Coronation Park
New Road
Radcliffe
M26 1LS
Ten Pin Bowling, The Rock, Bury 9th January
As has become traditional, our first event of the year was a visit to play ten pin bowling at The Rock.
This year we had 12 players most of whom played 3 games.
The winner for the second year running was Phil Nuttall with an average of 132 and he also achieved the highest
score of the evening on a single game of 153. The second highest single score of 134 was posted by Roy Spencer.
However the runner-up with an average of 115 was Ken Anderton.
The final order of results was
Phil, Ken, Roy, Paul, David B, David L and Derek, Jean, Barbara, Margaret, Richard, Ruth.
Altogether a most enjoyable start to the year, & £36.20 was raised....report supplied by BY
Quiz & Pie Night at WP 31st March
Chris Alvey reports.."The first Quiz night held at Whitehead park last night was a great success (by that I mean,
I as the quizmaster made it out alive).
A full house taking part in testing quiz followed by a raffle and a pie and peas supper, compliments all
round from visitors and members alike.
....April....
....unfortunately no reports received.....
Club Golf Doubles, May 2nd at WP
We had 16 entries initially, doing progressive play low and high handicappers against another set of the same.
However we had a setback when Janet Gilmartin stood on a ball and fell hurting her wrist. She was very shocked
and it was very painful. Having put a support bandage on and a sling we sent for an ambulance as her colour was
not good (she has apparently broken it twice before). Off her and John went to NMGH where it was later confirmed
that she had a break.
Then Joan had to leave early as she had a doctor's appointment.
That put us down to 13 and as I also wasn't well it became 12 but heavily low handicap weighted. Two members
came to watch so I encouraged them to play a couple of games each to reduce the sitting out for the others.
Paul K narrowly won the low handicap trophy and similarly Susan Hardman won the high handicap one.
Annual Cober Hill Visit 19th May - 22 May
Helena Reports;
Over 20 people joined the trip this year and a great time was had by all. The weather smiled on us with
only one mini shower on Saturday but because we are made of stern stuff it did not stop play!
Many thanks have to be given to Jean Hargreaves and Sue & David Barrett who did a fantastic job of
organising the hotel, the croquet and the evening entertainment.
We rounded off the trip with our usual 'Olympics' of indoor sports which consisted of 12 challenges.
The most difficult being 'splat the rat'. Unbelievably 3 people managed to catch one (Phil Nuttall,
Ken Eccles and Ken Anderton), we now call the them the 'rat pack'.
The croquet winners are as follows:
Association Low Handicap - Margaret Anderton & Runner up - Barbara Young
Association High Handicap - Phil Nuttall & Runner Up - Helena Nuttall
Golf Low Handicap - Richard Harvey & Runner up - Derek Deadman
Golf High Handicap - Pam Hunter & Runner up - Peter Blythin
At Whitehead Park.
What a brilliant day. The weather was good to us and the sun shone as the Mayoress of Bury, Mrs Dorothy Gunther,
visited us to open our new facility.
There was a good turnout of visitors and along with our own members everything culminated in a very
enjoyable day.
Many thanks go to all members for their hard work and to Pat Carter for the fabulous cake - delicious!.
Lancashire South East Trefoil Guilds Annual Tournament
Jean Hargreaves reports: Last week (Tues 13th June) about 38 members of Lancashire South East
Trefoil Guilds, together with club helpers, gathered together for their Annual Croquet Tournament.
For the first time this was held at our Whitehead Park venue. 32 playing members had a great time battling
it out. Play is in Doubles with as far as possible people playing with someone from another Guild.The
winning pair this year were from Rochdale and Bury Peel Guilds.
Everyone commented how lovely the venue was and some are hoping to bring other groups to have a go.
Southport Annual Festival 24th/25th June.
The Yellow squad are winners again! – Taking pole position in both the Golf Shield and
Overall Championship Title.
A very successful weekend was blessed with good weather, members stayed on Friday & Saturday nights
at an excellent hotel and enjoyed lovely meals (and alcohol of course!). Both hotel and evenings were thanks
to Margaret Eccles/Susan Hardman.
