On a bright but chilly day 12 ladies played for the Ladies Singles or commonly known as the “Sexy Babe Trophy.” Split between two groups of 6 playing 4 games of 13 hoops matches were close and play moved quickly. Karen and Judith both had 4 wins in the red group but Karen came top with +18 hoops to Judith’s +15. The rest of the group all had 1 win each. In the black group Joan came out a clear winner being the only one with 4 wins. Betty was runner-up with 3 wins. The final was played whilst the 10 runners-up enjoyed the traditional tea and cakes – usual high standard. Karen won 7-5 well done to both players.

On a windy but ultimately fine day for croquet with the sun shining six pairs drawn from the proverbial two hats took part in this year’s event. How lucky the GC section have been with the weather this year! The format this year was for each pair to play the other five in 13 hoop matches finishing about 3pm. Of fifteen games played over half went either to the twelfth or thirteenth hoop with the winners Betty Craig and John Skuse being involved in no fewer than three 7-6 finishes all of which they managed to win. With 5 wins out of 5 they took first place with runners-up Joan Black and Paul Bridgman winning 4 and in third place June Brown and David Dawsey with 3 victories. Other pairings taking part were Lesley Bridgman and Keith Harris, Sheila Harris and Len Purcell and Anne Skuse and Marlene Lawrence. The shot of the day? Unquestionably Len’s jump shot versus Betty and John on their sixth hoop. Thanks go to those who supplied tea and cakes for the after tournament refreshments.

On a fine ‘normal’ summer day (blue sky, clouds, 19/20 degrees, forecast of rain later etc) the Greens arrived at Forresters Park for their Golf Handicap match against Maldon Lakeside. The lawns are not what you call pristine with plenty of bumps, warn patches, rabbit runs etc. Unfortunately not all clubs are as lucky as us so it makes us more grateful for what we have. The Green Team of Tony Frewin (3), Bob Jones (6), David Dawsey (7) and Betty Craig (12) were facing an uphill battle on alien lawns and giving away a lot of free shots to a Lakeside team of Jill Joslin (10), Peter Marvin (10), Shirley Macro (10) and Colin Beckett (12). The doubles were shared with David and Betty beating Peter and Colin 7-5 and Tony and Bob losing out on a golden hoop game to Shirley and Jill. The first set of singles produced two wins each with Tony beating Jill 7-5 and David (with the help of his opponent putting his ball through 3 times!) beating Shirley 7-2. Match score 3-3 The second round of singles didn’t go so well with Bob the only winner as he beat Jill 7-2. Lowlight of the round was David throwing away a 6-2 lead to lose to Colin!! Match score at lunch 4-6 A fine lunch of assorted sandwiches and chips was provided before we trouped out to resume the singles. The final two rounds of singles didn’t go so well with us realising the Maldon ploy of filling us up with chips had worked. Only 3 more wins were secured, Bob beating Colin 7-4, Betty beating Jill 7-3 and Tony securing victory ove Colin 7-3 having given him 9 free shots! Colin preparing to face Tony with 9 bisque. Final Match score Maldon Lakeside 11 games won (100 hoops won) Chelmsford Greens 7 (105). So with more hoops won and 4 golden hoop games lost things could have been different but all in all an enjoyable and sporting game against friendly opponents. This was followed by tea and cakes in the clubhouse before we headed home. The end is another season with our only victory, again, against the Blues so it hasn’t all been bad!!!! DD

Our friends from Tipps Cross arrived promptly at 10.00am for our annual encounter in the Coralie Cup. The weather was set fair and eventually turned into a really hot day as will be seen from the attached photographs. Chelmsford’s Blue team of Betty, June, Anne, Tess, Hilary and Len had quite a struggle to win by 46 hoops to 38 thanks in large part to a 6-1 win by Betty and June in their last game on lawn 1. No fewer than 5 of their games were won by 4 hoops to 3. The Greens fared rather better with a convincing margin of victory by 56 hoops to 28. Joan, Sheila, Sue, Ernie, Peter and Keith took 11 games out of 12 to help Chelmsford a win overall by 100 hoops to 64 A fine days croquet played in the best possible spirit by both sides. . Before Tipps Cross left the most important part of the day took place with the plentiful supply of home made cakes and welcome drinks taking place. On behalf of the home team best wishes to our visitors were expressed that their local council would see reason and allow them to continue playing on their present site. Our remaining Coralie Cup fixture versus Southchurch will be played away probably either on the 19th or 26th of September.

Peter had just cut the lawns which were a picture and commented on favourably by our visitors from Colchester. How lucky we are! David Dawsey’s team included Bob Jones, Betty Craig and Keith Harris whilst Colchester’s foursome were Ian Cummings, Jill Mills, Lydia Vaux and Steven Scrase. Chelmsford started well winning both doubles and 5 of the first 8 singles to enjoy a lead at lunchtime of 7 games to 3. However the afternoon saw a complete change of fortune. The next set of 4 singles went 3-1 to Colchester and the final set was a complete whitewash as our visitors took the spoils and won the match by 10 games to 8 with a hoop difference of 105 to 93. Fatigue had clearly crept into the Chelmsford camp by the time those last 4 games were played as the hoop difference of 28 to 13 demonstrates. The day finished with tea and cakes before our visitors left for home.

