Mike Flannery – Bowdon Croquet Club

13/10/202613/10/2026

The Fotiadi Bowl – Novices Competition – 12th October

The 2026 novices competition, for beginners new to the club, was held on Monday 12th October. The Fotiadi Bowl was won by George Wealthall, who remained undefeated despite only learning the correct rules of association croquet during the first game!

The three competitors comprised George, Jon Hill and Ewan Smith, with Adrian Apps kindly stepping in to provide a dummy round for each player during the all-play-all format of Short Croquet. Bisques were reduced to 7 each to promote increased interactivity, with full allocation of 10 when playing Adrian.

In the first round, George narrowly beat Jon 6-5, whilst Adrian beat Ewan 14-2.
In round two, George beat Adrian 10-8 and Jon beat Ewan 9-5. In the final round, George beat Ewan 8-3 and Adrian beat Jon 14-5.

Andrew Winn presents the Fotiadi Bowl to George Wealthall

The rain mostly held off and the event was played in great spirit and enjoyed by all. Everyone certainly got a taste of the joy, frustration and unpredictability of croquet!

12/10/202612/10/2026

Summer One Ball Competition – Week 25 – 3rd October.

Fourteen members arrived on for the Saturday One ball completion and twelve stayed to the end!!

Gerald Fitzgerald was first with 87 points, his second win of the season. Margaret Moss was second with 82 and third place went to John Bagnall on 79.

Not much movement in the overall table, top 5 rains the same.

Position	Name	Score	Movement	Wins	Score to beat
1	Alan Dix	744	=	5	62
2	Gordon Hennell	693	=	3	72
3	Sheila Dix	685	=	5**	72
4	Gerald Fitzgerald	663	=	2	67
5	Tim McCoy	639	=	1*	65

You can view the full table here

09/10/202609/10/2026

Bridge for Fun – starts Monday 19 October

Bridge for Fun: Mondays 1:30 pm, from 19 October

Fo many years, Bowdon Croquet Club members and social members have regularly played Bridge at the clubhouse outside of the main summer Croquet season.

The club has all the equipment needed including packs of cards, green baize table covers and “cheat sheets“ to help less experienced players with the basics of bidding.

An informal group of members and social members of varying experience and ability meets in the clubhouse at 1:30 pm on Monday afternoons to play (and learn to play), Bridge.

This year we are planning to start the autumn Bridge season on Monday, the 19th of October.

We are a mixed group, ranging from beginners and those who haven’t played for a while, up to the quietly competent, (who can provide the less experienced players with occasional helpful hints and tips!)

If you would like to join our friendly “Bridge for Fun“ group please come to the clubhouse on Monday 19 October from 1 pm for a 1:30 pm start. We typically play until about four or 4:30 pm, with a tea and biscuit break part way through. The cost is £1 per person.

If you’d be interested in coming along to play (or to Learn) Bridge but can’t make it on Monday, 19th October please send a short WhatsApp or text message to Charles Fraser.

PS: if you enjoy cards, but Bridge isn’t your thing, and you could be interested in e.g. playing Canasta, please also drop Charles a line. If there is sufficient interest we will explore setting up a second group of card players.

Thank you.

Charles Fraser

09/10/202609/10/2026

BEETLE DRIVE – 23rd October

30/09/202630/09/2026

CqE AC Interclub Final – 3rd October

Bowdon have reached the final of CqE AC Inter-Club final. Bowdon play Roehampton in the final which is taking place at Northampton on Saturday 3rd October.

Bowdon’s team is Angharrad Walters (C), Jack Good, Andrew Winn and Simon Jenkins.

We wish them well .

28/09/202628/09/2026

Summer One Ball Competition – Week 24 – 26th September

Twelve members turned out to play week 24 of the Summer One Ball Competition. This week’s winner was Alan Dix – his 5th win of the season. Alan scored 91. Second place was Gordon Hennell with 81 points and third place went to Alison Court with 77 points.

Not much movement in the top five of the table this week, everyone staying in the same place.

Position	Name	Total Points	Movement	Wins	Score to Beat #
1	Alan Dix	744	=	5	62
2	Gordon Hennell	693	=	3	72
3	Sheila Dix	685	=	5**	72
4	Gerald Fitzgerald	646	=	1	67
5	Tim McCoy	639	=	1*	65

You can view the full table here

28/09/202628/09/2026

NEW for SUNDAYS – LEVEL PLAY GOLF (LPG) SESSIONS

The Committee have given the go-ahead for NEW weekly Level play Golf Croquet sessions commencing Sunday 4th October (11.45am to 3pm)

Aimed at any member who is interested in playing level play golf, the purpose is to improve your general play, skills and tactical awareness. Sessions will be a mix of “match play” and “mentoring sessions” with our more experienced players (including David & Sandra Cornes and Tom Grievson) willing to share their knowledge.

