It is with very great regret and sadness that we have to announce that our dear member, great friend
and fantastic groundsman at Coronation Park, David Leach, passed away in his sleep in the early hours of 19th November.
Our sincere condolences go to Margaret and her family.

David was a wonderful ambassador for our club. He ran the Bury North and Midweek Level Play Golf teams with great enthusiasm and is well known around the North West. As Groundsman at Coronation Park, his relentless hard work on the lawns have enabled us to keep playing during the difficult 2020 season.

For two years David took care of the Treasurer's role and during this year has given continued guidance and support to the current Treasurer who is extremely grateful.

David will be so sorely missed by all our members.

Let me explain, this is an email from Carol entitled 'Accidental MA'.

I eventually got around to finding a competent photographer amongst my neighbours to take a pic of me with the evidence!
I'll always think of this adventure into art history as 'accidental' for I got lured into it by seeing an advertisement
by the University of Buckingham which described a post-graduate course, run in London in the evenings, given in a series
by 10 different experts and followed by a seminar-dinner. What's not to like about year one with the pure pleasure of
attending and not having to do any work?!

However, that soon changed for I got drawn in by the idea of pursuing an artist whose name I'd seen whilst researching
into a general talk to give to the Open University's German Association here in the north west. The course director,
Dr. Michael Prodger was brilliant in seeing the potential of this and directing me to a couple of avenues which would
produce a suitable dissertation. More brilliant lectures and dinners came in year two, but also a lot of hard work to
bring the project together. Not to mention the angst of an incompetent computer operative!

It's been two years of enjoyment, travelling up and down the M6, going abroad to Wiesbaden to interview the curator of the
Jawlensky collection there, and doing detective work in venues providing sources of information. At the same time it has
improved my German for that was the language of the majority of texts about his life and work. The oeuvre emerged as:
The Overshadowing of an Important Career: Alexei Jawlensky considered in relation to his fellow members of Die Blaue Vier (The Blue Four).
This was awarded with Merit in spring this year, but life took an unexpected turn with Covid-19 and the graduation ceremony
had to be cancelled sine die and the awards made in absentia. Hence the attached photograph with my certificate does not
show me wearing an academic gown and large hat but sporting my Bury Croquet Club fleece instead.

Apologies to all that croquet and other club activities had to take a secondary place to the research, but it's been wonderful
to be able to come this season to play - albeit in a limited and necessarily sanitized forum.

Letter from Carol xx

We are so proud of you Carol

All results are now in.
Many thanks to the competitors for four very entertaining matches.
A massive thanks to PHIL NUTTALL for his great organisation especially during the prevailing COVID-19.
These Internals have given us all a little bit of fun and normality through these stressful times.

GOLF H/C
ROY SPENCER beat GILL FREELY

GOLF LEVEL PLAY
JACK GOOD beat JOHN GILMARTIN

ASSOCIATION SHORT LAWN
ANNE ALVEY beat HELENA NUTTALL

ASSOCIATION FULL LAWN
JACK GOOD beat RICHARD LEACH

Richard Leach represented Bury Croquet Club in this event which brought together
14 players off all handicap levels mainly 5 down to -3 with three plays on 8,9 and 12.
On a glorious weekend Richard set himself a target of winning half his matches.
The event was all play all and at the end Richard won 8 and lost 5.
Which meant he reached his target and in doing so brought his handicap down from 5 to 4.
Below are two pictures one showing Richard relaxing and the other him thanking one of his
opponents for good game after beating him.

Write-up David Leach

On Saturday 8th August, in glorious sunshine and high temperatures, Crake Valley hosted the 2020
GC Handicap millennium competition.
The day got off to a bad start with news that 2 players from Chester had a punctured tyre on the M6
and had to turn back after it had been repaired. Luckily, David Leach (Bury) and Sandra Cornes
(Crake Valley) were present and agreed to fill the spaces. So we had 12 players from 5 clubs
competing.
At the end of the group stage the semi finals took place. Frank Sharps (Crake Valley) beating Bernard
Lord (Bury) 7-4 and Richard Leach (Bury) beating Peter Uglow (Pendle) 7-5.
The final was keenly and fairly contested. Frank used his 3 extra turns well and the match went to
the 13 th hoop. Richard played a superb first shot to give sight of the hoop but couldn’t capitalise.
After a short exchange of play Frank held his nerve to run the hoop and win 7-6.
All players complemented the club for the quality of the lawns and the surrounding areas. The club
thanked the players for making the competition a most enjoyable day.
The picture shows Frank with his celebratory drink.

Taken from Crake Valley website

The bank holiday was a busy time for croquet at Crake Valley.
On Saturday 29 August, twelve croquet players from six clubs in the north west played the North West Federation’s Short Lawn AC Millennium Competition.
After 3 group matches, there was only one player with 3 wins and seven with 2 wins so hoop difference was important.
In the Semi finals Barbara Young (Bury) overcame John Henderson (Penrith) 12-8 and Neil Adams (Westmorland) beat Ian Theakstone (Fylde) 14-1.
In the final Neil used his additional bisques very well giving Barbara only a few chances on the lawn, before he won 14-5.
It was Neils first experience of competitive play and his handicap was reduced from 5 to 4.
In the 3rd place play off John beat Ian 14-7.
Many thanks to Tournament Manager, David Cornes, and Referee, Jim Allcock, as well as all the helpers that made this enjoyable event run smoothly.
The tournament showed how competitive croquet can be played in a pleasant manner and good company.

