Bury GC Inter Club Tier 3 Team Win v Nottingham 5/6/2026
Despite heavy rain all week, the match went ahead in surprisingly dry conditions at Whitehead Park.
Nottingham, after a long journey, took some time to settle and Bury won the first three matches fairly convincingly
although Nottingham Team Captain Cathy Turski fought hard, winning the first game against her opposing Captain.
After lunch, Bury only needed one win to progress through to the next round but Nottingham,
last year’s runners-up, had other ideas and fought hard, with Tom Dewar winning the top match against Bury’s Richard Leach 2-1.
Nottingham continued the fight-back, winning the opening game in each of the next two matches however
Bury rallied and David Barrett beat Roger Steeper 2-1, the same result achieved by Bernard Lord against Debbie Watson.
In the final match, it was a very even affair with Simon Attwell taking the first game 7-5,
Cathy Turski replying with a 7-5 win and then Simon producing some accurate play to win the last game 7-2.
Although Bury eventually ran out 6-1 winners and progress to meet Leicester in the quarter-finals,
it was much closer than the scoreline suggests with fine play from all players.
Bury Team: Bernard Lord, (Capt), Simon Attwell, David Barrett, Richard Leach. Nottingham: Tom Dewar, Cathy Turski (Capt), Roger Steeper, Debbie Watson
Report by Simon Attwell
GC Handicap League Match Report
Fylde Falcons vs Bury North
31st May 2026
Bury North Team:
David Parrott
Chris Williams
Ian Saunders
Dawn Meachin
Fylde Falcons Team:
Alison Broughton
Barbara Walker
Ted Walker
Colin Galbraith
We were given a warm welcome on an overcast and windy day for first away match of the season at
Fylde.
After losing both of the opening doubles matches to Fylde, things weren’t looking too good but we
soon rallied and even won all of our second round games. The final scores don’t accurately reflect
how close most of the matches were, with a few of our losing games going to ‘golden hoop’ and we
ended up winning the day with the final score Bury North 10, Fylde 8.
A very enjoyable day.
Bury South Draw against Ellesmere CC Advantage GC league
A glorious sunny afternoon Saturday 30th May, we welcomed the Ellesmere Advantage GC team.
Teams:
Bury South:Barbara Duncan (capt.), Gail Burnett, Hilary Hamer, Sharon DeMaine.
Ellesmere: Alan Wright (capt.), David Lilly, Mark Frayne, Kath Hough.
The match started well with Bury taking both doubles games.
However Ellesmere took five of the first set of singles meaning a five all score line at lunch.
So all to play for in the afternoon.
With one match to go Bury held a 9 - 8 lead, meaning Bury needing to win the game for the match and Ellesmere to draw.
This game was between Hilary (11) and David Lilly (1), whilst Hilary put up a valiant effort against a much lower handicap player.
David who is a former AC player and used his experience to clear a number of Hilary’s nicely positioned balls from a distance, was ultimately too strong for her.
Nonetheless all the team played their part in winning games all played in good competitive spirit- all agreed a most enjoyable day.
Result Bury South 9 Ellesmere 9
Report by Roy Spencer.
BCC Holiday Weekend 22nd-25th May 2026
For the second year running, the club’s annual holiday weekend took place at the Warner Hotels Alvaston Hall Hotel Nantwich from 22–25 May.
Nineteen club members took advantage of, and enjoyed, the many activities the hotel has to offer,
including the leisure centre with pool and spa, aqua aerobics, archery and shooting, boules, and quizzes - and of course croquet!
Members also enjoyed walking around the extensive grounds and watching the wildlife.
Whilst the hotel has its own croquet lawn, a disused bowling green was kindly prepared by the hotel grounds team for the club’s exclusive use.
We took our own equipment and gazebo, (thank goodness!) and plenty of croquet was played over what was the hottest May Bank Holiday weekend on record.
A number of hotel guests took advantage of taster sessions on the Saturday,
and there were several enquiries about the game, with guests taking away leaflets and details of their nearest club.
Some guests were subsequently seen playing on the hotel lawn, others mention us on social media
and others thank us in person for adding to the enjoyment of the weekend at the hotel.
In the evenings, members got together for enjoyable dinners in the hotel restaurant and cabaret room.
