Bury Croquet Club - Pre Website Season(s). 

Coronation Park
New Road
Radcliffe
M26 1LS

2006 Handicap Challenge, Heaton Park, 24th September

Justin Brightmore wins

Played as 18 point games in beautiful weather except for a brief period of heavy rain, which affected one round of play. Flexible Swiss format.

Winning 5 games out of 5 gave Justin Brightmore (Bury), the winners trophy.

His handicap was reduced from 18 to 12. Runner-up was Abdul Ahmad (Pendle & Craven) with 4 wins out of 5.

2006 Advanced Challenge, Heaton Park, 23rd September

Ian Lines wins Advanced Heaton Park Challenge

This one day Advanced event was played in beautiful summery sunshine, XYZ format, Ian Lines (Bowdon) dissecting all opponents with his usual surgical precision, winning the tournament by completing a triple peel in winning each of his 4 games, with Dave Nick runner-up.

2006 Millenium Advanced, Heaton Park, 8/9th April

Ian Lines won the North West Federation Millenium Advanced

Ian from Bowdon, won the main ‘A’ class event – the Neil Williams Trophy – with 6 victories in 7 matches.

The ‘B’ level trophy was won by Paul Rigge of Bury, with 6 out of 6 winning games, handicap now changed from 2.5 to 2.

Congratulations also to Alan Pidcock from Southport whose handicap with a handicap change from 0 to -0.5.

2005 Longman Cup, Bury Vs Ashby, Saturday 17th Sept

BURY TOUGH LONGMAN CUP: Bury 4 - 3 Ashby (Report by Tim King at Ashby)

The Ashby team travelled to Bury on Saturday 17th Sept. This was not really a familiar venue for the team (Mick Haytack had been a few years earlier). The journey was relatively smooth but not much else was easy. The location is a former crown green bowling lawn. The two croquet courts are about 88% size and each has three edges with significant fall away and two corners that are positively lethal.

In the morning, Mick and Marilyn came up against Barbara and Geoff Young in fine form. Tim King had even fewer chances against a rapidly-improving Tony Phillips (those pesky Pidcock mallets being responsible again!). Geoff kept Ashby in the hunt though with a victory that required some dogged persistence towards the end (while Tim avoided nervous watching by attempting to show off at Golf Croquet; at least his 6-7 loss was achieved against six bisques). 1-2 down at lunchtime.

After lunch, Mick was the first result to declare. He too lost to Tony but gave far more of a fight than Tim had managed. Tim then put the match back in the balance with a win against Barbara. This was far from conventional (no surprise there then), with Barbara temporarily misplacing her legendary precision (the pair of Youngs both ran off the same home court on croquet strokes within a minute of each other; surely a record!) and Tim only pulling away from a period of close scrapping with some classic Golf Croquet touches: several over-hit hoop runs, running 3-back and 4-back with a single shot and having to jump a previously roqueted ball that was left stuck in the jaws of rover. He even attempted to pull defeat from the jaws of victory by missing with the front ball on a twelve-inch peg out (the back ball hit) but Barbara was too off-colour to make this count for more than one additional hoop point. The battle of the Geoffs decided the match. Unfortunately, Geoff Ellott could not quite claw his way back into contention and this loss confirmed the victory for Bury. On the other hand, everyone would have probably walked away with white hair if they had been waiting on the result of Marilyn's game. She hung on for dear life as her opponent steadily closed the gap. But Marilyn was still one hoop ahead when time was called and Mac was not able to hit in with his final shot. Great tenacity from Marilyn and a plucky result all round.

The lawns were tough to learn and to have been so close to a victory was a credit to all. Perhaps manager Derek would have made the telling difference. Next year we have two national competitions to compete in so more chance to find the perfect team!

