On the greens in Middlesbrough and in good conditions except for very strong winds, a dozen competitive players battled in two Blocks followed by knockouts. The competition was won by William Steadman for the second year running.
Middlesbrough Croquet Club held its annual 1-Ball Tournament as a season opener on Sat 4thApril.
It was a day for layers of clothing, with a splash of red in recognition of the national events chosen charity, Save The Children. Although occasionally chilly, Storm Dave was good enough to stay clear of Albert Park, Middlesbrough at least until our course was run.
We had a field of 10 players, 7 from the Croquet North region and 3 very welcome guests from Bury Croquet Club.
1-Ball handicaps ranged from minus 3 to 12.5 with an ‘all play all’ format with no time limits. Moving along at a nice pace starting at 10am, using all 4 lawns, we had all 45 games done and dusted before 4pm.
Midway through the day there were 5 players racking up an impressive number of wins but despite suffering his only loss in round 8, PhilipHastings from the Middlesbrough Club stormed to victory with an impressive 8 wins from 9 games.
The 2026 GC Singles competition (available to CN members only) will take place on Saturday 13 June at Albert Park, Middlesbrough starting at 10 am.
To enter, contact the competition manager Peter Tymms by email. The closing date for applications is 1 June 2026 with the competition allocations being made on 7 June.
As in previous years there will be season-long AC competitions for handicap singles and doubles, and advanced singles on a draw/process basis to guarantee everyone at least two games in each event.
Entry fee is £5 per person per event, which should be paid directly to the NEBA account.
Please advise Julian Gibson by email no later than Sunday 19th April if you wish to enter, and, if you are entering the doubles, the name of your nominated partner.
The annual contest for the Pennine Cup was played on 26 June 2025 at Middlesbrough in mostly pleasant conditions.
The morning doubles were won by the North West 2 - 0, and the afternoon singles by croquet North 3 - 1 meaning the match was a 3 - 3 draw. North West therefore retain the trophy.
Match Scores (CN first)
Andrew Killick and Julian Gibson lost to Peter & Liz Wilson 23 - 26 Anthony Miller and Nigel Durie lost to Stephen Skelton * Chris Williamson 12 - 26
Andrew Killick beat Peter Wilson 26 - 15 Anthony Miller beat Liz Wilson 26 - 15 Julian Gibson beat Stephen Skelton 21 - 19 (t) Nigel Durie lost to Chris Williamson 10 - 15 (t)
Cathie Dance & Chris Atkinson lost to Julian Gibson & Nigel Roberts 15 - 21 Debbie James lost to Brian Gardner 14 - 15 (Golden Hoop) Chris Atkinson lost to Julian Gibson 10 - 26 Cathie Dance & Debbie James beat Nigel Roberts & Brian Gardner 16 - 10
The Middlesbrough Handicap Singles Weekend has had a reputation in recent years for not being for the faint-hearted. Cold, wind and rain has severely tested the metal of participants. But what was this – sunshine? While a bit of a cold breeze appeared from time to time, it was for the most part lovely, particularly Sunday, and a few even decided to wear shorts.
We had 9 players covering 8 places over the 2 days. Six were Middlesbrough players who were joined by players from Tyneside, Penrith and Keswick. Handicaps ranged from minus 1.5 to 12.
Given it was Handicap the 2 Blocks of 4 were drawn randomly.
A time limit of 3 hours using all 4 lawns worked well with only a few games going to time.
On Day 2 the winners and runners-up in each block had cross-block semifinals with cross-block matches for those finishing 3rd and 4th in the blocks.
In block A Steve Skelton swept the board winning all 3 of his matches; the runner-up being Andrew Killick.
Block B was a little more problematic. Philip Hastings, who was only there for the Saturday won all 3 of his matches however, his block position was set aside meaning the block B winner was Derek Johnson with Julian Gibson runner-up.
Sunday morning’s semifinals saw a reversal of fortunes with both block winners losing to runners-up from the other block.
In the final, Andrew Killick (-1.5) played Julian Gibson (8) with Andrew triumphing 26 – 21.
