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Adrian (and 5 others out of picture) preparing 2 lawns for continued winter play.
The lawns are in very good condition and have been rotated by 90 degrees so we have 2 full size lawns.
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Winter play on lawns
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AGM
Was held on Sunday 8 December at 'The Old Maltings'
End of Season Dinner
9 November
The End of Season Dinner was attended by 44 members.
There was lots of laughter as we opened our party boxes and let off balloons and party poppers. The food was very good and our President presented the various competition trophies to the winning members.
The Player of the Year Plaque was awarded to Tony Marks in gratitude for organising all the competitions and coordinating the Finals weekend.
Glenys Walder
28 and 29 September
Two wins for the Club Chairman
Fran Lambert had an excellent weekend when the finals of the clubs season long tournaments were held on Saturday and Sunday.
Despite the windy weather the rain held off and five finals were completed.
On Saturday five group winners competed against each other in an all day competition for the Potter's Pot when ten games in all were played. The results were close, but in this handicap competition the winner of the cup was decided by the number of hoops won so Maureen Goodchild was the winner with 26 hoops, Tim Walder coming in a close second with 24 and Sally Carr a very close third on 23.
On Sunday the AC Club Championship final took place. James Brind competed against Dan Neale with Dan winning with +24.
(Andrew Gregory won the club AC Handicap Competition - the Dennis Saville Trophy - which had been played at an earlier date.)
The final of the knockout golf croquet level play singles competition was between John Richardson and Adrian Seabrook. John Richardson won the first game, Adrian Seabrook the second and third final game to win The Roger Ivill Trophy.
In the doubles competition five pairs competed over the two days, the undoubted winners being Colin Taylor and Fran Lambert.
The President's Plate final was a three way final between Fran Lambert, Colin Taylor and Tony Marks, on an all play all basis. Fran was the winner as he won both his games against Tony and Colin, the last game against Colin being decided on the 13th hoop.
Brenda Cassidy
Results
Roger Ivill
Finalists - Adrian Seabrook and John Richardson
Won by Adrian
Potters Pot
5 finalists - Tim Walder, Sue Roberts, Maureen Goodchild, Sally Carr, Clive Cassidy
Won by Maureen
AC Club ChampionshipTim second and Sally third
Two finalists James Brind and Dan Neale
Won by Dan
President's Plate
Three finalists - Fran Lambert, Tony Marks, Colin Taylor. All play all.
Won by Fran
Gordons Goblet
5 teams - all play all.
Roger Turner and Marian Hardy (substitute Jane Taylor), Fran Lambert and Colin Taylor, Colin Carr and Anne Taylor, Tony Marks and Jackie Barham, Tim Ham and Des Taylor.
Won by Fran and Colin
AC Essex/Suffolk league
Newport v Bury St. Edmunds
Won 3 - 2
Andrew and Bernard lost the singles but won the doubles. We hold our heads in shame!
In the singles Andrew got so near to winning many times.
The current position:
Newport have won 3 matches with 12 game wins.
All the other teams have won 2 matches, except Ipswich.
The remaining game is Ipswich v Colchester South, which will be played at Ipswich next Saturday.
If Colchester South win their match against Ipswich and win 4 or more games they will finish higher than Newport.
Bernard Yallop
Hawks (H) v Leighton Linslade
2 September
Drew 10 - 10
Newport got of to a cracking start in this match by winning the four doubles matches three to one.
This lead was increased to a margin of four through the first two sets of singles matches.
However disaster struck in the third singles round which Leighton Linslade won four nil. Newport then held on to halve the final set of singles and the match ran out to a 10 - 10 draw.
Newport’s Fran Lambert played well to win both of his doubles matches with Colin Taylor and three out his four singles matches, two of them against lower handicap players.
Fran
Mary Rose v Bowdon (AC)
19 August
Lost 1 - 5
Newport were drawn against Bowdon in the second round of this year’s Mary Rose advanced level play competition. Bowdon being near Manchester it was decided that, to avoid very long journeys, the game should be played on neutral ground at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Two of the Newport team were already playing in the Tompkinson Shield tournament at Edgbaston over the weekend so it was hoped that familiarity with the lawns might prove to be an advantage.
Unfortunately this proved not to be the case and despite having a strong team, Newport went down five games to one to an even stronger Bowdon side.
Newport players first and handicaps in brackets.
James Brind (1.5) and Andrew Gregory (2) lost to Alan Mayne (0) and Martin Granger Brown (2) -5
Dan Neale (2) beat Adrian Apps (4) +24
Chris van Essen (5) lost to Will Mellor (4) -23
James Brind lost to Alan Mayne -26
Andrew Gregory lost to Martin Granger Brown (match conceded early as the result would not affect the outcome)
Dan Neale lost to Will Mellor -7
Chris van Essen lost to Adrian Apps -23
Harriers (H) v Wrest Park
23 August
Drew 9 - 9
Details to follow
Hawks (H) v Enfield
16 August
Match initially postponed and then awarded to Enfield as Newport could not put out a team.
