week's decider. 

Congratulations are due to team member Phil Hyman not only for his two singles wins today but who also learned this week that he is to play in for England B in the World Masters Hockey tournament in South Africa in October.

Neil Adams, WCC member, is now ranked 262 in the Association Croquet world rankings.

He has achieved a level of croquet play which we should celebrate as a club. He joined Westmorland in the summer of 2019 and had not played croquet before. He dedicated himself to learning the game, quickly becoming an accomplished player of the handicap form of AC. He then began to focus on level play advanced croquet, and on the tactical and strategic skills necessary to make progress at that level of AC.

In particular Neil used the 2020 lockdown to study many hours of video of the 2020 World AC Championship which was held in Australia just before the pandemic took hold. Once lockdown eased, he began to attend coaching sessions at the Fylde club, and to travel around England in order to gain experience of level play tournaments. 

He continues to play handicap Short Lawn and Full Lawn AC for Westmorland, but also has membership at Crake Valley which affords him the opportunity to play for a level play team in the North West league. His handicap is now 2. His match results place him 262 in the world rankings, and 137 in the UK [a list which includes some non-UK players]. 

Expert AC players aspire to complete matches with a "triple peel", which is part of advanced play strategy, and involves "peeling" one's own partner ball through 3 final hoops while also playing one's second ball round all 12 hoops, completed by "pegging out" both balls. Neil achieved his first triple peel in a club competition match in July.

Norman Winter's report: Westmorland hosted their short lawn match with Fylde in very pleasant weather on Thursday 28th July. WCC made a strong start winning three of the four first round matches. Fylde played well and were still in contention to win the match going into the fourth and final round, but Westmorland sealed a 10-6 victory to end the day. 

Elaine Newman was Westmorland's star player, and managed a faultless total of all 4 matches won. Her match was the last to finish at the end of play, and was played on the lawn closest to the gazebo, so all eyes were on her as she closed the match, receiving a well-deserved round of applause. 

Westmorland's other players, Ivan Wheatley [captain], Neil Adams, and Norman Winter each won 2 and lost 2.

The team of Neil Adams, Sue Pritchard, John Shakespeare and Mike Hodgson had a very successful day at Chester on Wednesday 27th July. The weather was perfect, but the lawns were fast. With the corners sloping, it was difficult to keep the balls in near the edges. The morning result of one doubles and 2 singles was 3 wins. The afternoon was 2 wins out of the 4, so the final score was a win for Westmorland. Westmorland 5 Chester 2. 

A busy day of golf croquet took place on Tuesday 26th July. With 10 entrants: Lynne, Christine, Neil M, Mark, Hilary, Jacqui, John A, Fiona Armer, David M and Mike H.  

2 blocks had been set up by John S, and in each block all played all. The top 2 players in each group then played for a place in the final. Group B had a draw for second place between Hilary and Mike, both having scored 25 of the 28 points possible, so a golden hoop was played and after several minutes of battling Mike came out the winner.

The final round pitted Fiona v Mike, and John v David. Fiona and John were victorious and Final battle followed.  

Time ran out on the very close match and John won the final  overall.  

Well Done to everyone who took part.  

1st John Armer  

2nd Fiona Armer  

3rd Mike Hodgson  

4th David Massey  

PS

John  S--- Colin was unwell so Mike stood in at last minute.--literally

Note from Norman Winter, website editor: I have to apologise for recent news not being posted as efficiently as I would like to. Here are some recent news items.

The raffles for June and July have been drawn. In June John S and Hilary made the draw. John and Fiona A won a pot made by John S, and Les won a room diffuser donated by Fiona. In July Mike H made the draw, with Roger Boughton winning 4 bottles of craft beers donated by Norman, and Norman winning a pack of toiletries donated by Sheila.

A very successful Golf Croquet Tuition Day was held on Tuesday 12th July. On the next day the lawns were in splendid shape for a Short Lawn club day tournament with Norman emerging the overall winner, tying with Sue P at 3 games won and with the better points difference. 

