Ashby hosted Branston (Lincs) in the second round of the national GC Tier 3 team knockout.
The day started out very gloomy and wet, and our visitors were held up on their journey by an accident near Nottingham but this meant that most of the bad weather was avoided.
The result of a 6-1 win for the Ashby team of Heather, Ormond, Colin and Martin doesn’t fairly reflect the close play.
Anyway, a good day of croquet, picnic lunch and pleasant conversation.
TEAMS Ashby: Heather Hardy (4), Ormond Hooper (5), Martin Wroughton (5), Colin Carr (6) Branston: Pauline Donner (4), Judy Crowe (5), Claire Worsnop (6), Marion Pile (10)
RESULTS Heather and Ormond 7-4, 7-3 Pauline and Judy Martin 7-3, 7-2 Marion Colin 7-4, 4-7, 7-6 Claire Heather 7-6, 7-1 Pauline Ormond 7-2, 3-7, 5-7 Judy Martin 6-7, 7-4, 7-5 Claire Colin 7-4, 7-3 Marion
We had ten competitors for this year’s FEMCC/ACC Veterans GC Tournament, including one all the way from Gainsborough and two from Long Eaton. For the first three rounds competitors were drawn against random opponents.
The top four finishers, based on the number of wins then hoop difference, progressed to the semi-finals, while everyone else played a consolation round.
The games were all played to a 45-minute time limit.
In the semi-finals Ormond Hooper beat John Picken 6-4, and Rupert Knapton beat Chris Jackson 7-6.
Luckily, the rain that was forecast did not arrive until near the end of the final. Ormond Hooper played with skill and craft throughout the final making a number of hoops from acute angles to win the tournament by 7 hoops to 5. The photograph below shows Ormond receiving the trophy from last year’s winner Martin Wroughton.
Eight Ashby players competed this year in our club heat of the All England GC Handicap national competition, which allows two qualifiers to progress to the area final. This competition is played to the Advantage handicap (target scores) method (where stronger players have to score more hoops).
We played as two blocks of four. In Block A, John won all three of his games, but there was a three-way tie for second place with Ormond, Steve and Mel all finishing on one win, so it required a hoop shoot-out to determine who would progress to the semi-finals. After lots of missed shots we shortened the approach distance, until Ormond was the clear shoot-out winner.
Block B was won by Jeff with 3 wins, followed by Heather with 2 wins.
Both semi-finals went to the golden hoop, with John beating Heather 9/9-6/7 and Jeff winning 6/6-6/7 against Ormond. (The fractions indicate the actual hoops scored vs the target number of hoops.)
Jeff won a close final 7/7-9/11 against John, although both qualify anyway.
Consolation games determined the 3 to 8 positions.
There were no time limits, with all games finishing well within an hour.
The finishing positions were: 1st Jeff Dixon 2nd John Picken 3rd Heather Hardy 4th Ormond Hooper 5th Richard Sanville 6th Colin Carr 7th Melanie Dixon 8th Steve Garratt
Jeff and John progress to the area final at Moira in early August.
Mel, Avril and Steve played the first home C-Team match of the season in the first heat of the summer. Despite trying hard, they lost 3-9 to the Long Eaton team consisting of our good friends, Chris, Steph and Joan!
Earlier in the month (Sun 3rd May), Pete M, Jeff and Avril drew 6-6 in an away fixture against Branston C.
Ashby travelled up to York on the train to play a first-round (quarter-final) Secretary’s Shield match on a cloudy but dry Thursday. The morning games resulted in two +1T wins for Ashby, and one +16 win for York. The doubles was especially stressful for the players at the end as both teams vied with each other to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in turns after time was called.
After a break for lunch, the afternoon singles games saw the honours shared with two wins apiece, without the drama of the morning games. Thanks to York for hosting, providing lunch, and a very close match.
York: Andy Davies (0), Lionel Stock (6), Fiona Crompton (8), John Crompton (16) Ashby: Arthur Rowe (2.5), Richard Sanville (11), Heather Hardy (12), Mick Haytack (16)
Results (York players first):
Lionel Stock and Fiona Crompton lost to Arthur Rowe and Mick Haytack -1T John Crompton lost to Heather Hardy -1T Andy Davies beat Richard Sanville +16
Andy Davies beat Arthur Rowe +15 John Crompton beat Mick Haytack +25 Fiona Crompton lost to Heather Hardy -4T Lionel Stock lost to Richard Sanville -6T
Six croquet clubs from across the East Midlands competed in Ashby’s annual Dixon Shield tournament for teams of three, sponsored by Dixon Engineering Ltd of Swadlincote. This competition often results in a close finish, and this year was no exception with Ashby narrowly emerging as winners in a tight contest.