Harriers (H) v Letchworth Kites
13 August
Won 14 - 6
A very good day for the Harriers.
They won 3 out of 4 doubles matches and maintained the pressure in the singles.
Even though in the first two singles rounds they went 5 -3 down, they overwhelmed the Kites by winning all of the last 8 matches to win overall.
John Richardson again won all his six matches and has seen his handicap move from 8 – 6 over the past 11 days.
Picture above from left to right
Timothy Ham, John Richardson, Hugo Jeune, Tim Walder, Andy Kennedy, Peter Aspinall, Colin Carr, Robert Staddon
Newport (H) v Colchester South - Round 4 of the Essex and Suffolk League (AC)
11 August
Lost 2 - 3
Four of the five teams, including Newport, have two wins.
If we win our fifth and last round match then Newport has to win all five of its games to win the league and we could still be beaten if
Colchester South also wins all five of its games in its last round.
See Miscellaneous above for the current league and scores.
Bernard Yallop
Elms (A) v Enfield
5 August
Lost 3 - 15
Adrian Seabrook, Fran Lambert, Tim Walder, Glenys Walder
Andrew Fall, Marian Cuckson, David Warren, Kim Taylor
Elms visited Enfield under a cloudy sky with some early rain, but as the day progressed the sun came out. Indeed the sun did shine for Elms in the first two doubles matches winning both matches on a 'golden hoop' basis.
However, the clouds loomed dark over Elms when it came to the individual handicap singles matches.
Although some of the matches went to 'golden hoop' there were others which were less than fortunate and the end result was that we lost all the singles matches bar one.
As ever the Enfield team were more than welcoming and a good time was had by all other than the result.
Tim Walder
Oaks (H) v Letchworth Reds
2 August
Won 12 - 6
Oaks had a comfortable win over Letchworth Reds. Winning both doubles matches and 6 out of 8 singles. They were ahead at the lunch break by 8 games to 2. Letchworth rallied in the afternoon but Newport Oaks stayed ahead to win overall by 12 games to 6.
John Richardson won three of his singles games, losing the fourth by only a single hoop.
Roger Ivill Tournament GC
27 and 28 July
Saturday
Colin Taylor, Anne Taylor, David Manley, Fran Lambert, John Tapscott
Clive Cassidy, Michael Hughes, Ernie Turkington, John Richardson, Tim Walder
Sunday
Tim Ham, Adrian Seabrook, John Gordon, Des Taylor, Jane Taylor
Helen Manley, Henry Addison-Atkinson, Maureen Goodchild, Roy Darling, Roger Turner
Rain did not stop play for the two day Roger Ivill Tournament.
20 players took part, ten each on Saturday and Sunday split into two groups and every player playing five games against someone from the opposing group. The winner each day was the player with the highest number of hoops won over the day. Despite the steady rain on Saturday and a little drizzle on Sunday all the scheduled games were played.
There was intense competition but all games were played in a most friendly manner.
Saturday's match was a cliff hanger with the final winner not decided until the last game when John Richardson won with 33 hoops overall closely followed in joint second by Anne and Colin Taylor with 30 hoops.
On Sunday Adrian Seabrook was a clear winner. He won all five of his matches and ended up with 35 hoops. Roy Darling was runner up with 32.
John and Adrian will compete for the trophy on the Club Finals Weekend in September.
Tony Marks officiated. On Saturday he was helped by Maureen and on Sunday by Pat and then John Richardson.
23 July
Lost 6 - 14
Colin Carr, Maureen Goodchild, Roy Darling, Des Taylor
John Ball, Jean Ball, Judith Pengelle, Sheila Beal
On the hottest day of the year so far.
Doubles were lost 1 - 3 - including a misunderstanding on the 8 extra shots rule.
Linslade were mainly in charge all day with only Roy being able to achieve 2 victories.
Hawks (A) v Letchworth Kites
23 July
Lost 6 - 14
Report to follow
Strawberry Tea
Sunday 21 July
Twenty four members enjoyed an afternoon of croquet and a strawberry tea. The weather was good which helped turn the occasion into an enjoyable afternoon.
Thank you to everyone who supported the event.
Glenys (Social Secretary)
Does anyone have any pictures?
Elms (H) v Meldreth
12 July
Lost 7 - 11
Oaks (A) v Letchworth Blue
9 July
Won 10 - 8
Oaks won both doubles followed by losing all 4 round 1 games - then followed up by winning all 4 second round games.
Third round Oaks won three and Fourth round Blues won 3.
Star player Sally Carr - 3 singles wins and her doubles game.
