The club level play singles competition in which 18 players took part was split into play on the 8th and 13th of September from which finalists Paul Bridgman and Tony Frewin emerged to play the 3 x 13 hoop final on a date to be decided by them Play was, initially, over all 7 hoops with the winners of each block playing a 13 hoop game to ultimately decide the winner on each day. On Thursday Paul won his block convincingly with David Dawsey in second place. Keith, after winning all his games, albeit with a struggle, won the second block with Judith in second place. Paul established an early lead over Keith in the semi-final which proved decisive as he eventually won 7-3. The following Tuesday on the hottest day of the season the block choosing to play in what little shade there was won by Tess who showed consistent form in winning all 4 games . Karen finished as runner-up. The second block was won by Tony who also won all 4 with John S finishing second. The semi-final between Tess and Tony appeared to be going the distance at the half-way stage but it was not to be as Tony who had played well all day emerged the winner 7-4. A feature of the play on both days was the fact that 50% of the games were scored 4-3. Congratulations to Paul and Tony for winning through to the final and many thanks to all who took part. JS

For the second week running one has to report a heavy defeat and this time it is at the hands of our friends at Enfield who seem to field virtually the same strong team every year in David Frost (0) plus John Street, Tony Elliott and Brian Dawes who all play with a handicap of 3. Our team of John (4) Karen (7) David (7) and Ernie (10) who valiantly came in at the last moment after Bob had no alternative but to withdraw were faced immediately with the sight of a cyclist appearing to take shock at the sight of Karen’s car slowly approaching him as he entered Fox Burrows Lane from the footpath to our left. He rather gracefully fell to the ground and, as he did so, his bike, no doubt in sympathy, fell apart beneath him. After exchanging somewhat sheepish smiles with us he proceeded to get up and make way for us. Clearly this incident had unsettled team Chelmsford for an argument then arose at the end of the lane as to whether we should turn right or left. Fortunately we had one navigator DD who over ruled your incompetent blogger and we proceeded without further alarm or delay to arrive in good time for a prompt start. Rather than give a blow by blow account of the match it has to be pointed out that Karen, David and Ernie were all making their debuts in this, the severest competitive test of league croquet in East Anglia. It was a tough experience for all of us with the temperature rising to 33 degees, the cast iron hoops demanding precise shot making and opposition that were adept at accurate clearances from distance. So now for the statistics: Enfield 17 Chelmsford 1 Enfield hoops 123 Chelmsford 64. The general view after the match was that it had been an enjoyable experience. None of us had thrown in the sponge though on such a hot day one would have been welcome! Many thanks to Karen for getting us there and back so capably and to David for his navigating from the back seat.

On a bright and breezy Sunday accompanied by a shower that lasted all of 3 minutes Chelmsford entertained Tipps Cross to our first match in this competition this year. Pleas to both teams to arrive early proved successful and, after coffee and an initial briefing, play started shortly after 10.15am. The early start enabled a long leisurely lunch to be taken after 16 of the 24 seven hoop games had been played. At this stage the Blue squad had established a 12 hoop lead but things were much tighter for the Greens who only led by 2. As sound levels from the V Festival accompanied the play the restart saw the Blues extend their margin of victory to 20 whilst the Greens doubled their lead to 4 making the final score Chelmsford 96 Tipps Cross 72. No fewer than 15 of the 24 games played went to the 7th hoop before the winning pair was known.. Whether this margin of victory will be enough for us to retain the Coralie Cup remains to be seen as we now have to visit Southchurch at Rayleigh for the concluding match. The date for this match is not known at present. Chelmsford’s team was: Betty, Ernie, Joan, John, Len, Linda, Sheila and Tess. During the lunch interval John and Jill Marchant and Mike Balcombe paid us a welcome visit and they stayed to watch play during the afternoon. Thanks are, of course, due to all who helped with catering, the setting up of the lawns etc.

> GC Level Play Match > > v > > Northampton > > 18TH AUGUST 2016 > > > How best to describe a match in which Chelmsford lost 16-1 with one match abandoned at 4-4 as no one had much idea as to when it would finish as tea and assorted cakes awaited consumption. > > The journey took just over 2 hours but thanks to Judith, our driver, and navigator Tony we arrived in good time only to be greeted by the strongest team we have had to face in 5 years of taking part in Level Play competition. Northampton’s quartet which included England international Lionel Tibble (-4) had a combined total handicap of minus 1 and rather unsurprisingly had gained maximum points from their first 4 games. > > After a short time to practice on the fast sloping lawns our pairings in the doubles acquitted themselves creditably losing each game 7-4. . The first set of 4 singles was keenly contested and John just scraped a 7-6 versus Mike Hills (scr.). The second set saw Paul lose at the 13th to Mike, Tony taking Jayne Stevens (1) to the 12th and Judith likewise to Peter Stansfield (2). So after 10 games we had played well but were 9-1 down and really up against it. > > The remaining games were all lost rather heavily apart from Paul’s final encounter with Peter Stansfield where, after 8 hoops had been shared, a long bout of safety play failed to find a winner for the next hoop. Probably for the first time in the history of the Level Play League they agreed to stop play at that stage. We await with baited breath the decision of the League Manager as to whether this game will be scored as a draw. > > Paul collected dues from the rest of the team for winnining the most hoops versus Lionel (3) which presumably means he has lost his amateur status – bad luck Paul! . > > Before leaving we congratulated Northampton on winning our division and wished them well in the final to be played at Hunstanton on 25th September. > > Thanks are due to Judith for doing all the driving on what is, by far, our longest trip of the season. JS