Full scores (Ashby names first):
Mick Haytack (12) and Marilyn Murray (20) 11-26 Barbara (4.5) and Geoff Young (11)
Tim King (6) 3-26 Tony Phillips (8)
Geoff Ellott (16) 26-13 Mac Hardman (16)Tim King 26-8 Barbara Young
Mick Haytack 20-26 Tony Phillips
Geoff Ellott 19-26 Geoff Young
Marilyn Murray 22-21(T) Mac Hardman

We then lost to East Dorset 6-1 in the Semi's

2005 Summer Jamboree, Southport, 2/3rd July

Bury Win 2005 Jamboree Championship

Congratulations to Bury Croquet Club on winning the North West Federation Chamipionship at Southport, Twenty teams from clubs in the Northwest Federation enjoyed an excellent weekend of croquet competing in the club championships held at Southport on 2/3 July 2005. Play started at 9am each morning to allow the games to be completed by 5pm on Sunday. The southport weather was warm and sunny, the food good, with the atmosphere and sociability first class. Barry Keen expertly managed the event. There were competitions to organise in four disciplines, golf, short, association handicap and advanced.

Bury won the Advanced event, Southport won the Handicap, Fylde won the Short and Culcheth won the golf event. When all points were aggregated, Bury emerged as the Champion Club.

The club championship is an excellent way to meet players from across the region as well as introduce new players into the tournament scene. Many start with golf, progress to short and a couple of years later will be playing full lawn association handicap or advanced. Many of the players now competing in the various leagues in the Northwest Federation started their competitive croquet at the club championships and have gone on to become regular tournament players.

2004 Lancs Open Golf Tournament, Heaton Park, Manchester 8/9th May

David Barrett wins Lancs Open Golf Tournament (by Geoff Young)

The 5th Lancashire International Open Golf Croquet Tournament, played at Heaton Park on May 8-9, resulted in victory for home player David Barrett. In somewhat indifferent weather, the eight contestants battled through a round-robin on the Saturday, Chris Sheen leading with six wins to Roy Ware’s five, David Barrett on four, and Don Beck leading the tiebreak in the 3-win group.

The Sunday began with the consolation event of randomly paired doubles, the winners of all three games in the round-robin being John Moore and Roy Ware with Tom Weston and Chris Sheen second. The knockout 19-point semi-finals resulted in Chris beating Don 10-5 and David, who had been modestly surprised to reach this stage, beating Roy 8-6 on time. In the best-of-three final David began well and scored the winning point with an amazing hoop 12 run from corner two. He kept his cool in the second game and won it 7-4 to secure the championship trophy.

Full Results:
a) Qualifying Matches (All play All with top 4 entering a knock-out to decide the outcome). David Barrett beat Donald Beck 7-4; John Moore beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-5; Chris Sheen beat Tom Weston 7-5; Roy Ware beat David Turner 7-5; David Turner beat Tom Weston 7-6; Chris Sheen beat Roy Ware 7-6; John Moore beat David Barrett 6-5; Donald Beck beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-4; Chris Sheen beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-3; David Turner beat David Barrett 7-5; Roy Ware beat Donald Beck 7-5; Tom Weston beat John Moore 7-6; David Barrett beat Roy Ware 7-5; Tom Weston beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-2; Chris Sheen beat John Moore 7-3; Donald Beck beat David Turner 7-4; John Moore beat David Turner 7-6 Chris Sheen beat Donald Beck 7-3; David Barrett beat Tom Weston 7-5 Roy Ware beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-1; Tom Weston beat Donald Beck 7-6; Roy Ware beat John Moore 7-3; David Turner beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-3; Chris Sheen v/s David Barrett match unresolved; Chris Sheen beat David Turner 7-2; David Barrett beat Patricia Duke-Cox 7-2; Donald Beck beat John Moore 7-4; Roy Ware beat Tom Weston 7-3.

b) Knock out play-offs results: Chris Sheen, Roy Ware, David Barrett and Donald Beck qualified; Semi-finals: Chris Sheen beat Donald Beck 10-5; David Barrett beat Roy Ware 8-6; Final: David Barrett beat Chris Sheen 7-5; 7-4

Doubles Results (All play All): Winners: John Moore and Roy Ware 3/3; Runners up: Tom Weston and Chris Sheen 2/3; Others: Donald Beck and David Turner 1/3; David Barrett and Patricia Duke-Cox 0/3.