Out on the lawns:
Advanced Doubles
Although the trophy for this was not won, the battle was valiantly fought by Paul Kenworthy
and Barbara Young on Saturday with David Barratt teaming up with Barbara on the Sunday whereupon
they managed to avoid a whitewash by beating Crake handsomely.
Handicap Full Lawn
Had 3 players; Chairman Richard Harvey (Captain), Chris Alvey and Phil Nuttall. Each game was
over an 18-point format which took some getting used to (starting at hoop 5)! Over the 2 days Bury won
3 of their 5 matches giving them 3rd place in the overall standings. Special mention must
go to Chris Alvey for winning 4 of his 5 games which has led to him getting a reduction in handicap from 18 to 16!
Short Lawn
The Short team finished 2nd overall in their series of matches. Vi Richards (Captain), Anne
& Chris Alvey, Helena Nuttall and Derek Deadman. Birthday Girl Vi led her team brilliantly where they had
a great Saturday winning 8 of their matches, Sunday was a bit tougher but they managed to win another 2 matches.
Golf Team
Now to the triumphant Golf team consisting of 5 players; Ken Eccles (Captain), Derek Deadman,
Helena Nuttall, Gill Freely and Roy Spencer. Applause to Margaret and Jean for keeping their wits about them,
the timetable was re-arranged several times! The team had a superb Saturday winning nearly all their matches
setting them up nicely for the next day. The team continued to make steady progress on Sunday although there
were a few tense and anxious moments for players and supporters as some matches were won and lost
on the golden hoop, none more so than the last match of the day where Helena fought back from 4-6 down to
win on the golden hoop. Out of the 21 matches they won 15 losing only 6. Special mention must go to
debutant Roy Spencer who won 4 of his 5 matches. Captain Ken Eccles proudly collected the Golf
Croquet Shield on behalf of our Club.
Overall Championship
The final announcement of overall Champions kept us on tenterhooks by naming the
teams in reverse order. We were all stunned by the announcement that the winners of the 2017 Championship
were Bury. Overall captain Barbara Young and all the Bury players went up to collect the North
West Federation Club Championship Cup from Federation League Manager Ivan Wheatley and
tournament manager James Hawkins.
Association Club Doubles, 1st July 2017
This year's Association Club Doubles event was played at Whitehead Park in welcome good weather.
The 12 participants included two brave new members, Lynne and Alan Driver, who had not even yet finished the beginners'
course. However they found the event an enjoyable and useful learning experience and both managed to win two games.
The event is organised as alternate shot doubles with low and high handicap players paired together
and the pairings changed every round. Each round was timed for one hour and even with plenty of bisques
available only two games reached a pegout. However after an enjoyable day's play five rounds had been completed.
The clear winner of the Low handicap trophy with a clean sweep of 5 wins out of 5 was Paul Kenworthy.
The High handicap group was a closer affair with the winner being Jean Hargreaves with 4 wins, runner up Joan Hancock
with 3 wins and all the others achieving 2 wins each.
The trophies were presented by Barbara Young - The Event Organiser.
Barbara Young
| |
 |
 |
Bury Croquet Club - Heat Of Grass Roots 5th July
Six members participated in this event. It was an All play All arrangement followed by the top four
playing semi-finals, and then we had the final and play off for 3rd and 4th places.
The games were well contested with not all of the results showing the battles that went on in some games.
Only one game didn't get past hoop 9.
After the first 5 rounds the winner was John Gilmartin having won all his 5 games. Following this were Gill
Freely and Roy Spencer with 3 wins each. Making up the 4th player for the semi-finals was David Leach with 2 wins.
Again the semi-finals were strongly fought especially with David putting some pressure on John by having a 3-0
start to the game. However John fought back and eventually won the game 7-5. In the other semi-final Gill and
Roy were battling it out, yet another score 2-7 to Roy that didn't show the battle taking place.
The final therefore was between John and Roy. Despite some excellent play the result was 7-3 to John.