Club Champions Tournament
GC Level and Handicap
7 July
Level Play won by Henry Addison-Atkinson
Henry won 7 - 6 beating Chris Sheen (-2) in the final. Henry now reduced to HC 3 by Terrey Sparks (tournament manager)
Newport sent its two champions Henry Addison-Atkinson (Level Play) and Roy Darling (Handicap Play) to compete against the club champions from across the East of England at Watford.
Newport gave a good account of themselves, particularly in the Level Play competition where Henry was competing against a number of much higher ranked players from across the region, beating all comers and winning the Annual Trophy.
A fantastic performance
EACF 2nd round AC handicap league at Colchester
7 July
Won 4 - 1
Newport were represented by Bernard Yallop the captain, David Haslem and Roy Darling. Newport won the day maintaining their unbeaten record this year.
B class tournament GC
29 June
Won by Tracy Martin with Henry Addison-Atkinson runner up.
Six Newport members and four visitors took part. The ten players divided into two groups and each person played four games.
At the end of the day the winners of each group were Henry Addison-Atkinson from Newport and Tracy Martin a visitor from Letchworth.
Played on the hottest day of the year so far.
Brenda Cassidy
Harriers (A) v Northampton
27 June
Drew 10 - 10
It was an early start for all of us as Northampton beckoned us for a 10.00am start even though play didn’t start until 10.30.
The lawns make a lovely setting in front of the hospital, but the first thing we noticed was that the two lawns used are on a slope!!
Can’t say we have played on such lawns before but even so we made a good start by winning three of the four doubles game.
The first set of singles games were shared two a piece. We then took lunch – always a danger point as results can go either way and yesterday was no exception. Even though we won three of the four games after lunch and shared the third set of games we had a bit of a wobble in the final set of games losing all four. However, as you can see from the results sheet there were a good number of very close games and many going to the golden hoop. I blame the sandwiches or was it the slope getting the better of us!!!
As always the hosts were very welcoming and hospitable and we look forward to our next meeting with Northampton Wanderers.
Tim Walder
Hawks (A) v Wrest Park
24 June
Drew 10 - 10
Adrian Seabrook and Peter Cowper won both of their doubles in the morning whilst Henry Addison-Atkinson and Fran lost both of theirs.
In the singles Peter won one, Adrian and Henry won two each and Fran won three.
It was a very enjoyable match, nip and tuck all the way and both teams considered a draw to be a fair result.
The new format was much appreciated.
Picture below by Peter Cowper
John Wilson Club Afternoon 19 June
Elms (H) v Letchworth Blue
18 June
Lost 8 - 10
Adrian Seabrook, Tim Walder, Peter Cowper, Glenys Walder
Hugo Jeune, Colin Gregory, Peter Aspinall, Andy Kennedy
The doubles were tied 1 - 1 with Tim and Peter winning their game 7 - 6. Round 1 was a good round with Newport winning 3 - 1 with Round 2 being not so good with 4 straight defeats.
Round 3 was very tight with three 7 - 6 games giving 2 games each for the round. Round 4 score was 2 - 2.
So it was lost and won on Round 2.
Man of the Match for Newport Tim Walder with 3 singles and a doubles win.
AC B Class Tournament
15 and 16 June
Eight players entered the competition.
In changeable weather James Skelton of Northampton CC won with 4 wins out of 5. Alan Clark of High Wycombe CC also won 4 out of 5, but lost out to James on the who-beat-whom basis.
AC Varsity Match at Hurlingham
13 June
Cambridge won 6 - 3
Congratulations to member James Brind, captain and the Cambridge team for winning by six games to three.
The match was essentially won in the rain in the morning when Cambridge won all three of the doubles matches.
The afternoon singles, in more clement weather, were halved three games apiece.
Fran
Longman Cup (A) v Letchworth
5 June
Lost 1 - 6
Our team of Chris van Essen, David Haslam, Bernard Yallop and Roy Darling was unfortunately outclassed at Letchworth in the first round of this year’s Longman Cup; the national AC handicap competition.
Only Chris van Essen managed to win a singles game Newport having lost both doubles matches in the morning.
The result reflects the fact that the aggregate handicaps of the Letchworth players was 28.5 whilst Newport’s were 51.
Fran
Oaks (H) v Enfield
4 June
Won 11 - 7
Colin Carr, Maureen Goodchild, Henry Addison-Atkinson, Sally Carr
Andrew Fall, Alan Foott, Marian Cuckson, Mary Grove
In the doubles Colin and Maureen beat Andrew and Mary 6 - 5 while Henry and Sally lost to Alan and Marian.
The first round was drawn with wins from Maureen and Henry and the second with wins from Henry, Colin and Maureen. The third round followed the same pattern with Henry and Colin winning in round 4.
