Croquet North AC League

Congratulations to York who have won the CN AC League for 2024. Final table is below.

 WDLPointsGames won
York300611
Tyneside Parsons20147
Middlesbrough10225
Tyneside Vickers00301

2024 League fixtures

The list of League fixtures for 2024 are now live on the web site. Results and League Standings will be updated as they come in.

2023 AC League Winners

With the completion of the 2023 AC League competition, which proved extremely tight, Middlesbrough tied with York on matches won.

This has meant that the final result was to be decided on nett hoops with Middlesbroug prevailing by +13 hoops.

Many congratulations to Middlesbrough on being the 2023 AC League Champions.

East Pennines League Match

2 July – Middlesbrough v York

Results (Middlesbrough first):

Dennis Scarr and Julian Gibson lost to Fiona Crompton and Debbie James 17 – 18 (T)
Nigel Roberts beat John Crompton 18 – 14 (T)
Nigel Durie lost to Cathie Dance 14 – 15 (T)

Dennis Scarr beat Fiona Crompton 26 – 10
Julian Gibson bet Debbie James 13 – 12(T)
Nigel Roberts lost to Cathie Dance 18 – 22 (T)
Nigel Durie beat John Crompton 26 – 9

Middlesbrough 4 York 3

East Pennines League: York v Middlesbrough

York beat Middlesbrough 4-3 in the EPL

(Middlesbrough names first)

Morning

Dennis Scarr & Roger Staples beat Andy Starkey and Ted Flaxman 24 - 15
Nigel Durie lost to Debbie James 8 - 15
Ken Spragg lost to John Crompton 9 - 26

Afternoon

Dennis Scarr beat Andy Starkey 25 - 6
Roger Staples beat Ted Flaxman 25 - 24
Ken Spragg lost to Debbie James 12 - 14
Nigel Durie lost to John Crompton 13 - 26

Final of the CN GC League

Sunday 26th September saw the conclusion of CN’s GC Summer Tournament, when Bamburgh beat Durham 11-7 at Belsay Hall.

Belsay Hall lawns

The 2021 tournament got underway on the 1st of July and over the summer the two groups of four teams played each other, home and away. The two finalists topped their groups, each with 5.5 points, so a close contest on Sunday was eagerly awaited!

The lawns and surroundings at Belsay fittingly reflected a fine autumnal day, and the croquet played, added that late brightness so enjoyable at this time of the year.

Bamburgh were the quickest of the mark, opening up a 5-1 lead after the first two rounds of play. However, Durham staged a strong fight back. The very close nature of the match was typified by an unlucky Peter Tymms achieving a difficult jump shot on the 13 “golden hoop” only to see a slight contact with his opponent’s ball end with it running the hoop too and as a result Peter lost the game.

Bamburgh’s winning team

The match was played in good humour and even challenging “rule” issues were resolved to everyone’s satisfaction by the match referee Phil Errington. 

GC league leaders confirmed

With two games outstanding, the winners of the two GC divisions have been decided.

Bamburgh won the Northern section with 5 wins and a draw (runners-up Alnmouth Reds. Durham won the Southern section with four wins, a draw, and one game remaining. The runners-up are still to be decided.

The overall winners will be decided in the play-off match between Bamburgh and Durham, to be played on 26 September at either Belsay or Tyneside.

Covid19 pandemic

Taking our lead from the Croquet Association, Croquet North is cancelling/postponing all competitions until at least the end of May. The dates in the various calendars have not been changed, but those events affected are marked “TBR” (to be reviewed).

Each club should decide to what extent they can play croquet on their own grounds.

AC League Tyneside vs Pendle & Craven

Phil Errington writes:

In a close fought match at Exhibition Park today (Saturday 3rd August) Tyneside CC beat Pendle & Craven 4 games to 3

Morning Games (Tyneside team first)

Advanced                                                                                                           
Phil Errington (0.5) & Don Wright (6) v Andres Webb (4) & Paul Dowdall (7) — 15-17t

Handicap
Andrew Carpenter (11) v Garry Wilson (9) — 23-26
Nora Burbridge (18) v Catherine Parnell (8) — 26-9

Afternoon Games


Advanced
Phil Errington (0.5) v Andrew Webb (4) —  26-13
Don Wright (6) v Paul Dowdall (7) — 13-21t
Handicap
Andrew Carpenter (11) v Catherine Parnell (8) — 26-16
Nora Burbridge (18) v Garry Wilson (9) — 26-15

Overall Result        
Tyneside 4 Pendle & Craven 3

There were no triple peels in the advanced games nor any handicap changes at the end of the match.