The food and service in the restaurant were excellent and efficient,
with a themed menu each evening followed by musical entertainment — including a Tom Jones tribute act on the Saturday.
For photos, CLICK HERE
Caesars vs Fylde
A home match on a glorious day saw a team of Chris & Anne Alvey, Phil Hunter & Mark Simmerson take on Betty Bates, Andrew Webb, Barry Broughton and Lee Hartley.
Phil and Anne took on Lee and Barry in the doubles , leading to a close match that finished 21-18 in Anne and Phil’s favour,
Mark had long since finished after beating Barry 26-0 in just over an hour and Chris and Betty’s close single match finished 26-21 with
Chris grazing the peg with his second ball to win.
The afternoon saw Chris finishing in just under 54 minutes against Andrew for a 26-2 win,
Mark and Lee’s battle of the big guns was ultimately won by Lee 26-18. Phil held his nerve to beat Barry 26-18 with an
excellent finish and Betty was victorious against Anne as time went 21-14.
Chris Alvey
Bury Croquet Club Hosts Successful Annual Open Day with Civic Dignitaries in Attendance on 26th April 2026
The club held another successful open day at Whitehead on 26th April welcoming around 90 visitors and club members.
The day raised £1,264 which, after expenses of £44.56 gives a net of £1,219.44 and will result in £609.72 each for the Hospice and the Club.
A cheque has been delivered to the Hospice amounting to £651.72.
This was made up of the 50% share of receipts of £609.72 plus a £40 donation for the hospice
which the donor asked to be included in the club payment along with some subsequently received ticket money.
Twenty membership enquiries were taken, with some having already taken out trial membership - and we are very pleased to welcome them
The event was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Bury, Cllr. Tahir Rafiq Bury, Bury North MP and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, James Frith,
along with local councillors representing Bury West and Elton wards.
Guests joined club members on the lawns, taking part in friendly games of croquet and experiencing the sport first hand.
Blessed with idyllic weather, visitors enjoyed a relaxed and sociable atmosphere while trying their hand at croquet on the club’s meticulously maintained lawns.
A range of activities ensured there was something for all ages, including specially designed mallet-based games for children.
In addition to the sporting activities, attendees were able to browse stalls and enjoy refreshments, with traditional scones, jam and cream proving particularly popular.
Speaking at the event, James Frith MP said: "I came for the first time last year and enjoyed it so much that I was delighted to return and support the event again.
It’s a fantastic community occasion that brings people together in a truly welcoming setting and supports Bury Hospice”
Also taking part was Pat Lomas, representing Bury Hospice, the club’s chosen charity, which the Open Day proudly supports each year.
There was extensive publicity prior to and following the event including Bury Times printed and online version,
also on That's TV Manchester, and one one hour slot on Roch Valley radio with Anne & Chris Alvey representing the club which can be heard on
this YouTube video link.
Also on YouTube Today in Radcliffe channel there is an excellent video of the actual day: (CLICK HERE)
Thanks to approximately 20 members that helped on the day, and also to those who donated tombola & hamper prizes - a great selection this year.
(Donations also received from Asda Radcliffe & Morrisons Whitefield )
Peelers v Caesars 160526
Bury Peelers v Bury Caesars 26 pt AC
The club "Derby" match in the NW Fed league AC 26pt. at Whitehead on 17th May 2026.
Peelers: Margaret Eccles (Cpt). Vi Richards, Richard Leach, Phil Nuttall
Caesars: Chris Alvey (Cpt). Phil Hunter, Anne Alvey, Duncan Meachin
Some competitive games played in mixed weather conditions but in good spirit,
the day in the end coming down to the last match and the golden hoop being taken by Margaret in a close run tussle with Phil Hunter.
An thoroughly enjoyable day for all concerned.
End result Peelers 4 Caesars 3
Good luck to both teams in their remaining games during the season.
Chris Higgins wins GC A Level Series Tournament at Bury
9th/10th May 2026
Chris Higgins (Bishop Monkton) won the A Level Tournament Cup at Bury defeating Sarah Clements (Chester) (7-2, 7-5)
The A Level 2- day Tournament returned to Bury this year but unfortunately only 8 players were able to attend.
