There will be tea and cakes after this Saturday’s 1-ball at an enormous cost of £2 !!
Thereafter every 2 weeks .
There is a list on the clubhouse board to sign up for providinghome made or shop bought cakes. Thanks for your support.
Charity One-Ball – Saturday 25th April
This year Croquet England’s chosen charity is ‘Save The Children‘.
Please come along to support this event.
Minimum recommended donation to take part is £10.
Please wear something red.
Final regional play-off will be held at Bowdon on 17th May. The number of qualifiers for this depends on the number of entries we receive.
Thank you for your support.
Tournaments at Bowdon 2026
There are sheets on the notice board in the clubhouse where you can now sign up for the May handicap, midweek B class, midweek short croquet and midweek 14 point tournaments. The first two of these can also be entered via the Croquet England website.
If signing up on the sheet please pay the relevant fee to the club via bank transfer and include the correct text in the reference as described on the signup sheet. Also please could you drop an email to Brian Medley and Gaynor Edwards to let us know you have entered.
The advanced June weekend and championship of the north of England should be entered via the croquet England website.
The dates are:
2nd – 4th May: May Handicap Tournament
30th – 31st May: June Advanced Weekend
30th June – 1st July: Midweek B Level
22nd – 23rd July: Short Croquet Tournament
5th – 6th August: 14 Point Handicap Tournament
29th – 31st August: Northern Championship
Groundsman – John Greatbanks – Retires
After 18 years of looking after the lawns John Greatbanks retired on Friday 19th Dec. Not only did John manage the lawns but also helped out with various maintenance jobs from fixing fences to upkeep of the clubhouse and huts.
Thank you John.
John was presented with a hedge trimmer as appreciation for all his work over the years.
2025 AGM – 29th November
The 2025 AGM was held on Saturday 29th Nov. The minutes will be published in due course in the members area.
After the meeting the President, Lorna Frost, presented winners of the summer competitions.
Winners of the other summer competitions who couldn’t attend the AGM are:
A class – Jack Good; B class – Andy Jackson; D class – John Bagnall; 14pt handicap – Robert Cutts-Watson; Silver Box Plate – John Bagnall; GC level play – Jack Good
Cas Sinclair and Charles Fraser were joint winners of the Poppy Roquet Competition (Charles couldn’t attend the AGM).
Nigel Matthews won the Apps Memorial Bowl for CqE Most Improved Player AC 2025. Since the Memorial Bowl hadn’t arrived for the AGM, Nigel was presented with an (Adrian) Apps Bowl.
BowdonShort Croquet Tournament 23rd – 24th July
There are just a few places left in the midweek Short Croquet tournament – Wed/Thurs 23-24 July.
Play on one day only is possible.
Email me if interested at deadlybmedley@gmail.com
New Short Croquet Box League
A new box league is being set up by Nigel Matthews following requests from members.
If you would like to be included in this box league, please register on the booking system by opening the ‘Lawns’ box just below the date field and clicking on ‘Box League’. Then register as normal.
Don’t forget to change the field back to ‘Lawns’ from ‘Box League’ to see normal lawn bookings.
Bowdon Griffins beat Fylde 6-1 in CNW 26pt Handicap – 6th July
Bowdon Griffins beat Fylde 6-1 in the CNW 26pt Handicap league on Sunday 6th July.
The team was;
The full results were:
Adrian (2.5) & Ros (16) lost to Lee Hartley (-1.5) & Philip Bass (20) by 12-21
Mike (6) beat Catherine Bass (22) by 26-24
David (11) beat Betty Bates (7) by 26-0
In the afternoon,
Adrian beat Lee by 26-1
Mike beat Betty by 26-5
David beat Philip by 18-11
Ros beat Catherine by 26-16
Well done team!
Southport Festival – 28th – 29th June
Southport croquet club held their annual festival over a glorious weekend of 28-29th June. The festival was for all NW Fed clubs with competitions in Handicap Golf; Level Golf; Short AC; Handicap AC and Advanced AC.
Bowdon entered teams for the Short, Handicap AC & Advanced AC.
On Saturday the Short team was: Louise Cheyne (Captain), Gordon & Pauline Hennel. On Sunday Charles Fraser (Captain), Garth Aspinall, and Andrew Gould.
The 18pt Handicap AC team was Adrian Apps (Captain), Cas Sinclair, and Barry McKenzie on Saturday. Phil Thompson replaced Barry on Sunday.
Charles Harding and Brian Medley were the Advanced AC team for both days
Thanks to everyone who took part and made the fesival such an enjoyable event.
Results were variable over a number of rounds but Bowdon Handicap AC team managed to come top and won the Handicap Shield.
Chester Chariots lose to Bowdon NWF Level GC – 19th June
Bowdon travelled to Chester to play in the Croquet North West Level Play GC league on Thursday 19th June.
The team was: Nigel Matthews – Captain (0), Alan Mayne (0), & David Beddy (5).
The Chester Team was: Sarah Clements (2), Edward Baskerville (4) and Christine Thomas (5)
Bowdon were just a bit too strong for Chester and romped home with a 13 to 5 victory. Well done guys.
The individual scores were as follows:
| Nigel | Alan | David | |
| Sarah | 3-7 5-7 | 7-5 4-7 | 7-3 7-5 |
| Edward | 7-4 3-7 | 5-7 6-7 | 4-7 3-7 |
| Christine | 3-7 2-7 | 1-7 2-7 | 7-6 4-7 |