On 29 January 2023, 38 players turned up at Fendalton Park Croquet Club to play doubles croquet and hopefully win the trophy. The lawns were good, the weather just right and the camaraderie and sportsmanship a delight. There were three groups of five teams and one group of four teams. The groups of five teams played 5 rounds of 13-point games, with one team having a bye each round. The group of four teams played three rounds of 19-point games, which led to much learning in determining extra turns and deciding what order hoops were to be played. The top teams in each group were determined by number of wins and then net points. It was a close contest!
These four players then had a semi-final followed by a final.
Winners of the trophy were Owen Evans & Patrick Connolly (Cashmere)
Runners-up were Maria Narbey & Frances de Latour (Akaroa)
Thanks go to Tim Slack for being the referee for the day, and to Fendalton under the guidance of Tricia Morrow for providing a great morning and afternoon tea.
Vilna Gough-Jones (Manager), Patrick Connolly and Owen EvansFrances de Latour, Vilna Gough-Jones and Maria Narbey
The Golf Croquet Grades tournament for Premier, Senior and Intermediate was held in very hot conditions on Sunday October 30th. There were good fields of Premier (6 players), Senior (12 players) hosted at St Martins, and Intermediate (10 players) hosted at Cashmere. Catering at both clubs was highly praised, as were lawns. A very sincere thanks to both clubs.
As the day progressed at St Martins one of the Premier players had to withdraw. This impacted on the Premier draw and some players had long waits as the day progressed. They were playing 19-point games on one lawn. However at one part of the day it was noted that the lawn was empty. Savouries had been served and the young men were keen not to miss out so they had delayed play. The presentation of the Peter Couch Trophy was made as the Seniors continued to play.
The winner was Logan McCorkindale (Waireka), and runner up and winner of the CCA Silver badge was James Duggan (Cashmere) The Premiers posed for a great photo at the end of the day.
Meanwhile over at Cashmere, a player had become unwell and was taken to hospital by ambulance as a precautionary measure. Without too much delay the tournament, including two players from Rotorua and one from Blenheim continued. After a full day of play Patrick Conolly, the promising young junior from Cashmere prevailed over Terry Green (Rangiora). Terry had beaten Patrick 7/6 in block play, but Patrick turned the tables in the final with a 7/4 win.
Patrick won the Peter Couch Bowl and the CCA Silver badge. Runner up was Terry Green with Mike Bunce (St Martins) in third place.
Meanwhile back at St Martins there was some mention of sunset at 8.04pm as a very long semi- final between Gay Jones and Melanie Stevenson (both from Cashmere) finally finished after an hour and three quarter match. Bruce McLay (United) who had had a much shorter semi with Dave McMillan (Akaroa) was waiting in the shadows ready to pounce in the 19-point final.
Bruce McLay (United) won the trophy and the CCA Silver badge with a 10/6 win over Runner up Gaylene Jones (Cashmere). Dave McMillan (Akaroa) came in third.
We put our lights on to drive home after another “big day at the office” for all involved.
Sixteen players from Canterbury travelled to Ashburton to play South Canterbury in the AC interprovincial on Sunday 18th September.
The match was played as three rounds of doubles with the total number of hoops determining the winner. After a strong first round, Canterbury narrowly beat South Canterbury with a two-hoop lead.
Full results are below.
The winning Canterbury team with Marghuaritte Rogers holding Basil the ram
On Sunday 25 September 2022 on a cool but fine day, there were 28 players taking part in the Inaugural GC Handicap Advantage Tournament. Due to numbers, the event was run over two venues with 20 players in three blocks at Fendalton Park Croquet Club and 8 players in one block at Holmes Park Croquet Club.
Canterbury Croquet Association in New Zealand is the first to run an Advantage Handicap Tournament with so many players, and there was some good feed back from the players to send to the organizers in the UK to improve the system further. Auckland also ran Advantage Handicap Tournaments on Sunday with fewer players and limited handicap ranges.
The overall response from our players was very much in favour of this new system of handicapping and as the UK organizer noted, we are still learning and refining. The different starting score and method of using pegs for a positive or negative score was taken on board by the players with some great croquet being played. I wish to thank the players for their sportsmanship, great atmosphere and being willing to learn about the different method of scoring and pegs.
My thanks go to Gay Jones as the assistant manager at Holmes Park, and to Mike Dawson and Sylvia MacFarlane as referees for the day and to the host clubs.
The final results were Winner: Patrick Conolly from Cashmere Croquet Club with Runner-up Kevin Freeth from Blenheim. Third was Neville Turner from Rangiora and fourth was Mike Bunce from St Martins.
