Ken Cooper is running a revision course for recent joiners, or anyone with a handicap of 14 or above, on Saturday 26th April from 10am to 1pm. The course is aimed at anyone who would like to improve their skills at AC.
If you would like to attend, please register on the booking system or let me know. Adrian Apps
Last weekend saw the first of Bowdon’s 2025 tournaments, the Cheshire Open (GC) being held in surprisingly sunny conditions. Fifteen players assembled, representing 11 different clubs, with a range of handicaps from -3 to 8. Five debutants were welcomed onto the tournament scene. Two blocks of 7 & 8 were completed on the Saturday, with the top 4 qualifying from both blocks without too much trouble. However, a special mention must go to Pam Dawson, who surprised herself (and many others) by beating top seed Angharrad Walters 7-5 in her last game of the day on Saturday.
On Sunday, the main event moved into a best of 3 knock out. Both the semi-finals went to 3 games, with Angharrad beating Giles Pepperell 3-7, 7-5, 7-4 and Ian Burridge beating Stephen Wright 7-2, 6-7, 7-2. The final was closely contested between the two Welsh Internationals and looked to be heading for a decider when Ian led 6-4 in the second. However, after Ian had missed a short but angled attempt at hoop 13, Angharrad steadied herself and ran the hoop from near the north boundary to win 7-4, 7-6.
Congratulations also Robbie Dodds, who beat Sarah Clements (7-6, 7-3) to win the Shield.
The managed opted to carry forward the relevant completed games from the Saturday into the Plate Block, leaving just the cross-block games to be played. Octogenarian Fred Owen matched fellow debutant David Beddy with four wins from four on the Sunday, but narrowly missed out in the final play-off, losing 7-5 to David.
Thanks to all who participated, the Grounds Team (in particular John Greatbanks, Charles Harding & Brian Medley), Sheila Dix for the cakes, and Angharrad for managing.
The presentations were made by Bowdon’s new President, Lorna Frost. Angharrad announced that she had decided to name the new trophy after her mother-in-law, Dina Crowson, who had called her earlier in the week to relate a childhood memory. She had been taken from Nelson to Southport, by her father, to see the flowers on Rotten Row and came home having seen her first glimpse of croquet being played.
Presentation Photos by Carol Sinclair
Winner – Angharrad WaltersRunner-up – Ian BurridgePlate Winner – David Beddy
After a request from a member to pay £50 to hire a club mallet for the rest of the year, the committee is prepared in principle to trial this. However we need to ensure that there are sufficient suitable mallets available for all members. Therefore if any other members feel they would want to make a similar proposal, please email Brian Medley on deadlybmedley@gmail.com as soon as possible.
On a glorious Thursday 20 members turned out for the first week of this year’s John Saxby competition. This week, it was Andrew Winns turn to come out top with a score of 83. Carol Steinberg and Lorna Frost came second and third with scores of 78 and 69 respectively.
Last year Andy Jackson was in pole position for most of the competition only to be pipped at the post by Cas Sinclair on the last week. Lets hope this years competition is as exciting!!
The full table will be published after a few weeks of play. The top five after week one is as follows:
36 members enjoyed another entertaining Quiz on Friday and raised £138 for club funds. Tracey Phillips, Gaynor Edwards & Anne Brown won 1st prize with Ken & Sue Cooper coming 2nd after a quickfire decider.
Thanks to Charles and Cas for organising the event and everyone who donated raffle prizes.
Twenty six members turned out on Saturday 22nd Mar to play in the Charity 1-Ball event wearing the chosen colour blue. The weather was kind and stayed dry until play was finished and we were having a wonderful Saturday Tea. The top 4 winners were: 1st Phil Thomson; 2nd Janet Guthrie; 3rd Mike Steer; 4th Graham Abraham. We raised over £500 for the nominated charity, Alzheimer’s Society, and 3 or 4 members will be invited to attend the regional final of the Charity 1-Ball to be held at Nottingham on 17th May. Thanks for all the donations to the charity and to the Catering team for a wonderful afternoon tea.
The final of the 2025 Winter Thursday 14pt competition was played on a warm, sunny Thursday 20th March. The winner was Ken Cooper with runner-up Cas Sinclair.
Winner of 2025 Winter Thursday 14pt Competition – Ken CooperRunner-up of 2025 Winter Thursday 14pt Competition – Cas Sinclair
In preparation for the new season and the beginners’ course, we noticed that the mallet rack looks a little empty of higher quality mallets. Many of you have been encouraged to “adopt” your favourite mallet so that it doesn’t get “lost” among the other club mallets.
Therefore as a first step we propose to clearly number all the mallets for easy identification, and we’d like you to leave them all in the rack for now. Please could you stand unnumbered mallets beside (not in) the rack, and I’ll get them labelled up. If you want to know the number assigned to your favourite mallet, you are free to attach a temporary label with your name and email (or phone number if you’re on WhatsApp) and I’ll let you know.
Speak to any committee member if you have any queries or concerns.
The final of the 2025 winter 1-ball was held on Saturday 15th Mar. In a well supported and fine day Alan Dix won in a close fought final with Ged Smolskas runner-up.
The lawns are set out with 3 FULL lawns and 2 SHORT lawns
Programme of regular roll-up sessions – please sign up on booking system Monday. 10am-1pm AC for beginners and high handicappers (2 short, 1 full lawn) Tuesday. 10am-4.30pm Solomon Grundy AC for lower handicappers (3 full lawns) Wednesday. Free Thursday. 10am-3pm John Saxby AC for all levels (2 short, 3 full lawns) Friday. 10am-1pm Freshers Friday AC for beginners (2 short lawns) Friday. 3.30pm-6.30pm GC for all levels (2 full lawns) Saturday. 1.30pm-4.30pm One-Ball for all levels (2 short, 3 full lawns) Sunday. Free
The League matches and Tournaments as on the club calendar (see website) take priority over regular sessions
Free play There will be plenty of availability for individual games and practice on all days. The only roll-ups using all lawns are the Thursday John Saxby 10-3pm, and the Saturday One-ball 1.30-4.30pm
Double banking is encouraged, but not mixing AC and GC on the same lawn. If you see that two AC games are using two separate lawns and you wish to play GC, it is correct to ask(in advance) one AC pair to move to double bank, so freeing up a lawn for your GC game. And vice versa.
There should be sufficient lawn availability for Summer competitions and Box games. If difficult to find a lawn outside of the roll-ups, it is acceptable to join and play your game as part of a roll-up as long as format and time limit is compatible.
