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March 17th/18th 2007 - Indoor Association
Croquet at Soham
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Sunday
18th
David
Tutt and George Woolhouse of Letchworth won the Cornelius Cup at
Soham last Sunday. They were runners up in February and
excellent play from both of them this time brought a
well-deserved victory.
East
Anglia is the most experienced region at indoor croquet and the
standard of play continues to improve as each year goes by. This
is partly due to hard-to-find villages such as Northlynn, Norips
and Chelsworth where indoor croquet has become very popular.
Anglian
Croquet Man has learnt to save time by playing uncomplicated
breaks and resist the temptation to separate opponent’s balls
all the time. Some huff and puff around the court, others act as
though they are on a relaxed stroll. Don Cornelius (a native of
Northlynn) has played indoor croquet since the mat first began
15 or more years ago. He lulls the unsuspecting opponent into a
false sense of security by strolling slowly round the court in
an apparently casual attempt to make a break from nothing –
then $%£&* - he has made 6 hoops, left his partner with a
rush to 1 and your balls are about 25 miles apart and treble
crosswired!
The
Man of the Match for me was George Woolhouse (Irish Grip,
swinger) his stroke play is simply beautiful to watch. Hoop runs
are silky smooth, he has an unhurried backswing and a follow
through to die for (HEALTH WARNING – dying can kill). All of
this makes him deadly (woops) accurate. As you would expect, his
partner David Tutt played very well throughout the day and adds
yet another trophy to his pile.
It
was really good to see two new players from Bury St Edmunds.
Simon (7) and Justin (18). To begin with they struggled to
master the special tactics of indoor croquet but as time went on
they became more and more competitive and managed a +6 victory
against Norips.
Someone
said they were astonished that more people do not want to play
indoor croquet. It is an action packed day, 6 games and
brilliant fun. Personally I think we should keep it a secret.
Duncan
Hector
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Saturday
17th
Left to right:
Richard Smith (St. Albans),
Colin Hemming (manager),
Jon Palin (St. Albans)
Sunday
18th
Left:
David Tutt
Right: George Woolhouse |
February 17/18th 2007 - Indoor Association Croquet
at Soham
Saturday 17th
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Saturday winners, left to right:
Jon Palin, Michael Percival (Manager),
Richard Smith
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The tentacles of the European Union reached the
remote area of the fenlands this weekend with the introduction of a
revision to the baulk line positioning of the ball. Both the north
and south baulks were shortened so that balls could only be
positioned from the corner to the nearest hoop. This latest
innovation imported from our Belgian playing brotherhood certainly
had an immediate impact making it slightly more difficult for the
senior players. In addition it was also decided to revise the wiring
lift so that the full handicap version replaced the short croquet
variant that was used in the past. Again an attempt to make life
that much more difficult.
However, not to be outdone the St. Albans team of
Richard Smith (1/2) together with the club's bright new prospect Jon
Palin (18), with their total of 3 bisques immediately made their
presence felt demolishing their opponents one by one like a tiger
tank ploughing through a butter mountain. The joint entry of Norips
i.e. Michael Percival (1) and Terrey Sparks (3) was their first
victim and quickly dispatched +12. Despite some rugged resistance by
Colchester comprising David Haslam (5) and Peter Kenward (18) who
managed a draw, the Herts pair stormed on remorselessly although
Letchworth David Tutt (1/2) and George Woolhouse (1/2) in a last
ditch stand only lost -2 on time in a close run game. Overall St
Albans ran out the worthy winners 4.5 wins with Letchworth runners
up 3.5.
The unusual sight of Richard Smith using his
junior partner's bisques on seven occasions to deadly effect during
the day attracted much mirth giving the Manager much to think about
overnight. So much so, that on the Sunday a further new rules
amendment appeared restricting the senior players use of bisques in
the future. But, then again that's another story.