The club's Short Lawn team played at Bowden on Friday and nearly made up an earlier deficit in the final round, narrowly losing 7-9.

The busy week ended with a garden party in Selside hosted by Norman and Cathy, with 22 attending. Members and guests enjoyed a variety of table-top and garden games, and a splendid buffet, on a summer's day when the sunny skies meant the weather could not have been better. A profit of £239 was raised for club funds.

Report by Fiona Armer, captain: Westmorland welcomed the golf team from neighbouring club Crake Valley on Sunday 3rd July.

Play began with two doubles games, in which Westmorland took an early lead, 2-0.

The team held its lead in the first round of singles matches, at 4-2.

Crake Valley edged back and levelled the score at the end of round 2 of singles, at 5-5. The visitors continued to press Westmorland hard in the next round, with the score at 6-8 before the final round, and home victory still possible.

Westmorland proved unable to regain the lead, and the final winning margin for Crake Valley was 10-8.

Well done, everyone, in what had proved to be a close-fought match. 

Westmorland hosted a team from Pendle for a short lawn league match on Thursday 16th June. In each round the Westmorland players Neil Adams, Ivan Wheatley, Norman Winter and Phil Hyman were able to secure a 3-1 advantage, meaning that the score at the end of the match was a decisive victory for Westmorland, the home team.

Neil Adams was the most successful player on the day, winning all four of his matches.

Fiona Armer [Captain] reports: Bury North's Coronation Park was an apt place to play on Sunday 5th June.

Bury, fielding a strong team, held WCC to a draw and a win in the opening doubles games. These matches were played whilst the rains came down. thankfully not too heavily but enough to have to don the waterproofs. Score W ½ B 1

After the first round of singles the score was W 2.5 B 3.5. The second round saw Bury move further ahead, score W 3.5 B 6.5.

Westmorland then made up ground, to W 6.5 B 7.5

With all to play for in the fourth round, Westmorland fought hard but could not come back against the Bury team. The final score was Westmorland 7.5, Bury 10.5

Many thanks to players Fiona, John, Robert and Brenda, and to Bury for making us feel welcome.

Norman Winter [Team member] reports: The Cumbria Tankard matches, last just 3 hours played over an afternoon. They include both Full Lawn AC singles and Short Lawn singles and a doubles. Westmorland played host to Crake Valley on Wednesday 25th May. Neil Adams and Sue Pritchard played the two singles full-lawn games. Sue won hers but Neil unfortunately lost to a high handicap opponent. Westmorland won all the short lawn games, played by Elaine Newman, Phil Hyman and Norman Winter. The end result was a decisive 6-1 victory.

Sue Pritchard [Captain] reports: Westmorland The team hosting Bowden for full lawn AC at Levens Hall on Thursday 19th May comprised Sue Pritchard [Captain], John Shakespeare, Ivan Wheatley and Neil Adams [see photo above]. Bowden fielded a team all with low handicaps. After 1 doubles and 2 singles matches in the morning, WCC led 3-0. To win only required one win in the afternoon session. In the event 3 further wins left WCC with a 6-1 victory.

Mike Hodgson [Captain] reports: Westmorland enjoyed the sunshine today and played some good croquet, with all the team members making a good contribution to the game. Llanfairfechan arrived with four high handicap players, three with nine and captain with eight. The Westmorland task looked quite a challenge, but a good start was made, winning three of the first session of four games. The second session was all square at two games each, hence at lunch Westmorland were five-three up.

After lunch Westmorland drew further ahead, winning three of the four games, putting Westmorland in a position from which they could not lose, only draw if we had a disaster in the last session. The team of Mike Hodgson, Neil Adams, Sue Pritchard and Elaine Newman stuck to the challenge and finished worthy 10-6 winners. Once again the lawns played well helped by the sunshine.

Report by Fiona Armer: A Westmorland team comprising Elaine Newman David Snaith, Neil Marland and Colin Pritchard played host on Sunday 8th May to visitors Fylde Coasters. It was a warm and sunny day on the Levens lawns.

