The shock of having to be at Colchester by 9.30am for our Handicap GC match on Friday clearly had a detrimental affect on the Chelmsford Blue squad of Judith Hand(4), Deborah Clark(12), Peter Wilkinson(9) and John Skuse(3) as the 2 doubles and the first series of 4 singles were all lost to give Colchester’s team of Pam Hopper(5), Jill Mills(6), Patricia Drinkwater(9) and Stephanie Sadler(11) a 6-0 advantage. The second set of singles saw a recovery of sorts as 3 of the 4 games were won by the Blues and hopes of at least a draw were high as, after lunch, the 3rd series was also won 3-1 to make the score Colchester 8 Chelmsford Blue 6 before the final games were played. Alas despite 2 of the encounters going to the 13th hoop all four games were lost to make the final score Colchester 12 Chelmsford Blue 6 with a hoop difference of 111 to 93. A long day’s croquet played on very fast lawns with narrowish hoops concluded with refreshments kindly supplied by Colchester before we said our goodbyes and departed shortly before 5pm.