2015

Heartache for Broadwas

3rd October 2015

Sidmouth-2015-1

On Sunday 27th September, Broadwas travelled to Sidmouth to take on an experienced Bath team in the final of the Association Croquet Federation League in the South West region. This was the first year Broadwas had competed in this competition, so they had done remarkably well to head their division, being undefeated throughout the season. Having received a bye in the semi final, Broadwas faced Bath who had defeated Cornwall in the other semi final.
On a lovely sunny day, on lawns overlooking the sea, Broadwas got off to an excellent start when Ian Dampney won 26 – 6 and John Guy triumphed 26 – 9. The doubles match was very close and, when time was called after 3hours 15 minutes Stuart Smith and John Evans were just one hoop down and lost by 14 – 15. At lunch the match score was 2 – 1 in favour of Broadwas.
In the afternoon session things started well when Ian Dampney stormed through his match to win 26 – 4. Meanwhile the other 3 singles games were very cagey affairs, and all went the full 3 hours 15 minutes to time at which point John Guy had lost by 9 – 23, but both other matches were very close affairs, Stuart Smith losing by 12 – 13 while John Evans, after a remarkable comeback, just lost by 22 -23.
So Bath ran out victors by 4 matches to 3, but great credit should go to the Broadwas team who had performed so creditably throughout their first season in this league, including Janet Bedford and Roger Wood who played in many of the league games but were unavailable for the final.

BROADWAS WINS FEDERATION LEAGUE

Our Federation Association Croquet team started the season with 3 notable wins before entertaining ‘The Bears’ on July 5th. Excellent play from the Broadwas team saw them storm to a 6 – 1 victory, which meant the league title rested on the final match to be played at Kington Langley on 17th July. As Kington Langley only have one lawn, this meant that 3 games had to be played at the same time on the lawn in the afternoon session, resulting in some confusion for the Broadwas players. However they held their nerve and kept their concentration against very strong opponents and managed to squeeze home by tight margins in all the games to win the match 5 – 0 and thus take the league title. This was an amazing performance as Broadwas had not competed in this ‘higher level’ league for several years so immense congratulations to team captain Stuart Smith and to team members Janet Bedford, John Evans, John Guy and Roger Wood. The team will now travel to Sidmouth on 27th September to take on the champions from other areas for the title of overall champions of the South West region.

The West Midlands Golf Croquet team has started their season in impressive fashion beating Edgbaston at home 16 – 3 before travelling to Himley to return with a 13 – 6 victory. Very well done to captain Ian Dampney and the rest of the team as they attempt to retain the title they won in 2014.
The Intermediate Association Croquet team has played 2 matches in the last month losing 1 – 4 at Nailsea before whitewashing ‘The Bears’ 5 – 0. With one match left to play the team can still finish in a creditably high position.
The South West Federation Golf Croquet team have not played in the last month and have one match left to play against Weston-Super-Mare. With 3 wins, 1 draw and only 1 defeat the team still have an outside chance of winning the league (depending on other results) so good luck to them in their last match.
On a more sociable note, the club held their annual one ball tournament on 14th July – the Ryland trophy held in memory of John Ryland, one of the original founders of the club. On a day interspersed with some rain, 26 members enjoyed a hectic schedule of 10 rounds of 20 minute matches with a break in the middle for lunch. At the end of the day, and following much checking and double checking of scores, John Guy was the winner followed closely by Josie Watson, Roger Wood, Stuart Smith and Billy Nicholson. The trophy was presented to John Guy by Pam Ryland, widow of John Ryland after which everyone present enjoyed cake, wine Pimms and soft drinks to keep the happy mood of the day going. An excellent day enjoyed by all present.

Even blue crocodiles enjoy Croquet!!

29th June 2015

Croquet was on show at the Three Counties Show at Malvern from 12th to 14th June.
If you went along to the Sports Village you would have been greeted by a merry band of Croquet enthusiasts from a range of local Clubs including – Broadwas (give names of other clubs)
A small lawn had been prepared – OK it was based on “rural grass” but the bumps and the slope made the lawn even more challenging!!
There were many takers from Show visitors to see who would need to fewest shots to go round the 6 hoops.
Let’s not forget the many other passers-by who stopped and marvelled at our fascinating game – I doubt if the Croquet team had had so many questions in such a short time!!
The idea for this Croquet Experience came from Chris Croft and John Steel who both have “connections” with the Show. With the support of the local federations and the CA; Clubs were invited to “man” the stand.
The aim was simple – to show Croquet to a wider audience (especially those who would never have thought of visiting a Croquet Club. Linked to this was the offer to pass on people’s names and addresses to their local Club – and, most important of all, to enjoy themselves.
There is one thing certain – everyone enjoyed themselves, more people saw Croquet in action and Clubs are following up those “interested parties”
Let’s hope that Broadwas will be invited back next year – or have they started a trend – is there a local Show near to your Club where you could offer your own Croquet Experience?
Oh – and that Crocodile? It was a mascot from a nearby show stand.It was walking around, supported by its “helpers”, encouraging people to visit their stand. When they came to the Croquet lawn, they could not help themselves from having a go. However crocodiles have big feet and it found it difficult to hold a mallet – ah well no-one’s perfect!!

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