In the play off for 3rd and 4th places David started off very well getting to 4-0, then Gill fought her way
back but lost on hoop 12 the score being 7-5 to David.
Congratulations to John on 7 out of 7 wins and winning the club round of Grass Roots overall.
Good luck to both John and Roy who both go forward to represent our club in the final in Nottingham on 24th September.
Jean Hargreaves
| |
 |
 |
Bury Croquet Club National 'B' Level Golf Competition 8th July.
Hosted by Bury CC
Managed by Bury members Jean Hargeaves and David Barrett
Winner - David W Boyd (Chester)
16 players enjoyed a beautiful day of weather at Whitehead Park to battle it out for the
Bury CC Round of this National B Level Golf tournament.
Play was in two blocks, all play all, with many keenly fought games. Out of 60 games 15
went to the Golden Hoop and 11 more went to hoop 12.
The eventual winners and runners up from the blocks couldn't be verified until after the
last rounds in the 2 blocks. In Block A Trevor Farrell (Chester) was the winner with 5 wins
out of 7. That left us with five players on 4 wins. Using the 'who beat who' Philip Nuttall
(Bury) came out as second.
In Block B we had 3 players on 5 wins before the final round. The winner was David W.
Boyd (Chester) with 6 wins. Again using 'who beat who' last year's winner Roger I'Anson
(Ripon) came second.
In the semi finals Roger beat Trevor 7-6 and David beat Phil 7-5.
In the play off for 3rd and 4th places Trevor beat Phil 7-5 whilst in the final the battle
between David and Roger went all the way to the Golden Hoop with David taking the
honours 7-6... The game could have gone either way.
Everyone enjoyed the long day in the brilliant sunshine.
Congratulations to all and good luck in the final David....submitted by Jean Hargreaves
Federation Handicap Golf Tournament, 15th July
Hosted by Bury CC Whitehead Park Managed by Bury member Jean Hargeaves
Winner - Roger Edwards from Craig Y Don
This year ten players from six clubs took part in the Federation Handicap Golf tournament at Bury.
The day started fine but shortly became rather damp with the almost constant drizzle, and
occasional heavy shower
The format was block play with the winners of one block playing the second place from the other block.
The remaining players also had other games to play
Seventeen of the original block play of twenty games went at least to hoop eleven with three of
those going to the Golden Hoop.
In Block A Roger Edwards from Craig Y Don gained 1st place with Janet Smith from Fylde in second place.
In Block B John Gilmartin from Bury came first with Terry Dunbar from Southport in second place.
In the semi-finals Roger beat Terry on the Golden Hoop and John beat Jan at hoop 11.
The final was won by Roger 7-4 whilst the play off for 3rd and 4th places was won by Jan 7-5.
All enjoyed the day despite the weather. Thanks to all the Bury members who helped on the day.
Well done and congratulations Roger........ Submitted by Jean Hargreaves.
Symons Cup - Edgbaston Handicap Weekend Tournament 15/16 July
Hosted by EDGBASTON CROQUET CLUB
Winner Barbara Young
Barbara Young won the Symons Cup at the Edgbaston Handicap Weekend.
This was Barbara’s first visit to Edgbaston and she reports that the lawns were excellent and that this helped her to return to
form with some good play. Barbara narrowly lost the first game -3 while getting used to the speed of the lawns and then won the remaining four,
the last being a tight finish depending on a long distance hit-in when she beat the hostess for the weekend who had won all her previous games.
Since the hostess had only played 4 games Barbara was adjudged the overall winner on percentages.
Association Fun Day, Whitehead Park, 22nd July
Hosted at Whitehead Park, organisers Jean Hargeaves and David Barrett
A great day was had by all at the Fun Day and the weather looked on us favourably.
Vi Richards was the overall victor and won the coveted 'X' (ten) trophy.
One of our newest members Roger Harper and one of our advanced players Barbara Young each won the
Flamingo trophies and were overjoyed to be taking them home!
Many thanks goes to Jean Hargreaves and David Barrett for their excellent organisation and generally
thanks goes to all to who helped make it a fantastic day.