In the first stage of the competition, the Ashby team of Colin Carr, Christine Mounfield and John Picken finished top of their block after 8 wins and a draw from their 12 singles games. They were followed by Leicester on 7 wins and Derby with two wins and a draw.
Meanwhile, the other block was topped by Bakewell with 7 wins, just ahead of Long Eaton with 6 wins and a draw. Nottingham finished with 4 wins and a draw.
In the final session, each team faced the team finishing in the equivalent position in the opposite block. Ashby won 3-2 (with one draw) against Bakewell, giving Ashby 11 wins and 2 draws overall.
Leicester, despite a late rally, finished the day just behind Ashby on 11 wins and a draw, which secured the Dixon Shield trophy for the home team for the third consecutive year by the narrowest of margins.
The concurrent individual competition for the Dixon Cup was equally close. Ashby’s captain John Picken started well with four emphatic wins, However he failed to maintain his form in the latter stages and in the end had to settle for fourth place after a narrow 4-5 defeat in a crucial final-round game to closest rival Tim Spray of Bakewell.
Tim Spray finished unbeaten with 5 wins and a draw to claim the Dixon Cup. Incidentally, he is the third Tim in a row to win the cup, following victories for Tim King in 2024 and Tim Ash in 2025.
Ashby’s Christine Mounfield performed well throughout and finished as runner-up with 5 wins, followed by Owen Pugh (Leicester) in third place on hoop difference.
Ashby hosted the third heat of the new Northern Stars competition and welcomed players from Wrest Park, Bowdon, Leicester, Nottingham and home players Mike O’Brian and John Picken on what turned out to be a lovely sunny day.
Withdrawals of two players and one reserve in the previous few days provided a challenge to the manager before the competition even started. Fortunately, Paul Williams from Leicester was able to step in, and the manager filled the last place to avoid sit-outs.
This was the first competitive croquet tournament Rachel Gee had played for almost two years, following the birth of her second daughter last year. Although not on her best form she won all her games in the block. Mark Buckley, who won all his games apart from the game against Rachel, filled the other semi-final slot from Block A. In Block B, Mike O’Brian and David Cornes both finished on 4 wins out of 5 and joined Rachel and Mark in the two 19pt semi-finals.
The semi-finals were won quickly by Rachel and Mark and they then embarked on what turned out to be a very close final. With three hoops left to play, Rachel needed all 3 hoops to win. She ran hoops 17 and 18, but that left Mark as first to approach hoop 19 and he put a very good black ball in front of the hoop. Rachel did a wonderful long clearance from the south boundary to clear Mark to the North boundary from where he ran the long hoop. The spectators from Ashby, Nottingham and Wrest Park enjoyed the close final.
The Northern Stars heats have two winners: the overall winner; and then also the player who has gained the most index points, called the Challenger. Mark Buckley won both competitions, having lost only one game in the block.
As this competition has replaced Ashby’s stand-alone one-day competition, as well as the star badges for the winner there were two trophies too, made by Mike O’Brian.
The picture (courtesy of Alison Murray) shows Mark with manager Judith and his two trophies.
Five players contested our Charity One Ball Plus competition, in an all-play-all tournament on Lawn 3 half-lawns in fine dry weather and with somewhat challenging hoops.
Mike and Keith led the field, both finishing on 3 wins out of 4. Mike won the game between them 7-5, so he was declared the overall winner.
Just two of the ten games finished within the time limit (of just under an hour); both of these were won by Keith.
As neither Mike nor Keith are available for the Bowdon One-Ball final on May 17th, Richard will represent Ashby.
Final placings:
Mike O’Brian 3/4 wins (beat Keith)
Keith Pound 3/4 wins
Richard Sanville 2/4 wins (beat Heather)
Heather Hardy 2/4 wins
Mick Haytack 0/4 wins
We have raised a total of £225 for this year’s charity Save the Children (£50 from donations on the day, plus £175 raised at the Christmas meal). Many thanks to all who have donated so generously.