Despite, small numbers and rain on Saturday the match play did not disappoint and throughout the weekend we witnessed exciting play and closely fought games.
On Saturday, the format was “All Plays All”. Richard Leach (Bury) and Robert Strover (Bishop Monkton) both won 5 of their 7 games,
Chris Higgins (Bishop Monkton) and Sarah Clements (Chester) both won 4. Tony McCann (Backworth), Edwin Bone (Cheltenham),
and Pamela Dawson (Southwell) each won 3 and Michael Bilton (Gainsborough) won 1.
Sunday saw better weather thankfully and started off with the 19-point Quarter final matches.
These resulted in Michael Bilton, Sarah Clements, Edwin Bone and Chris Higgins going forward to the Semi Final for the Cup.
Semi Final places for the Plate went to Richard Leach, Tony McCann, Robert Strover and Pamela Dawson.
The Semi Final matches were 13- point Best of 3. Chris Higgins took only 2 games to get through to the Final for the Cup,
but the other 3 competitors had to play all 3 games to win their place in their respective Finals.
The Playoffs were 19-point matches. Tony McCann beat Pamela Dawson (10-3), to obtain 7th position, but Pamela put up a good fight.
Edwin Bone and Michael Bilton competed in the 3rd/4th Playoff and Edwin came third beating Michael (10-6)
Richard Leach and Robert Strover competed in the Final for the Plate and in a good match Robert had to play the 3 games, to win the Plate (7-4, 3-7, 7-4).
Chris Higgins needed only 2 games to achieve victory over Sarah Clements (7-2, 7-5) for the Cup
but it was an excellent match with exciting play and great shots from them both.
Club President, David Barrett presented the trophies and wine.
Thanks go to the referee, John Crossland; the Tournament Management Team; the Grounds Team and the Catering Team, for making the weekend an enormous success.
It was great atmosphere and there was sense of camaraderie amongst everyone all weekend.
Having played at Penrith in 2025 Penrith made the journey to us this year.
The day started overcast and despite the threat of rain, it never appeared.
Following Tea and toast (thank you Anne), we started with Tony & Chris in the doubles
giving 7½ bisques to Graham & Robin from Penrith, Anne and Phil had 2 and 4 bisques respectively to Ian & Geff.
Phil played an excellent morning of croquet, winning his match comfortably against Geff 26-12.
The doubles started with Tony & Chris on the back foot, but as the bisques disappeared,
and after some great play by Tony they won18-15 on time. Anne’s game also went to time, with Penrith’s first win 23-12 in Ian’s favour.
The afternoon saw all Bury players giving bisques to their opponents except Chris who was playing level with Ian.
Tony was the first to finish with a 26-3 victory over Geff, this was followed by Chris’ match
where the lead had changed multiple time as both players made mistakes and then great turns in equal amounts.
A peel followed by a jump and drag took both Chris’ balls through the last hoop but a poor choice of shot
to get to his opponent saw the croquet shot go off the lawn losing him the continuation stroke.
Ian played well and made up the hoop deficit getting both balls to peg but missing the hit on to Chris’ balls in the corner.
This gave Chris a rush to the peg and the peg out winning 26-24. Bury were through with 2 left to play.
Phil’s opponent Robin, was playing well and got ahead, leaving Phil to shoot at a lot of long roquets,
in the end the advantage Robin had eked out proved to much and Phil lost 19-9 on time.
Anne’s match was near time when Graham let Anne back in with an opportunity to get ahead.
Anne ran Penult and rover before clearing Graham’s balls from the hoop and laying up in corner 3.
With seconds to go Anne finished her turn leaving Graham with little option to shoot at the balls in the corner 3 from midway down the West boundary.
Graham’s ball ran wide giving the win to Anne.
Bury progress to the next round with a 5-2 win over Penrith
Bury win v Derby in
The GC Inter-Club Championship Tier 3 (Bowl) 2026
Simon Attwell at Sheffield
The match was played Monday 20 April 2026 at Sheffield Park Croquet Club, a mid-way travel spot, thanks to the kindness of Peter Reed,
Sheffield Park Chairman who served drinks throughout the day, having set up the lawns for us.
