Category: News

News from the club

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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
Left to right: Jon Hill, George Wealthall and Ewan Smith..

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!

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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.

Gerald Fitzgerald – Winner Week 25

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

PositionNameScoreMovementWinsScore
to beat
 1Alan Dix744=562
 2Gordon Hennell693=372
 3Sheila Dix685=5**72
 4Gerald Fitzgerald663=267
 5Tim McCoy639=1*65

You can view the full table here

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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

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Short Lawn Tournament – CqE Merit Award for David Cornes

4 Bowdon members travelled down to Budleigh Salterton for the  “Rosemary Bradshaw Salver” Short Lawn Tournament on 29th & 30th September.

32 players, ranging in handicaps from 4 Peels to 10 bisques, competed in 4 blocks of “all play all”.  Sandra Cornes and David Beddy both won 4 out of 7 games in their respective blocks.  Chris Williamson won 3 block games plus a consolation to finish also with 4 wins overall.

David Cornes found his best form securing 6 out of 7 games (with a plus 34 hoop difference) to earn a place in the semi finals.  In his last “block” game David became the first player to achieve the newly introduced “CqE Bronze Merit Award”. This is achieved by scoring Eight points in one turn without using a bisque. David ran his second ball through hoops 1 to 6 and then finished the game with a double peg out.

In the semi final Dave Kibble (Bristol, 4 peels) used his skills and experience to beat David 12-6. The overall winner was Carl Brown (1 peel) from Bradford on Avon.

All four Bowdon members thoroughly enjoyed the tournament with a view to returning in 2027.

Sarah Melvin – (semi finalist), Carl Brown (winner), Rosemary Bradshaw, Dave Kibble (runner-up) and David Cornes (semi-finalist)

Full details:
https://croquetscores.com/2026/ac/budleigh-salterton-short-croquet-tournament

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Lawn Renovations – Bookings

As the lawn renovation work is restricting the number of lawns available please book in to avoid disappointment.

The Monday AC session has changed name to remove the misunderstanding that it was just “roll-up annd play”, and needs to be booked.

But please also respect a three week book ahead limit.

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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.

Angharrad Walters
Andrew Winn
Jack Good
Simon Jenkins

We wish them well .

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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.

Alan Dix – Winner Week 24

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

PositionNameTotal PointsMovementWinsScore to Beat #
1Alan Dix744=562
2Gordon Hennell693=372
3Sheila Dix685=5**72
4Gerald Fitzgerald646=167
5Tim McCoy639=1*65

You can view the full table here

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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.

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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.

PositionMemberScoreWins
 1Alison Acton6175
 2John Lambie5562
 3Andrew Winn5332
 4Mike Dale5322
 5Lorna Frost520 
 6Ken Cooper4791
=7John Bagnall438 
=7Sheila Dix438 
 9Adrian Apps430 
 10Alan Dix423 

Some facts about this years competition.

Most WinsAlison Acton5
Nos of members who won a week10
Highest Winning ScoreAlison Acton96
Lowest Winning Score Charles Harding43
Highest Average ScoreAlison Acton77
Weeks Played18
Played most weeksSheila Dix16
Total nos of games played740
Most games played in 1 weekWeeks 6 & 860
No of members that played at least 1 week43
Total points Scored11,707