Arriving at Ipswich unbeaten our team of Tony Frewin (3) Paul Bridgman (3) Karen Jones (5) and John Mariner (5) accompanied by your correspondent had a brief introduction to the lawns before play started promptly at 10.00am. The doubles between the nos. 1 and 2 of each side saw Tony and Paul play Paul Homer (3) and Georgeen Hemming (3) over 3 long games which finally went in favour of the home team 7-5 5-7 7-6. In the morning singles Karen’s game versus the Ipswich captain David Wickes (6) also went to best of 3 with David finally edging it 2-7 7-2 7-6 whilst John lost a keenly fought game against 14 year old Albie Willetts (3) 5-7 6-7. Lunchtime score Ipswich 3 Chelmsford 0 ouch!! The afternoon session was somewhat abbreviated once the result of the match was known. John Mariner at least had the satisfaction of a convincing win versus David Wickes 7-2 7-4 just before Karen’s encounter with Albie ended in defeat 5-7 6-7. Losing to Albie by such a narrow margin was no disgrace. Albie’s handicap is being reduced seemingly week by week as he runs hoops for fun from distance. The remaining two singles were reduced in length with Paul agreeing to stop playing after Paul Homer had once their first game 7-5 whilst Tony Frewin and Georgeen shook hands after two games shared 7-3 3-7. Final score Ipswich 5.5 Chelmsford 1.5. Hoop difference Ipswich 86 Chelmsford 84. If Ipswich win their remaining fixture they go through to the final. Finally a note of congratulation is due to David Dawsey for winning the Colchester C Level tournament last weekend. Well done David.

Having been welcomed by Bury our team of John Skuse (2) Karen Jones (5) John Mariner (5) and David Dawsey (8) set about trying to preserve our unbeaten record. John M and David played singles versus Barbara Plested (8) and Mike May (6) and both won their games 2 straight whilst John S and Karen were engaged in a titanic doubles struggle on Lawn 1 versus Jan Oldfield (3) and Alan Plested (3). A match that started at 10.00am finished at 13.40 with Chelmsford winning 3-7 7-6 7-6 on parched lawns that made accurate play very difficult. Lunch time score Bury 0 Chelmsford 3. With 4 singles to be played in the afternoon John Mariner got us off to a winning score by beating Mike May 7-2 7-4 whilst David had to endure a 3 set struggle against Barbara Plested before eventually losing 6-7 7-6 5-7. John S met his match as Jan won 7-6 7-4 whilst Karen halved her match with Alan 6-7 7-6 as it was eventually agreed due to time constraints not to play the 3rd game. Our star player on the day was John Mariner whilst he received great support from the rest of the team. After the match Bury treated us to tea and refreshments which included chocolate coated strawberries. Mmmmmm! Match Result: BURY 2.5 CHELMSFORD 4.5 with a hoop difference of 103 to Chelmsford and 85 to Bury.

An all-girls team of Judith (4) June (9) Anne (10) and Deborah (14) at long last obtained a convincing win on a day when the temperature reached 30 degrees centigrade in Writtle. Maldon’s team of Peter Marven (10) Shirley Wallis (10) Richard Wallis (11) and Colin Beckett (12) started well by sharing the doubles but by lunchtime Chelmsford had established a 9-1 lead as they took all 8 singles. The afternoon saw a slight improvement in Maldon’s fortunes with Richard and Shirley winning 2 games for the visitors. Final score Chelmsford Blue 15 (119 hoops) Maldon Lakeside 3 (86 hoops). Star player for Chelmsford Blue was Deborah with 4 singles wins and a half share in a doubles win with Judith. One has to admire the way in which all the games were played bearing in mind the conditions which were really too hot the whole day.

Under a cloudless blue sky and on a lovely day at Forrester Park Chelmsford Blues faced Maldon Pavilion on lawns that took some getting used to by both teams. John Skuse (3) and Ernie Bailey (11) started well by winning their doubles versus Al Brown (1) and Joan Faircloth (11) 7-6 whilst Pete Wilkinson (9) and Anne Skuse (9) lost 3-7 to PeteHowe (3) and Neil Clark (9). Honours even. Likewise after the first set of singles as John beat Al 7-4 and Ernie beat Joan 7-5 whilst Anne and Pete both succumbed to Neil and Pete. The second set of singles saw the turning of the tide in Maldon’s favour as Neil beat Ernest 7-5 Al beat Pete 7-5 and Pete Howe beat John 7-6 with Anne being our only winner 7- 6 over Joan. Lunchtime score Maldon Pavilion 6 Chelmsford Blues 4. After lunch in the Forrester Park Golf Club more trouble for Chelmsford Blues as the home team took the 3rd set of singles 3-1 with John beating Neil 7-4 whilst Pete, Anne and Ernest all lost despite Pete taking Joan to the 13th hoop. Finally the last set was shared with Ernie beating Al 7-3 and Pete overcoming Neil 7-4.. Unfortunately the Skuse’s both lost to make the final score Maldon Pavilion 11 (109 hoops) Chelmsford Blues 7 (94 hoops).