On the last Friday in June, Swindon Croquet Club held its third annual Croquet England (CqE) Golf Croquet ‘C’ series tournament for players of handicap 7 and above. We welcomed 12 players from clubs in the South West and Thames Valley plus one player, Eric McCurdy who had travelled from Perth, Western Australia to play in our competition.
Play took place on a dry and generally cloudy and cool day. Competitors took some time to settle to the fast speed of our lawns but, once acclimatised, we were treated to excellent croquet with many closely fought games. Players were divided into two blocks of 6 with all playing all in each block. In Block A, Carol Wadsworth moving through smoothly to the final winning all 5 of her games while, in Block B, Ruth Raunkiaer emerged as the winner with only one loss. In the play-off final, Ruth quickly stormed into the lead winning the first three hoop, an advantage which she held to the end winning 7 – 4 and so qualifying for the National Final at the end of the season and, as a first time winner, also qualifying for a CqE Merit Award. Both players come from the Phyllis Court club in Henley-on-Thames. The third place play-off was also somewhat of a ‘domestic’ affair with Jill Bateman (a winner in 2022) beating Claire Herring, her fellow Cheltenham club member, at the final 13th hoop. So the competition ended with the Ladies filling the four top slots!
Next year, with the expansion of the Club to four lawns at the Moredon Sporting Hub, Swindon Croquet Club will; expand the competition to 16 players and hopes for an even wider representation of players.