Report David Leach

Jack & Graham both entered the postponed GC Open held at Sussex County.
The format was 8 player blocks, all play all, best of 3, followed by knock-out or the Plate.
In the blocks Graham had an number of very close results - including taking a game, 7-2, off Will Gee (-4) for the 1st time ever and just losing 7-6 in the 3rd.
He also took games off eventual semi-finalist Stuart Smith (-4) and England international Richard Brooks but with no jump shot due to his shoulder injury he finished 7th in the block - just as predicted by his ranking.
Having never played a best of three, Jack performed well above expectations taking games of 4 of his opponents including losing 7-6, 6-7, 6-7 to Jonathon Powe (-4).
In fact with 6 extra points he would have reached the knock-out.
The Plate saw Jack continue where he left off. He won his block comfortably, beating 2 minus 3's and and a -2.
The semi's saw him play local player Tudor Jenkins (-1) in his first ever 19 point game.
He 'won' 7-2 then remembered it was a 19 pointer and although Tudor crept back Jack won 10-8.
Then came the rain.....
With a shocking forecast and no likelihood of any play, both the finalists were happy to share the trophy
BUT permission was required from the Tournament Director, who was not present and could not be contacted.
So after a 2 hour wait Jack & Neil (another local player) ventured out onto a very soggy lawn.
Jack gained an early lead in the final and belying his age played a superb controlled game winning 10-7 without any drama.
Stephen Mulliner, the Manager and eventual winner, wrote this on the CA website:
'The youngest player by far was Jack Good, 14. In the blocks, he took games from Tudor Jenkins, Tim Jolliff, Ron Carter and Jonathan Powe.
The latter was a great match with the closest-possible score - 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 to Jonathan.
Jack has a great attitude and visibly improved as the event progressed.
It was both very welcome and no surprise to see him win his Plate block and then defeat Tudor Jenkins in the semi-final
and the improving local player, Neil Humphreys, in the final to win the Plate.
Jack has a great future in croquet if he persists'.

Report Graham Good

Chris Alvey from Bury Croquet Club has been appointed the Board Member with responsibility for the Croquet Performance and Selection portfolio by The Croquet Association. He is a Grade 1 Association coach and helps members to make the conversion to Association Croquet. In conjunction with this new role Chris has also been co-opted onto the working group: Referee Training and Certification

Report Roy Turner

Match report for Day 2.
Day got off to a sunny start with the Anne and Chris Alvey playing each other having both won 3 matches on Day 1.
Anne knocked Chris all over the lawn to take the win by 17 and move into the afternoon games as the clear leader.
David Cornes, Paul Dowdall, Philip Bass, Barbara Young & Steve Skelton also took victories I the mornings play.
The afternoon had the potential to make it a tie break situation for second place, but the final standings were
joint 3rd were John Henderson, David Cornes and Philip Snowdon all with three wins, runner up Chris Alvey with four
and tournament winner Anne Alvey having won all five.
Anne reduced her handicap to 18 whilst David Cornes had his handicap reduced to 14 by tournament handicapper Paul Rigge.
Tournament under-manager Liz Wilson and all of the players would like to extend their thanks to Paul Rigge and
Pendle & Craven Croquet club for their organisation and hospitality

Report Chris Alvey

Jack & Graham Good played @ Ashby on the 27/28th June.
It was in the National Forest GC Championship a qualifying round of the season long (but somewhat curtailed) Ascot Cup.
Given the CA's rather enthusiastic interpretation of the Covid-19 Regulations the field was limited to 12.
We also had to take our own clips, ball markers and even pens to record scores.
In Pool 'B' Graham was seeded 4th but massively outplayed his ranking to finish 2nd - thus guaranteeing a place in the semi but also qualification in the end of season Final.
In Pool 'A' Jack lost 5/5, the scores were 7-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-4 & 7-4 but they did include the UK #7 and #32.
Sunday saw Graham lose the semi 3-7, 6-7 to Ian Burridge, the 2 hour drive and straight on to play probably not helping.
For Covid reasons (lawn allocation) there was no 3/4 play-off.
The Final between Ian Burridge & Rachel Rowe was a true epic. Ian went 2-0 and 6-1 up but Rachel won the last 3 games all by 7-6 to take the trophy.
An event that we will remember for a long time.
The Covid rules (as applied) need some serious thinking about but many have already been superseded by changes to Regulations.
Everyone knew what they were letting themselves in for and it was a true shame that one individual did not 'go with the flow'.
If they were that unhappy perhaps a graceful withdrawal would have been more appropriate!
Report by Graham Good