It was lovely to welcome the ladies from Bowdon who made a special trip over to be with us on the day
Birthday Celebration For Jean Oldfield, 24th July
Its official 'CROQUET KEEPS YOU YOUNG'
Jean says a big thank you to all who went to her birthday 'do' o Monday. She had a lovely time.
She also says a VERY BIG thank you for the £350 she was given to go to a charity of her choice.
Whitehead Park AC Handicap Tournament 6th Aug
Joint winners Margaret Anderton and Malcolm Daines
Golf Fun Day 8th Aug
Winners on the day were;
Joker - Harry Anderton and Kath Hough (Culcheth)
Bonus - Cyd Harbottle (Fylde) and Gill Freely
10 minute - John Gilmartin
Mini Croquet - Kath Hough
Straight Line - Ken Eccles
Double Evens - Ken Eccles
Crazy Croquet - Vi Richards
Score the Hoop - Hilary Deadman
Photos from Derek Deadman
Nuttall Friends Tournament 1st September
The occasion was brilliant and enjoyed by all. Everyone got a really good taster and appreciation for the game.
Most people asked if we could do it again and so we will definitely be repeating it in 2018.
We would like to thank everyone who helped make the occasion run smoothly and acted as mentors to the groups.
People expressed how friendly everyone was. The potato pie provided by Sue and Mac was a very big hit
The competition winners:
1st Chris Berry
2nd Tina Berry
3rd Alan Driver
4th Ron Gorton
5th Dorothy Freeman
6th Matt Berry
7th Lynne Driver
8th John Allen
Fylde CC 2nd/3rd September All England AC Regional Final.
Phill Nuttall again won the regional final with a clean sheet 5/5.
He will now go to Wrest Park for the National final in two weeks, accompanied by runner-up Libby Dixon(Pendle).
The tournament was a real test of all round skill. Scorching Sunshine for the first three games with
players working hard on hydration and shade. This was followed by two games in constant drizzle on
Sunday with players seeking shelter and towels.
Phil triggered down to handicap 16 automatically, so will have is work cut out down there again.. good luck Phill
17th September, Bury Club Win the Handicap League.
Congratulations to Bury Peelers for winning the NW Hcp league again..
they have the title and cant be caught with a game in hand.
Wrest Park, 16/17th September All England AC (Hcp) National Final.
Phil Nuttall WINS!!!.. and he did it in style with a clean sheet of 5/5 without dropping a game, he also
triggers down to Hcp 14.
Libby Dixon(Pendle) was runner-up in second place - maintaining the same order the pair finished two weeks ago in
the Fylde hosted Regional...
Bury, yet again get to hang the "Tray" up in the club house - we last had it in our possession '14/15 thanks
to GG's victory.
Trophies were presented by CA President, Quiller Barrett,
National Final of Grass Root 24th September
20 players from all over the country gathered at Nottingham Club to sort out supremacy in this their first taste of
national tournament pressure.
Our own John Gilmartin and David Leach had made it through the local NW regional heat and were placed into seperate halves of
the american blocks so they couldn't take each other out.
John made it out of the blocks into the KO but David couldn't quite make it.
In the KO, John met the eventual runner-up, and thus ended up in the shield...such was his success that he finished 7th (out
of 20).
David with a 7-0 win in his last game finished in 17th but I hope that this taste of the national scene starts them on a
path of tournament play......
Bury went to Italy 21st-26th September
Well, our skilled and experienced GC team (Richard, Ken & Margaret, Carol, Roy, Vi & Peter
(non-playing comedian and ball-boy), set off to play in the international Coppa (Cup) del Serchio in Lucca, Tuscany.
Although no-one from England won the cup, we had two quarter-finalists (Roy and Margaret) and an awful lot of fun.
The lawn at host Lucca Croquet Club has been relaid this year, so it was decided to play at the Tennis Club
at Vicopelago, a short taxi ride away. The facilities at the tennis club are excellent, bar, nice
restaurant with good food, changing and showering facilities, and Nadia, an Italo-Scots lady who looked after us.