Unfortunately the cricket club failed to cut the grass and so the terrain was slightly more challenging but no less enjoyable and was, of course, the same for both teams.
The Bury doubles pair of Bernard Lord (5) and Duncan Meachin (5) started strongly and won the first game 7-4 however Derby,
led by Captain Kate Ibbitson (6) and partnered by Stephen Lamont (7) rallied well and comfortably won the second 7-2.
The final game went in favour of Bury who used their experience to win 7-1 and take the doubles 2 games to one.
On the other lawn, Simon Attwell- Bury (6) was playing Jane Greaves-Derby (9) and on Secondaries,
David Artingstall-Bury (6) played Peter Seddon-Derby (8). Simon won the first game fairly comfortably 7-3
but then in game 2 inexplicably helped his opponent by telling her how to set herself to perform a jump shot,
the angle of the mallet head and power needed only for Jane to execute her first ever jump shot, win the hoop(7) and run her ball down to the next (8) and run that as well.
So from being 4-2 ahead he quickly was pegged back to 4-4. This started a real tussle and only ended when he performed his own jump shot on hoop 13.
David is a very measured and steady player and was too strong for Peter, winning his match 2-0.
The four single matches then commenced with the top two playing each other and so-on for the other three team members.
Duncan again started strongly and quickly completed a 7-4 win in the first game. Kate however raised her own game
and convincingly beat him 7-2 in the next. "I couldn't run a hoop" was his agonising complaint.
Thankfully for Bury, he quickly found his touch and ran out a convincing winner 7-1 in game 3.
Bury were now 4-0 up in matches with three to play.
Stephen Lamont played extremely well in beating Captain Bernard Lord 2-0, including a 7-6 hoop 13 win in the second game.
Simon played poorly against Peter Seddon who put him under enormous pressure with some very accurate approach play,
and just managed to win 7-6 in game 1. Peter quickly fought back in game 2, winning it easily 7-2. Simon managed to pull himself together and won the last game,
finishing with a flourish by jumping his opponent to run hoop10 and win 7-3 and the match 2-1.
GC Handicap League Match Report
Bury North vs Westmorland
26th April 2026
Bury North Team:
Bernard Lord
Pat Lord
Helena Nuttall
Lynne Gaukroger
Westmorland Team:
John Armer
Fiona Armer
David Massey
Mark Hartnett
A beautiful sunny day for our league opening match.
The handicap scores for both teams were pretty even on paper and the doubles matches were balanced with each side winning one of the games.
Moving on to the singles matches, the Bury North players scored well with quite a few of the matches ending 7-4 or 7-5
but Westmorland proved the stronger side on the day with the final result
Bury North 6, Westmorland 12.
A very enjoyable day.
A/C B Level Advanced
Crake Valley v Bury
Played at Crake Valley on Sunday 19 April
Bury team – Paul Kenworthy 1 Richard Leach 10 Phil Hunter 10
Crake team – Ian Hall 2 Steve Skelton 3.5 John Henderson 4
Played on a bright day but with a cold wind.
In the morning doubles Paul and Phil took on Steve and John.
Paul and Phil decided to play alternate shots, something they had done before with reasonable success.
The Crake team played their own balls.
Steve and John dominated the early play but Paul and Phil made something of a recovery with some ambitious shots that came off.
However the final score was Steve and John 21 Paul and Phil 16.
Richard played Ian Hall, a much lower handicap player. Richard again played better than his handicap making Ian work hard to beat him 26 -17.
Crake 2 Bury 0 going in for lunch.
Paul played Ian in the afternoon. Ian made very good early progress and despite a resurgence from Paul won 21 -19.
Richard played Steve who dominated the match to win 26 - 6.
Phil played John who also dominated the match to win 26 - 2.
Final Score:- Crake Valley 5 Bury 0
Whilst this was not Burys finest outing we were against a lower handicapped team and everyone enjoyed the day.