South Island AC Teams Event – Report from Alister Newey and Steve Costigan
The AC South Island Teams event was held at the Waireka Club in Ashburton on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March.
Teams from Nelson, Canterbury, South Canterbury and Otago competed and each consisted of 1 player from each the A, Intermediate, B and C grades.
The Canterbury team consisted of: Peter Parkinson, Steve Costigan, Alister Newey and Betty Hall.
The format was level doubles with the 2 senior players of each team playing together and the 2 junior players making up the second pair.
Each pair played a round robin against the same half of the other 3 teams each day, making 6 x 2-hour games for each pair and a total of 12 games per team.
The weather was cool to start with both days, (8.30 start) but turned out calm and hot for the most part. The lawns were in good order and quite fast.
The Canterbury team performed well enough to come in first place with 10 wins from their 12 games.
Peter and Steve lost just 1 game when unluckily the opposition gave little chance for them to get started and that game was all over in 1hr 5min.
Alister and Betty also lost only 1 game, their last one, on golden point, to a miracle roquet shot of 21 yards by the opposition, to their 2 balls set up to run the next hoop in order by Betty and unfortunately also the next hoop in order for the opposition striker as well. That’s sport.
We all had shots and games we would like to have again however let’s celebrate the result and the silver tray.
WELL DONE CANTERBURY
Left to right: Steve Costigan, Alister Newey, Betty Hall and Peter Parkinson
The CCA Atkins Competition was played on Saturday mornings from 29 January 2022. The finals were held at Fendalton on Saturday 26 March 2022 in brillant weather. Congratulations to the following top 8 teams who competed for the trophy and plate this year: Akaroa 1 & 2, Cashmere 1 & 2, Hornby 3, Fendalton and United 1 & 4.
Play started on lawns with a small amount of dew present however as the morning progressed these dried out making for better playing conditions.
Atkins Trophy
The trophy 19 point semi finals provided viewers, including those who were out walking their dogs watching over the fence, with great clearances and hoop running. The score for United 4 and Cashmere 1 went hoop for hoop however midway through United 4 went out to a 2 point lead only for Cashmere 1 (Gaylia Powell and Dick Sainsbury) to level the score at hoop 16. United 1 (Louis and Bettin Inglewood) managed the last two hoops giving them a win 10 – 8 and progressing to the final.
The second semi between Hornby 3 (Helen Webber and Wendy Berkett) and Fendalton (Cheryl Morrall and Julie Mills) was very similar to the other semi, with the game being won by Hornby with a successful boundary hoop shot on hoop 17. Winning score 10 – 7.
The final also played as a 19-point game and untimed was between United 4 and Hornby 3. Both teams had supporters from their respective clubs with everyone enjoying the good croquet being played.
Congratulations to Hornby 3 who replicated their previous score winning 10 – 7 with United 4 finishing as runner-up.
Plate
The Atkins Plate were 13-point timed games.
The first round results were : Akaroa 1 ( Carolyn Smith & Ian Bain): 7 v Akaroa 2 (Maria Narbey & Graham Jones) : 4 Cashmere 2 (Ken Lowe & Steve Stokes): 7 v United 1 (Geoff Price & Lee Ferguson): 2
The Plate semi-final this year included the trophy losing teams.
Cashmere 2 v Cashmere 1: the Cashmere 2 team were on a roll after their first game beating their club mates 7 – 3.
Akaroa 1 played Fendalton who held off a determined Akaroa team to win 7 – 5 and progress to the Plate final against Cashmere 2.
Final
A great game to watch the tactics and strategy of the more experienced Fendalton team and Cashmere using their extra turns to try and counter the moves. Well played Fendalton and Cheryl your jump for joy at hoop 12 when your ball went through the hoop said it all. Score 7-5.
Well done to everyone who played in the Atkins this season and we hope to see you all back next season. (Psst: If you’re really organised Interclub teams due in August).
Don’t forget CCA Prizegiving on Sunday 10th at 1:30pm at Fendalton.
Photos (51) Left to right; Helen Webber, Wendy Berkett, Louis Inglewood, Betty Inglewood
Photo (17) Left to right: Cheryl Morrall, Julie Mills, Steve Stokes, Ken Lowe
L-R: Atkins winners Helen Webber & Wendy Berkett (Hornby), Runners up Louis Inglewood and Betty Inglewood (United)L-R: Plate winners Cheryl Morrall & Julie Mills (Fendalton Park), runners up Steve Stokes & Ken Lowe (Cashmere)
The CCA Agnes Dick competition was held at Elmwood Croquet Club on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th March 2022. There were eight pairs entered. The event was managed by Jim Hopley.
The weather was fine but cool. Lawns and whole of Elmwood Croquet Club looked a picture.