And we had the use of a football field, where 2 croquet lawns were set out.
Arriving on Friday to practise before the weekend competition, we found hoops, pegs and boundaries
all set up for us. But no croquet balls, which limited our practise (virtual croquet, anyone?) However the tennis club
cheerfully lent us some balls, so off we went. The balls, being tennis balls, were of more or less the
same colour, making the order of GC play not always clear. But we managed. We found that shooting in a perfect
line will send a TB through a hoop, just like a CB.
However we rapidly discovered that being even slightly out of line will make the TB bounce back, well,
almost anywhere. Naturally we rapidly adapted our tactics, with degrees of unsuccess. But we
were told that our laughter could be heard in the clubhouse, most un-golf-clublike behaviour! But nobody told us
off and then the CB's arrived.
The field had a grass:weed ratio of about 1:10, with random clumps to add interest, so accuracy was not always
a factor, and we adopted the 'hit hard and pray' approach, which seemed to be the principle of our opponents.
This could result in unexpected changes in direction and quite often jump shots out of the blue.
Sometimes you do well and sometimes you don't.
Anyway we got Roy and Margaret through to the quarter-finals, so Bury Croquet Club was up there with Italians,
Spaniards, an Australian, an American and other Brits. The competion was won, perhaps unsurprisingly,
by Alberto Agostini, chairman of Lucca Croquet Club, who is used to playing in these conditions. His jump shots
are the best I have ever seen, although he sometimes gets carried away and the ball bounces off the top of the hoop!
Did we win? No! Does it matter? No! Did we have a fantastically enjoyable time? Yes we did!
Richard, Chairman
JUDITH 3rd October
Of course it chose the prettiest flower in the garden!!
Photographr Derek Deadman
Final NW League Positions.
AC Advanced - Not Contested
AC 'B' Adv 4th out of 6 teams
AC Hcp 1st and 9th out of 9 teams
AC Midwk 4rd out of 7 teams
AC Sht 5th out of 7 teams
GC Lvl 7th out of 9 teams
GC 5th & 9th out of 9 teams
Annual Club Championship Results 15th October
Update from Barbara Young
Hi Everyone
I am pleased to report that all the Finals have now been played, the last 2 this morning when
there were plenty of people at the Coronation work day including the chairman to present the trophies.
So congratulations to the winners;
Advanced
Handicap
Short
Golf Level Play
Golf Open
Golf 8+
|
- Malcolm Daines
- Phil Nuttall
- Barbara Young
- Barbara Young
- Judith Gaskell
- David Leach
|
Neighbourhood Engagement Events
Radcliffe 9th Nov & Brandlesholme 13th Nov
Report by Margaret Andrerton
Phil, Ken and Margaret A attended these events at Radcliffe and Bury West with a table full of information and
leaflets about croquet and our club. We gave out quite a lot of leaflets and collected names to contact later.
We also did a lot of networking with representatives from other groups in the area.
The organisers are hoping to have another round of these events in the spring and we think that the club should
definitely attend these. There were five events this time covering the different areas of Bury and next time the club
could send representatives to all of them - not necessarily the same people at each event.
New Zealand Tray Trophy presented by Phil Nuttall to Bury CC on behalf of CA
All England AC Handicap Champion, Phil Nuttall, presented the tray to Bury CC Chairman Richard Harvey at
the AGM (25th Nov).
The trophy, which was given by the New Zealand Croquet Association to the CA in 1956, is to be displayed in the club
until it is played for at the next tournament in 2018.
Club Christmas Party, 13th Dec
Whitehead Park hosted the party for all members.
What a great time was had by all. Lashings of mulled wine and a fabulous spread of potato pie and cheese pie plus
mushy peas and complimentary accompaniments. Our esteemed chairman became Santa for the night greeting guests
as they arrived. Many thanks go to all that participated in preparing for the event (and cleaning up afterwards) and
to all that attended and made it a great event.
BEST WISHES TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLUB FOR A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