Reporter Paul Kenworthy
Mary Rose round 1
Bury v Chester at Coronation Park on 18 April
Result: Bury beat Chester 5-2
Individual game scores (Bury names first):
Paul Kenworthy (handicap 0.5) & Ken Jones (3.5) beat David Boyd (4.5) and Robin Tasker (5) +4(t)
Tony Phillips (4.5) beat Andy Wilson-Chalon (7) +6(t)
Chris Alvey (7) beat David Guyton (5) +22
Paul Kenworthy beat David Boyd +11
Ken Jones lost to Robin Tasker -22
Tony Phillips lost to David Guyton -9t
Chris Alvey beat Andy Wilson-Chalon +5
As most players were playing their first match of the season there were many and varied errors in the morning games.
The first to settle into some controlled play was Chris, who steadily built a good lead against David G and never looked back, to record a comfortable victory.
The doubles game was very close at this point, but Paul took control in the final 15 minutes to reach the peg and peg out as time was called,
leaving the Chester pair one long shot which they narrowly missed.
Tony was always ahead in his game and managed to fight off a late rally by his opponent to also win.
Bury lead 3-0 at lunchtime!
In the afternoon Paul set off at a cracking pace and had soon built a convincing lead in the top game.
By contrast the Battle of the Captains in the second game was all going Chester's way.
In the other two games Tony and Chris were also behind in the early stages. Ken never found his form and Robin continued to play well,
hitting in at several crucial points, to record the first win for the visitors.
Paul didn't have it all his own way and his opponent was steadily catching up,
helped by Paul forgetting he had given a lift at one point and handing the innings over; however,
Paul took advantage of a short miss by his opponent and comfortably finished the game to record Bury's fourth win and win the match.
Chris found his morning form late on and came through to win narrowly, while Tony's game became a comedy of errors at the end and he suffered a narrow defeat.
The win by 5 games to 2 puts us into the quarter final for the third year in succession - a notable achievement.
Ken Jones, Bury Captain
One-ball North West Federation League fixture:
Bury v Tattenhall
16th April 2026
This was a home fixture in the inaugural season of the one -ball league. The Tattenhall Team
was David (golf handicap of 0) and Sandra (golf handicap of 3) Cornes and Frank Sharp
(golf handicap of 4). The Bury Team was Phil Hunter (golf handicap 5), Duncan Meachin
(golf handicap 5), Simon Attwell (golf handicap 6).
One Ball is a form of association croquet, although a lot of the shots taken are akin to golf
croquet. Here however it is necessary for you to get your ball through all 12 hoops and peg
out. The handicap differences allowed the Bury players to have a certain number of bisques
(extra turns) in each game. Each team member played 2 games against their 3 opponents
meaning 18 games were played in all. Bury won the match 10 games to 8. It was however a
close-run thing as going into the last round of matches we were only leading by 1 game.
Credit should go to my teammates as Duncan won 5 of his 6 games, Simon won 4 of his 6
games, but I did manage to win my last game to seal victory!
Match report by Phil Hunter
NZ visitors
On Monday, the club was delighted to welcome two visitors from New Zealand: Gregg and Gill.
Members of the Kaiapoi Croquet Club in Christchurch, South Island, they’re on a UK visit and Bury is their fourth club of the trip.
Gregg and Gill enjoyed some GC games at Whitehead with members and expressed their gratitude for the hospitality.
Interestingly, Gregg revealed there are 13 croquet clubs in the Christchurch area!
Bury South vs Bury North GC Derby Doubles Day, 12th April 2026
Attending:
Bury South – Barbara Duncan (Capt), Gail Burnett, David Artingstall, Helen Artingstall, Peter Hamer,
Hilary Hamer, Richard Leach, Sharon De Maine
Bury North – Dawn Meachin (Capt), Duncan Meachin, Bernard Lord, Patricia Lord, Ian Saunders,
David Parrott, Ken Eccles, Helena Nuttall, Lynne Gaukroger, Chris Williams
Traditionally the Bury GC teams were pitted against each other in a season-opening draw but since
Bury South were moved to League B of the NW Federation last year, this is sadly no longer the case.
(Bury North remain in League A). As an alternative, and as a season warm-up, we decided to hold a
‘Derby Doubles Day’ for the local teams on 12 th April instead, with all available team members
invited along to Whitehead Park to play a level-play doubles ‘everyone gets to play’ format.
In all, 20 matches took place over the day. The weather wasn’t particularly kind with rain, hail and a
bit of sunshine thrown into the mix but everyone played well and by lunchtime it was close with 5
wins to South and 6 wins to North but by the end of the day Bury North managed to pull ahead and
finish 13 wins to 7.