After Round 1 of Doubles the score was even at 1-1. Round 2 singles saw Fylde on top form ending 2-4 to Fylde. In Round 3 Fylde were keeping their lead at 4-6. Round 4 saw Westmorland holding their own but still trying to find a way through the Fylde defence, ending 6-8.

Westmorland pulled one game back in the final round, to end the day 9-9. 

Well done all, a worthy draw for both teams.

Report by Mike Hodgson: As far as anyone can remember, this year was the first time WCC has entered for the National AC Competition for the Longman Cup. The first round is played between clubs in the same region. WCC was drawn against Bowden at Bowden's home lawns in south Manchester, on Thursday May 5th.

The WCC team was made up of Mike Hodgson, John Shakespeare, Neil Adams and Sue Pritchard, playing the match on perfect lawns in lovely weather.

The morning session comprised of one double and two singles. John and Mike played the doubles and were unlucky to loose by one hoop 18-17. Sue made a very good account of herself and won her match. But in a very unusual result Neil lost 26-0 to a high handicap player.

In the afternoon the game could have gone either way, and finished with the final result going to Bowden 4 games to 3.

I am sure we will have another try.

1st prize drawn by Elaine was won by Hilary - shortbread and cheese biscuits donated by Brenda.

2nd prize drawn by David and won by John S was a crafted light box donated by Elaine.

Sue Pritchard's report: 

Our WCC team comprised Sue Pritchard, John Burrows, Neil Adams and Robert Harvey. We arrived early for the match and got off to a good start with 2 games each, although by lunch time Westmorland were down 5 games to 3. After lunch the weather turned much chillier and Westmorland only managed to win 3 more games. Neil played a blinder of a game against Tony Thomas winning 14-0, and Robert was the only one to beat a 9 bisquer.  It was a very pleasant day for all. Final result was 10-6 to Southport. 

Team Captain's report by Mike Hodgson:

Westmorland travelled to Southport on Tuesday 26th April to play their delayed NW Fed Final against Chester on a neutral ground blessed with perfect weather conditions. Westmorland took up the challenge against Chester with the game taking a few twists one way and then the other during the day.

The match entailed a round robin arrangement with all play all in four sessions. The first session of four matches ended 2-2 all square. The last session before lunch Westmorland eased ahead winning 3 of the 4 matches, giving a lead of 5-3. After lunch disaster struck and Westmorland lost all four games giving Chester a 7-5 lead going into the last session. After tea Westmorland had to win all four games to be outright winners. A gallant effort was undertaken by the team, winning 3 out of 4 matches with the final result standing at 8 games all.

It was now down to Captains' time for mathematics which had previously been agreed if a draw happened. The team with the most won hoops would be the winners. Unfortunately the total went in Chester's favour with 158, over Westmorland's 139. 

Chester now go forward to the National Competition.

Golf Captain Fiona Armer reports:

The Golf team travelled to Pendle for their opening match on Sunday 24th April. 

With 18 games to play in total, the teams took their places on the 4 lawns. After the first round games were 2 all.

The second round saw WCC pull into the lead with 2 wins and 2 draws, the match now standing at 4-2.

In the third round WCC pulled ahead again with 2 won, 1 lost and 1 draw.

The fourth round ended with honours shared and 2 wins each, leaving the match at 8-5.

The two final games of doubles ended with Pendle pulling back both games and the result on the day was 

WCC 8, Pendle 7, with 3 drawn games.

It was a great day, sunny but with very cold gusts of winds. Pendle gave us afternoon tea and cake to see us on our way.

Thank you team, and many thanks to Pendle for hosting and giving us a great day.

On Friday 22nd April more than 30 visitors booked to come to our lawns to try their hands at croquet in a special Friday event. We had special permission from Levens Hall to use the lawns on a day closed to the public.

Hilary Hutchinson led and organised the club's efforts, which included spreading the word through magazines, noticeboards and social media groups. 

4 lawns were in use throughout the day which enabled us largely to divide into groups of 4 newcomers, each group being led by an experienced player through a sequence of introduction to the mallet, balls and hoops, leading to playing a game of golf croquet.