One lawn will be booked out (for up to 8 players) from 11.45am to 3pm from Sunday 4th October (moving to 11am to 2.15pm from 25th October). This allows the second lawn to be used for “box” or other members play. On each Sunday, if the second lawn remains vacant then the LPG play has the option to spread out. Members should sign up for LPG via the lawn booking system.

Please note that the Friday GC roll up is not affected by this additional session.

24/09/202624/09/2026

John Saxby – Final week – 17th September

Today was just for fun, if you can ever say that about the John Saxby Competition. This week Lorna Frost won with a score of 74, Sheila Dix was second with 67 and Barry Keen was third with 60.

The overall winner of this years competition was Alison Acton, well done Alison. The trophy presentation will take place soon.

The final top ten of the table looks like this.

Position	Member	Score	Wins
1	Alison Acton	617	5
2	John Lambie	556	2
3	Andrew Winn	533	2
4	Mike Dale	532	2
5	Lorna Frost	520
6	Ken Cooper	479	1
=7	John Bagnall	438
=7	Sheila Dix	438
9	Adrian Apps	430
10	Alan Dix	423

Some facts about this years competition.

Most Wins	Alison Acton	5
Nos of members who won a week		10
Highest Winning Score	Alison Acton	96
Lowest Winning Score	Charles Harding	43
Highest Average Score	Alison Acton	77
Weeks Played		18
Played most weeks	Sheila Dix	16
Total nos of games played		740
Most games played in 1 week	Weeks 6 & 8	60
No of members that played at least 1 week		43
Total points Scored		11,707

22/09/202622/09/2026

Bowdon Players – GC Finals – 19-20 September

Four of Bowdon’s members had progressed to the GC finals, Jack Good and Euan Burridge where in Class A being held at Nottingham; “The English National Singles Championship”. Alan Dix reached the B class finals being played at Pendle and Alex Aiton reached the D class finals being held in Eastbourne.

Jack and Euan did well in their Blocks and progressed to the Championship knockout. In the first round of which Jack was playing Ian Burridge and Euan playing Mark Stephens. They both won their games to face each other in the semi final, with Jack running out the winner by 2 games to 1. Jack went on to play Levi Franks in the final which unfortunately Jack lost two games to one. Nevertheless runner up in the National Singles Championship is not to be sniffed at. Well done Jack

Meanwhile in Pendle, Alan won 6 of his 7 games in his Block progressing to the main knockout, where he met Paul Rockall in the first round. Alan winning this game by 10 – 6. In the semi final Alan played Ian Price winning 2 – 0 to face Sally Helvey in the Final. Alan played Sally in the Block losing 0 – 7, so this was going to be an interesting final. Could Alan take his revenge or would Sally beat him again. As it happened Sally couldn’t repeat her earlier success, with Alan winning 7 – 3 and 7 – 6 to take the Trophy. Well done Alan.

The longest drive of the weekend belonged to Alex Aiton, who was playing the D Level series being held in Eastbourne. Alex won all 7 games in his Block and met Catriona Peterson in the first round – Alex winning 10 – 9. Alex then played and beat 2 games to 1 , Derek Cole in the semis and with Carol Gorvett waiting in the final. Alex went on to beat Carol 2 – 0. Well done Alex – C Class for you next year!

Well done to all Bowdon members for an impressive results across the board.

22/09/202622/09/2026

Summer One Ball – Week 23 – 19th September

Ten members arrived, with great expectations of a sliver of chocolate, in the end Gerald Fitsgerald came first with a score of 90. Louise Chayne was second with 86 and Graham Abraham was a very close third with 83 points.

Alan Dix remains out in front on the overall table, Gordon’s 4th place today moves him up into second place and Geralds win moves him up a place too. The top five looks like this:

Position	Member	Points	Movement	Wins	Score to Beat
1	Alan Dix	711	=	4	62
2	Gordon Hennell	686	+1	3	72
3	Sheila Dix	685	-1	5**	72
4	Gerald Fitzgerald	646	+1	1	67
5	Tim McCoy	639	-1	1*	65

You can view the full table here