2003 Pennine Cup, Heaton Park, Manchester 5th August

NORTH WEST RETAIN PENNINE CUP (by Abdul Ahmad)

Heaton Park was basked in glorious sunshine for Trans-Pennine challenge match this year. Bury Croquet Club members set the hoops at the crack of dawn to ensure play began on time at 10 am. Morning session comprised of 3 advanced rules doubles matches. A 3 course lunch was provided by the Park’s Canteen Staff. Afternoon session comprised of 3 advanced rules and 3 handicap rules singles matches. Dave Nick made most of the superb playing conditions and recorded two TPO’s. The opposition were so impressed with the facilities that they proposed to hold next year’s match at the same venue. Such a comment from a visiting team highlights the standard of this venue and is a glowing tribute to the grounds staff.

Northwest and Croquet North: David Openshaw (Pendle); Dave Nick (Crake Valley); Abdul Ahmad (Pendle); Paul Rigge (Bury); Pat Hague (Ellesmere); Brian Oldham (Ellesmere). Yorkshire and Humberside: Charles Waterfield (Middlesbrough); Andrew Davies (Beverley); Peter McDermott (Middlesbrough); Derek Watts (Tyneside); Mike Evans (Beverley); Phil Errington (Belsay Hall).

Advanced Doubles:Openshaw & Rigge bt Waterfield & Watts + 3; Nick & Hague bt Davies & Evans +5TPO; Ahmad & Oldham lost to McDermott & Errington -19 Advanced Singles:Openshaw bt Waterfield +2; Nick bt Davies +12 TPO; Ahmad bt McDermott +4 Handicap Singles: Rigge bt Watts +6; Hague lost to Evans -14; Oldham lost to Errington -17

Match result NorthWest beat Yorkshire and Humberside & Croquet North by 6 – 3.

2003 NW Millennium Advanced, Heaton Park, Manchester 26/27th April

MILLENIUM ADVANCED CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 Played at Heaton Park, Manchester 26/27 April (Commonwealth Games Bowling facility, first croquet tournament at this venue)

The NW Federation Millennium Advanced Championship broke new ground for croquet by being held on the bowling greens built for last year’s Commonwealth Games. In some ways the lawns were the outstanding feature of the event, Many who have been around reckoned them among the best in the world.

The play in the A class was of a very high standard. Eight contestants played in round-robin format, and 12 of the 27 games included triple peels, by five of the players.
The winner was Colin Irwin, whose games all include TP in the result (though David Nicholson had the chagrin of an OTP against him).

The B class also included much good play. Seven players managed all but two games of a round-robin, though time limits had to be imposed on the Sunday. The declared result had to be in the style of a Swiss. As it turned out, one of the games in the final round was effectively a final, when Peter Wardle beat Brian Medley.

A Class: Bob Burnett (Southport) beat Cooper +16, beat Hawkins +8, beat Lines +9, beat Linton +4, beat Nicholson +16, did not play Granger Brown Ken Cooper (Bowdon) beat Lines +5, beat Linton +15 Martin Granger Brown (Bowdon) beat Cooper +18TP James Hawkins (Southport) beat Cooper +3, beat Granger Brown +6, beat Linton +26, beat Nicholson +9TP Colin Irwin (Bowdon) beat Burnett +7TPO, beat Cooper +12TP, beat Granger Brown +25TP, beat Hawkins +13TP, beat Lines +17TP, beat Linton +26 TP, beat Nicholson +14 OTP Ian Lines (Bowdon) beat Granger Brown +8TPO, beat Hawkins +19, beat Nicholson +16TP Alan Linton (Bowdon) beat Granger Brown +22, beat Lines +26 David Nicholson (Crake Valley) beat Cooper +15, beat Granger Brown +16TP

B Class: David Barrett (Bury) beat Graham +3, beat Wardle +13T, beat Wilson +7, did not play Miller Dennis Graham (Chester) beat Wilson +13 did not play Medley Brian Medley (Bowdon) beat Barrett +16, beat Miller +23, beat Rigge +11T, beat Wilson +15 Mark Miller (Crake Valley) beat Graham +3T, beat Wilson +15 Paul Rigge (Bury) beat Barrett +3, beat Graham +7T, beat Miller +15, beat Wilson +12 Peter Wardle (Crake Valley) beat Graham +2T, beat Medley +15, beat Miller +9, beat Rigge +12, beat Wilson +26 Peter Wilson (Fylde) no wins

2000-2002 Early DB Match action in CA's Mary Rose for Pendle

May 2002

Sept 2000

Aug 2000

May 2000