Terrey Sparks |
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Sunday winners,
left: Charlie Askew,
right: Nick Evans
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Sunday 18th
There was a good mix of
teams on Sunday with combined handicaps ranging from one team
receiving 8 bisques to two required to make 2 peels. The new rule
preventing low handicap players taking their high handicap partners’
bisques was now in place much to the chagrin of at least one low
handicapper. The tournament came down to a very tight finish with
Northampton (Nick Evans and Charlie Askew) playing Hunstanton (Jeff
Race and Brian Saddington) in the last round. If Hunstanton had won
this match the tournament would have gone to Ipswich. In the event
Northampton just squeaked through +1 making them the overall
winners.
David Kitson |
January 13/14th 2007 - Indoor Golf Croquet at
Soham
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Saturday winners with Tony Marks.
Left: John Cundell,
right: Richard Keighley.
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The weekend proved
to be a popular event with 7 clubs taking part. Bury St Edmunds,
Downham Market and Newport entered teams for both the Saturday
and the Sunday.
Finalists on the
Saturday were Leighton Linslade Team 1 (Richard Keighley and
John Cundell) and Downham Market Team 2 (Linda and Martin
Ambrose). The winners were Leighton Linslade.
Finalists on Sunday
were Norwich Team 2 (Sarah Barley and Ann Tallowin) and Newport
Team 1 (Pat Marks and John Sibson). The winners were Norwich.
People seemed to
enjoy getting out for a game of croquet in the winter. I hope
the event continues to be popular. |
Sunday winners with
David Kitson.
Left: Sarah Barley,
right: Ann Tallowin.
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Tony Marks |
December
16/17th 2006 - Indoor Association Croquet at Soham
For the first time a
new format was tried. Instead of the usual entry of pairs representing clubs,
individual players were entered with each player given a different partner in
each round, the winner being the player involved in the most winning games. The
new format was voted a success, although perhaps with more enthusiasm on Sunday
than on Saturday when it was still bedding down. The general view was that it
could be tried again on one weekend the following season. Particularly welcome
was the number of new high handicap players who entered.
The winner on Saturday
was Jonathan Hills with 5 wins out of 5 and Terry Mahoney was runner up with 4
out of 5. On Sunday the winner was Paul Stevenson with Terry Mahoney again the
runner up.
On Sunday a presentation was made to
Michael Percival to thank him for running the indoor tournaments for the last
eight years. To mark the impending Christmas festival Colin Hemming kindly
provided glasses of the appropriately named Croquet aperitif.
David Kitson
November
25/26th 2006 - Indoor Golf Doubles at Soham
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No fewer than 9 clubs entered, each providing two
and, in two cases, three teams. The entries were divided into two
groups with the winner of each group playing a final match. Each
match was played on a times and handicapped points system with no
limit on the handicap.
Saturday’s finalists were David and Helen
Manley (Newport 2) and Don Barrett and Peggy Kenny (Wrest Park 1). A
very closely matched final saw Newport 2 winning.
Sunday’s finalists were Ann Sweeney and Brian
Cash (Bury St Edmunds 1) and Batty and Roger Lambert (Letchworth 2).
Another very close final was won by Bury St Edmunds 1.
I would like to thank all those clubs and players
who took part in this most enjoyable weekend’s golf tournament. I
hope to see even more clubs and players at our next Indoor Golf
Event at Soham on 13/14th January. |
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Tony Marks
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Saturday October 21st
2006 - Indoor Association Croquet at Soham
Seven teams competed in the
first indoor tournament of the season. With a rather patchy entry some of the
teams could fairly be described as hybrid. Thus while Colchester and St Albans
were both represented by two pairs there were also composite teams from Downips
(Downham Market and Ipswich) and Northwich (Northampton and Norwich). Letchworth
looked like a team with a solid foundation but in fact turned out to be Duncan
Hector partnered by anybody who wasn’t playing for someone else at the time.
In fact, Duncan was clearly able to inspire his partners to raise their game (or
perhaps he was just shrewd in picking them) to the extent that he won 5 of his 6
games, a total only equalled by St Albans B (Terry Mahoney and newcomer Jon
Palin), St Albans being declared the winner on the basis of net points won.
David Kitson
Last update:
29/03/2008
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