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Bakewell Croquet Club held a club tournament on the last day of August with twenty one members taking part. The play was enthusiastic, with delicious cakes and tea provided by the members.

The end of the season is approaching but play will continue whilst the weather and the state of the courts allows. A programme of local winter walks followed by a pub lunch is planned.

Last Wednesday, 10th July we had the pleasure of a visit from five adults from Golding House Resource Centre at Matlock. They are people with learning difficulties who live in Matlock, Darley Dale or Bakewell who regularly attend the Centre to take part in a wide variety of activities, many of which are provided by local clubs and individuals in the community.

This croquet session was an add-on to the walks provided by Terry Page, a full time Peak Park Ranger. Assisted by Billie, Carol, Avvy and Alan, we were able to enjoy some games of croquet on a beautiful summer’s day. The final session proved that “Girl Power” were the winners – one of the attached photos shows the two contestants celebrating with their carer Rachael.

We all had a really good time and they are sure to be back.

Alan

 

 

Bakewell A team (Judith Clay, Steve Marsh and Alan Reeves) played the second of their 1st division matches on Friday 28th June. It was a home game against Long Eaton which Bakewell won 9 games to 3. This evens us up with the 9 – 3 defeat we suffered at our first away game against Leicester. So 4 more matches to play, 2 at home and 2 away.

We are fortunate to have a relatively large pool of players to choose from compared with other clubs. Hopefully, all of the following will get to play in the 1st division. Peter Blackburn, Judith Clay, Bob Furniss, Steve Marsh, Alan Reeves, Peter Williams and George Wolfe.

Our next match will be at Branston (Lincolnshire) on Wednesday 10th July.

Alan

A few photographs of Bakewell Croquet Club when they enjoyed participating in the Bakewell Baking Festival at the request of the Mayor Paul Morgans, by playing croquet in the recreation ground for the entertainment of the public.

Click the images to see a larger version.

Bakewell Croquet Club started the season enthusiastically despite the chilly weather, it was hard to recognise anyone under the layers of woolly hats and scarves. However last weekend everything improved when the sun came out. Ten members went to enjoy a stay at The Ripon Spa Hotel and play on their superb courts. The mornings were spend playing a friendly tournament with the afternoons free to enjoy exploring the surrounding area. Some of our party took advantage of tuition from the hotel resident coach. As always the club has a busy calendar of events, including friendlies with other clubs, league games, two club tournaments and a BBQ. If anyone is wondering what croquet is all about, please come along to one of our club sessions and one of our members will be pleased to give you a taster lesson.

Bakewell Croquet Club member Dorothy Evans won a closely fought final to win an East Midlands Tournament played at the Nottingham Croquet Club on 30 May, beating fellow club member Mike White into second place.


The tournament was open to all qualifying players within England and had a starting line-up of twenty-four hopefuls. Both Dorothy and Mike topped their group matches in the morning and went on to win their semi-finals to set up an all Bakewell clash for the final. It was a tense game with the lead changing hands throughout the match and Dorothy running out the winner on the last and deciding hoop with a score of 7-6.

After the final Dorothy said, “It was a tense match and at times I thought that I had lost it, but I got a good position on the last hoop and managed to score”.

Mike commented, “It was a very close match all the way through that could have gone either way.  It was great to be part a match that was so close, Dorothy just got the advantage at the last hoop and so deserved to win”.

This is the first year in which this tournament has been run and so Dorothy will be the first name to be engraved on the base of the cup, which will be competed for again next year.

Alan Reeves, Chairman of the Bakewell club remarked, “This is the first time that any club member has entered an external competition and we are all delighted that Dorothy won, although sorry that Mike had to lose”.

Alan went on, “I think that this win really puts us on the map as a club and I encourage anyone who has an interest in a game of skill and tactics to either contact me or come along to one of our club sessions. We provide all the equipment and have qualified coaches to give tuition and guidance”.

Alan’s telephone number is 01629 812603 and club sessions are every Monday and Thursday at 2.00pm and Saturday at 10.00am.

You might have missed it – what with the Olympics and European Cup, but Bakewell Croquet Club played Southwell Croquet Club in a return ‘friendly’ match on Sunday, 10th June. The weather nearly forced us to cancel but it turned out to be a lovely day after two weeks of rain.

We fielded a team of six to five from Southwell so Billie generously offered to play for the opposition. We now have to suspect her loyalties as she played like a demon, ending the day with the best result of her new ‘team mates’, all of whom are very good players! Well done Billie!!!

Despite such treachery, Bakewell managed to sneak a close win at 116 hoops to their score of 91.

Keep an eye open for our next visit to Southwell, it really is a good day out.

By Bob Furniss

This was once again great fun and was held in beautiful weather. I really can recommend it to anyone in the future.

The duo of Furniss & Nursaw was less than dynamic – being let down by the lamentable play of Bob!! One of their more charitable opponents felt so sorry for them, she knocked three of their balls through the hoop for them. No such sentiments from the rest of the opposition though, resulting in a 4 to 2 drubbing overall.

Carol and Dorothy wasted all their lucky (?) shots in one game winning that 7:0. They should have saved some for the other five which they lost.

This left our former semi-finalists, Steve and Gill to salvage our pride – but they weren’t in the salvage business on the day!! Never-the-less, they were still the best of the bunch, winning three games out of six.

Roll on next year!!

by Bob Furniss