[<<] [>>] by Bill Arliss at Nailsea
23rd July 2002 (GC)

Singles - Ascot Cup

This was played initially as four blocks, two with 5 players and two with 6. In block A, both Chris Sheen and Derek Old had four wins from five games with Chris going through on the 'who beats whom' rule. In block B, John Moore was the clear winner with 4 wins from 5 but with the other five players on two wins each. In block C both Sam Curry and Charlie von Schmeider had 3 wins from 4 with Sam going through on 'who beats whom'. Block D was finely balanced with Ivor Brand, Tom Weston and Nelson Morrow all on three wins. This was finally decided on net points.

In the semi-finals, John Moore beat Chris Sheen, and Nelson Morrow beat Sam Curry. The final was played as best-of-three and John Moore won the first game 7-6, however Nelson fought back to take the next two games and the title. Congratulations to Nelson as this was his first major sortie into competitive Golf Croquet. His extremely consistent and accurate hitting to clear John from the hoops finally swung the match his way.

Doubles - Ranelagh Cup

There were 11 pairs for this event played as a block of 5 and a block of 6. At the request of the players it was agreed that the top two in each block should contest semi-finals rather than only one from each block. In block A, Don Beck and Ed Dymock had four wins from five with Bill Arliss and Roy Ware second on three wins. John Moore and Derek Old had a clean sweep of four wins with the Sheen brothers, Chris and Roddy second. In the semi-finals, John Moore and Derek Old beat Bill Arliss and Roy Ware 7-4 and the Sheen duo beat Don Beck and Ed Dymock 6-5 on time. In the final John and Derek were not able to reproduce their block win against the Sheens and lost the first five hoops but slowly pulled back to a final score of 10-6 (19 point game). This is the third year that Chris and Roddy have taken the doubles title.

The weekend was not without its drama as Sunday morning started with tremendous flashes and bangs from the electricity transformer at the side of the club. This may be rather familiar to some players who were at the club in its early days when the power lines came down across the club. This time an over-roasted squirrel was found below the transformer.