Cheshire Open 5th-6th April

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Angharrad Walters - Winner of the Cheshire Open (Photo: Carol Sinclair)

Last weekend saw the first of Bowdon's 2025 tournaments, the Cheshire Open (GC) being held in surprisingly sunny conditions. Fifteen players assembled, representing 11 different clubs, with a range of handicaps from -3 to 8. Five debutants were welcomed onto the tournament scene. Two blocks of 7 & 8 were completed on the Saturday, with the top 4 qualifying from both blocks without too much trouble. However, a special mention must go to Pam Dawson, who surprised herself (and many others) by beating top seed Angharrad Walters 7-5 in her last game of the day on Saturday.

On Sunday, the main event moved into a Bo3 knock out. Both the semi-finals went to 3 games, with Angharrad beating Giles Pepperell 3-7, 7-5, 7-4 and Ian Burridge beating Stephen Wright 7-2, 6-7, 7-2. The final was closely contested between the two Welsh Internationals and looked to be heading for a decider when Ian led 6-4 in the second. However, after Ian had missed a short but angled attempt at hoop 13, Angharrad steadied herself and ran the hoop from near the north boundary to win 7-4, 7-6.

Congratulations also Robbie Dodds, who beat Sarah Clements (7-6, 7-3) to win the Shield.

The managed opted to carry forward the relevant completed games from the Saturday into the Plate Block, leaving just the cross-block games to be played. Octogenarian Fred Owen matched fellow debutant David Beddy with four wins from four on the Sunday, but narrowly missed out in the final play-off, losing 7-5 to David.

Full results are on https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/cqe-cheshire-open

Thanks to all who participated, the Grounds Team (in particular John Greatbanks, Charles Harding & Brian Medley), Sheila Dix for the cakes, and Angharrad for managing.

The presentations were made by Bowdon's new President, Lorna Frost. Angharrad announced that she had decided to name the new trophy after her mother-in-law, Dina Crowson, who had called her earlier in the week to relate a childhood memory. She had been taken from Nelson to Southport, by her father, to see the flowers on Rotten Row and came home having seen her first glimpse of croquet being played.