A very pleasant and fun day.
Richard Leach finishes joint second in Middlesbrough Charity One Ball event
Three BCC members travelled to Teesside to take part in Middlesbrough Croquet Club’s annual Charity One Ball Tournament
on Saturday 4th April at Albert Park, in aid of Save the Children.
Seven players from the Croquet North region were joined by the three visitors from Bury Croquet Club,
making a field of ten competitors.
Richard Leach, Duncan Meachin and Simon Attwell represented BCC.
The event was played in an all-play-all format on a full lawn.
Handicaps were calculated using the lower of 2.5 times a player’s GC handicap or their full AC handicap.
The difference between players’ handicaps was divided by three to determine the number of bisques.
The standard of opposition was high, including one player off -3 and two off +1.
Richard played consistently well, winning six of his nine matches to finish joint second.
Duncan won three matches, while Simon won two, including a victory over Richard.
Simon commented: “It was a great experience that we all enjoyed, especially competing against some very skilled players.
Our hosts were very pleased that we had travelled so far, as they normally play against local and club members.”
The winner, with an impressive eight wins from nine games, was Philip Hastings.
Bury Croquet on Roch Valley Radio
Bury CC was proudly featured on Roch Valley Radio on Saturday 4 April 2026.
Club representatives Chris and Anne Alvey joined presenter Tim Moore for an hour-long interview,
offering listeners an engaging introduction to the sport, insights into the club,
and details of the upcoming open day on 25 April 2026.
Tim Moore had clearly done his homework on the sport, even watching YouTube videos in advance.
Anne and Chris represented the club brilliantly—so much so that Tim has committed to attending the club’s open day.
We look forward to welcoming him!
For members that were not able to listen on the day, it can be heard by clicking
HERE.
2026 Quiz Night
A full house of 47 members and guests attended and thoroughly enjoyed our Annual Club Quiz, hosted by Anne and Chris Alvey on Saturday 21st February 2026 at Whitehead.
A firm favourite in the club calendar, the quiz is one of our two key fundraising events each year.
We are delighted to report that this year it raised an excellent £636 in total, all of which will go towards supporting club running costs.
Importantly, this represents clear profit, as the cost of the pasty and peas supper was generously sponsored by DB Mallets — our sincere thanks to them for their support.
Congratulations to this year’s winners, the Attwell/Schofield/Harvey team, who proudly took home the trophy — very well done to them!
A special thank you also to everyone who kindly donated raffle prizes. The raffle alone raised £166 (included in the total above).
Click HERE for a selection of photographs from the evening, including the winning team.
First social of the 2026 calendar year saw a fantastic turnout by Club members.
28 members played with a further two as spectators, thankfully the bad weather abated, although
still cold and wet. In fact some members travelled from Macclesfield and Barnoldswick. We also
welcomed 4 new members, Delphine, Helen, Clive and Neil, and a guest Sue to our soiree.
An enjoyable evening was had by all.
Everyone played 2 games with 4 people per lane spread over 7 lanes.
Participants were -
Margaret Anderton, Ken Anderton, Helen Artenstall, David Artenstall, David Barrett, Ian Birkett, Ruth
Burnham, Ken Eccles, Hilary Hamer, Peter Hamer, Richard Harvey, Guest Sue, Phil hunter, Pat Lord,
Bernard Lord, Steve Lent, Paul Kenworthy, Dawn Meachin, Duncan Meachin, Phil Nuttall, Dave
Parrott, Ian Saunders, Roger Schofield, Roy Spencer, Delphine Bugarel, Clive Koffman, Helen Naisbitt,
Neil Naisbitt
Prize Winners on the night
Highest score first game
Winner Ken Eccles 110
Second Ken Anderton 104
Third Dave Parrott 97
Highest score second game
Winner Ian Saunders 117
Second Clive Koffman 110
Third David Artenstall 101
Highest overall score
Winner Phil Nuttall 223
Second Phil Hunter 197
Third Peter Hamer 190
Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone.
Big thankyou to Margaret Eccles for collating all the scores, Helena Nuttall for the photos.