Results:
Round 1 Steve Costigan & Betty Hall beat Jenny Hollobon & Diana Howes 22-7 Jim Hopley & Cheryl Hopley beat Carol Kidd & Alister Newey 17-13 Owen Evans & Patsy Clegg beat Geraldine Murphy & Jenny Tait 19-18 Bruce Wright & Gay Jones beat Sally Jeffcott & Kevin Cusack 26-1
Round 2 Jim Hopley & Cheryl Hopley beat Jenny Hollobon & Diana Howes 19-3 Steve Costigan & Betty Hall beat Carol Kidd & Alister Newey 19-16 Owen Evans & Patsy Clegg beat Sally Jeffcott & Kevin Cusack 21-14 Bruce Wright & Gay Jones beat Geraldine Murphy & Jenny Tait 18-11
Round 3 Jim Hopley & Cheryl Hopley beat Steve Costigan & Betty Hall 10-8 Carol Kidd & Alister Newey beat Jenny Hollobon & Diana Howes 20-16 Bruce Wright & Gay Jones beat Owen Evans & Patsy Clegg 16-12 Geraldine Murphy & Jenny Tait drew with Sally Jeffcott & Kevin Cusack 11-11
Round 4 Bruce Wright & Gay Jones beat Jim Hopley & Cheryl Hopley 18-13 Steve Costigan & Betty Hall beat Owen Evans & Patsy Clegg 26-9 Sally Jeffcott & Kevin Cusack beat Jenny Hollobon & Diana Howes 15-4 Geraldine Murphy & Jenny Tait beat Carol Kidd & Alister Newey
Winners: Bruce Wright & Gay Jones Runners-Up: Cheryl Hopley & Jim Hopley
Winners Gay Jones and Bruce WrightRunners up Jim and Cheryl Hopley
The CCA GC Open tournament was held over the weekend of March 12th and 13th. Getting a field together for both days was challenging, and a big thank you goes out from the manager to those who entered. Five teams competed in the doubles on Saturday, and two blocks of five in the singles on Sunday.
Both days experienced sun, cloud and wind, but thankfully no rain. The lawns at St Martins were beautifully prepared and there were some tight games and hoops on both days.
Josh Winter partnered with Patrick Conolly to win the doubles. Gaylene Jones and Melanie Stevenson were runners-up. A clean sweep to Cashmere.
Josh also prevailed over his friend and National Doubles partner, Levi Franks to win the singles 10/8. John Borner from St Martins was third.
Manager Cheryl Morrall with the doubles winners Josh Winter and Patrick ConollyDoubles runners-up Gaylene Jones and Melanie Stevenson Singles winner Josh WinterSingles runner-up Levi FranksThird place John Borner
The 2022 Carol Hayward was played at United Croquet Club on six Tuesdays from 1st February 2022. It was a handicap singles competition for players over 60 years old. One 18-point game was played each morning with a break for morning tea.
The competition was played as a flexible Swiss as players could choose to play each week. Thirteen players entered and the manager played when needed.
It was a close competition with three players on 80% going into the final day. Sue Stott (Edgeware) and Bruce McLay (United) finished with 5 wins out of 6 games (83%). Bruce was declared winner based on the strength of opponents. He also beat Sue when they played each other.
Betty Hall (United) and Alister Newey (Rangiora) ended with 67%. However, Betty played only three games so did not qualify for a place.
Thanks to the players who made the competition enjoyable and to Margaret Stoddart Retirement Village for sponsoring the event.
The AC Grade Champs were held at United on 26-27 February. The weather was cool but dry and the lawns were slow. The event was combined with the silver badge competition and 18 players competed in four grades, with the premier grade being cancelled due to lack of entries.
The 18-24 grade was won by Betty Hall with 5/6 with Jim Hopley in second with 4/6. Alister Newey beat Bruce Wright for the 10-16 silver badge.
Eight players competed for the 4-9 Grade. In the qualifying blocks on Saturday, Carolyn Fordyce was unbeaten with excellent wins against two lower bisqued opponents. In the other block Steve Costigan was also unbeaten. They were joined in the gold block on Sunday by Owen Evans and Cheryl Hopley who did very well playing off a 9 handicap. The silver block on Sunday was won by Jono Hart, whilst the gold block was very close, finishing with three players on 2 wins. Net points were used as a tie-breaker and Carolyn was the unlucky third, with Owen runner-up and Steve the victor.
The 0-3.5 grade was won by Josh Winter who was unbeaten. His shooting on Sunday was some of the best I can remember seeing.
Many thanks to the United club for hosting the event, Ian Campbell for umpiring over the weekend, Jenny Clarke for helping managing and John Yarrall for making new hoop holes.
Croquet Canterbury 