> As a follow up to last year’s inaugural Ladies Level Play competition Monday saw 12 members set forth to try and win the SB trophy and the Ladies Singles Cup. > > Organised by Judith the field was split into 2 blocks of 6 with each player playing 4 best of 13 hoop singles as constraints on time made it difficult to have an all play all in each block. > > In the first block everyone won at least one game but Anne and Linda with 3 wins each out of 4 topped the group with placings decided on hoop differences with Anne +7 to Linda’s +3. > > The second block also showed the strength within the club as all 6 players won at least one game and again there was a tie within the group in that Judith and Karen won all 4 as they had not played each other. Judith however edged it by only 2 hoops with a score of +19 to Karen’s +17. > > So the final was not to be a repeat of last year’s exciting tussle between Karen and Anne. Judith reacted well to the shock of losing the first two hoops as Anne followed up her initial blow with a long range shot from the Southern boundary straight through hoop 2. Quickly levelling by hoop 4 Judith proceeded to take a commanding lead interrupted only by another splendid Anne special on hoop 8 which earned a round of applause from the assembled throng who were no doubt pleased at the speed in which the game was being played. The ending came on hoop 11 as Judith cleared well before winning 7-4. > > As the downing of the Pimm’s took place followed by tea and cakes it was evident that everyone had enjoyed an excellent day’s sport in weather that could only be described as sublime. The photograph shows Anne passing over the trophies to Judith > who was thanked for the work she had done in making the event such a success.

Chelmsford played their last game of the league season on Saturday against a team from Bury St Edmunds. Jeff, Ron, David Ebert and Ian turned out on what proved to be a delightful day for croquet. The morning saw B St E start out on top with 2 out of 3 win, however after lunch, with renewed determination on our part, there were 3 out of 4 wins for Chelmsford, leaving us the overall winners. So thanks and congratulations to everyone, particularly David with two wins, and Ian who beat the B St E lowest handicap player.

The day was wrapped up by an excellent cream tea, for which we thank Maggie and Cheryl.

Maldon Lakeside welcomed us to Forrester Park on 22nd July for our final fixture in the EACF Handicap League. Our team of Paul Bridgman (4) John Skuse (4) Bob Jones (5) and David Dawsey (7) started well by winning both doubles but our hosts hit back by winning five of the next eight singles on what was going to prove a long hot day of competitive croquet. Their team of Peter Howe (6) Neil Grandy (8) Chris Joslin (10 and Jill Joslin (11) armed with shrewdly played extra turns were proving that there are very few one sided games in this type of match. The 3rd set of singles went Chelmsford’s way 3-1 thanks to two 7-6s and a 7-5 and our lead was 8-6 but the final set could easily have gone Maldon’s way 3-1 but for a nail biting 13th hoop battle between Maldon team captain Chris and John who rather luckily ran the hoop after some really sub-standard play. Final score Maldon Lakeside 8 (106 hoops) Chelmsford 10 (105 hoops). Chelmsford’s star on the day was Paul who won all his singles. No fewer than 7 games went to the 13th hoop with Chelmsford winning 6 of them. At least the handicappers had done a good job! A feature of the match was the sporting attitude of both teams given the difficult conditions for accurate play. We look forward to our next fixture with Maldon Lakeside at Writtle next year. With three wins out of four this year it would seem that we are likely to finish as runners-up to Southchurch who have one more match to play.

Late evening croquet with Highwood Ladies

Chelmsford scored their first win of the season in the EACF Essex/Suffolk league on Saturday the 16th. The Chelmsford team of Jeff, David Ebert, Graham and Ian played at home against the visitors; Georgeen Hemming, Al Brown and Rob and Sheila Waites. Jeff, Ian, and Graham (twice) won games, so the days score went to Chelmsford 4:3. Maggie provided an excellent tea, and the whole day was very enjoyable, almost too hot at times with some of our fine July weather coming out for us. Our next match, is also at home on 13th August against Bury.

Unbeaten Maldon Pavilion visited Writtle on 15th July for an EACF Handicap League fixture. Chelmsford’s team of Anne Skuse (7) Keith Harris (7) David Dawsey (8) and Len Purcell (8) shared the doubles and the first eight singles with their opponents Al Brown (4) Joan Fairclough (11) Richard (12) and Shirley Wallis (12). After lunch however Chelmsford won all 4 singles in the third set and shared the final set to win by 11 games to 7 and by 105 hoops to 88. A mention must be made of David’s win in the doubles with Keith and his achievement in winning all 4 of his singles including a fine 7-4 success over an otherwise unbeaten Al Brown. His reward – a handicap cut to 7. On what was a fine day for croquet it should be recorded as a matter of interest that work started today on the tennis courts and the one remaining net is no more. Where will Andy practice in future?