Charles Sale won the Pendle & Craven GC A-Level Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Libby Dixon at Pendle
12th September 2022 (GC)

The Tournament had originally 12 entered but one person had a late withdrawal due to an injury. Plans were made for 11 players to compete which would see one player sitting out each round.

Saturday the 10^thSeptember was a dull but warm day. After a minutes silence for the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the formalities of the Managers briefing, play got underway at 9.15am. As one player had arrived feeling unwell, it was decided to begin the tournament by moving to the round where they would sit out, to allow time to see if they could participate. Unfortunately even after an hours rest it was evident this would not be possible. The Day Manager, Gill Uglow and ROT, David Cornes quickly reorganised the playing list to be within the Tournament Guidelines and accommodating the games played. With 9 games to complete in the all play all format it was hoped that a minimum of 7 games would be completed on the first day. By lunchtime 5 games had been completed as players were playing expeditiously despite a raft of 7/6 outcomes. Surprisingly the afternoon session had a further 4 games completed by 4.30pm. A great result, 9 games completed in one day.

The winner of the all play all was Paul Dowdall from Pendle with 8 wins. The other placings were Charles Sale( 7), Mike Bilton(7) and Tom Grievson (5), who narrowly went through on hoops from Garry Wilson. The draw for the Knock out was Paul vs Tom, Charles vs Mike. All other players were to contest an all play all for the Plate.

Sunday began with a heavy dew and worm casts on all the lawns, but these were cleared away by the drag mat. The observing players decided to give the operator of the tractor a score by holding up the lawn markers much to the amusement of everyone. Sunshine and a warm wind saw the start of play. The first round of play in the Semi finals saw Paul go through to the final with 7/4,1/7,7/4 victory and in the second semi Charles won through a hard fought three games 7/6,2/7,7/5.

The final provided great interest for the viewing gallery as each hoop was vigorously contested by both Paul and Charles. The result was a win for Charles 7/6,7/6. Third and 4^th places went to 3 games with Mike winning through with 3/7,7/4,7/3.

The Plate was contested by the remaining 6 players and again the results show there were some very close games. The overall winner was Libby Dixon with 4 wins but it should be noted that everyone in the Plate had 2 wins each.

The presentation to the winner followed the Managers thanks to all the hard work done by Club members in readying the lawns for the tournament, Paul Dowdall, Mike Bradbury, and Andrew Gould. Further thanks mentioned were to Gill Uglow who not only did the Day Management duties and catering but also to David Cornes who's help in advising on managing this level of Tournament and undertaking the ROT duties. Charles Sale (Ealing) in his acceptance of the Trophy mentioned that he loved coming North to play in Tournaments as he found them to be so friendly, welcoming and well run .

A celebration afternoon tea was enjoyed by all with cake provided by Sandra Cornes who was also celebrating her birthday. Both Mike Bradbury and Andrew Gould from Pendle were competing in their first Tournament and they both ended with a positive result to their handicap. They both said they had gained a lot from playing in terms of playing tactics, knowledge of the rules and where they need to concentrate their practice routines.

Full results can be found on Croquet Scores.