Overall hoop score 100 - 96 to Newport
Hawks (H) v Letchworth Falcons
31 May
Lost 9 - 11
Colin Taylor, Henry Addison-Atkinson, Peter Cooper, Anne Taylor
Colin Davies, Colin Gregory, David Clancey, John Hall
The doubles games ended with the score 2 - 2 and first round was also drawn with wins from Colin and Henry.
The second round was 3 - 1 to Newport with wins from Colin, Henry and Anne to make the score 7 - 5 to the Hawks. The last 2 rounds saw 2 wins from the Hawks to Colin and Henry.
Star players Colin and Henry with 3 wins each.
Essex/Suffolk AC League Newport (A) v Ipswich
23 May
Won 3 - 2
Roy Darling, Fran Lambert, David Haslam
Celia Pearce, Celia Steward, Martin Hart
Roy and Fran won the doubles against Celia Pearce and Celia Steward +7 on time.
David Haslam won the morning singles against Martin Hart +11.
In the afternoon singles Celia Steward beat Fran +4 on time, Celia Pearce beat David Haslam +12 and Roy Darling beat Martin Hart +20 on time.
Harriers (A) v Enfield
20 May
Lost 7 - 13
Colin Carr, Roy Darling, Timothy Ham, John Richardson
Peter Brock, Dave Hill, David Barnicoat, Andrew Fall
Harriers faced a very strong Enfield team fielding 2 HC 3 and 2 HC 4. After the doubles games the score was 2 - 2 In each of the first 3 singles rounds Newport won one of each four games and in the final round won two.
Newport man of Match Colin Carr with three singles and two doubles wins.
A very creditable performance considering the strength of the Enfield team.
Cornelius Trophy - AC Open
18 and 19 May
Mark Avery won with 7 wins from 7 games
And four triple peels.
Oaks (A) v Meldreth
16 May
Lost 4 - 6
Roy Darling, John Richardson, Henry Addison Atkinson
Robert Skeen, Roger Wallbridge, Lin Wallbridge
Hawks (H) v Northampton
14 May
Won 13 - 7
Adrian Seabrook, Fran Lambert, Henry Addison Atkinson, Peter Cooper
Richard Cain, Ann Udall, Marilyn Robinson, Glynis Davies
The match started off at 2 - 2 after the doubles. And then 4 - 4 after the First Round.
Hawks gathered momentum in Round 2 by winning all 4 games. Then faltered losing 1 - 3 in Round 3.
But Round 4 was the crunch with Hawks winning all 4 games.
Man of Match - Adrian with 4 straight wins.
Close behind Fran with 3 wins and both Henry and Peter winning 2.
Monday 13 May Sunny and Warm
National Croquet Day
Sunday 12 May
We marked the occasion with an Open Day.
Fifty friends, family and members arrived during the lovely sunny afternoon to enjoy relaxed games of informal play. All three lawns were in full use with two sets of four players on each lawn.
Those sitting out enjoyed tea and cake.
Elms (A) v Letchworth Red
10 May
Won 11 - 7
Fran Lambert, Tim Ham, John Tapscott, John Sibson
David Clancey, Robert Staddon, Tracy Martin, Sue Bathmaker
Both Tim and John Sibson won three of their four singles games.
Harriers (A) v Letchworth Falcons
7 May
Won 13 - 7
Roy Darling (C), Tim Walder, Colin Carr, Des Taylor
David Clancey, Colin Davies, Sue Bathmaker, Paul Martin
Harriers doubles teams of:
Des and Tim
Colin and Roy
Des and Tim won both with Colin and Roy winning one. Which gave a 3 - 1 start.
In the singles Colin and Des won three each and Roy and Tim won two each
A very pleasant day in good company and a good win.
Watford CA B-Level Series
6 May
Des Taylor wins beating Andrew Fall 7 - 3 in the Final.
The tournament was arranged as 2 blocks of 8 players with the winners playing each other in the Final.
As a tournament winner, Des automatically qualifies for the B-Level National Final to be held in September.
4 May Saturday 14:00
EACF Level
3 May
Won 17 - 3
Hawks: Fran Lambert (C), Colin Taylor, Anne Taylor, Roger Turner
Harriers: Tim Walder (C), Des Taylor, Maureen Goodchild, Colin Carr
Harriers got off to a very good start winning all 4 doubles.
In the singles: Des won all 4 with Tim, Maureen and Colin winning 3 each.
A most enjoyable day for all.
Coaching Day
17 April
A lovely calm warm spring day for the 14 players to make the most of the coaching.
The day was arranged with three one hour sessions, each session preceded by a talk and demonstration by Richard Keighley and David Tutt.
As part of the sessions they included the significant changes made to the GC Rules.
Following this very useful coaching for players in the EACF leagues, the club looks forward to a very competitive season.
Opening Day
Despite a poor weather forecast the day was dry so 40 members arrived to play a social game of croquet and enjoy a soup lunch together. The grounds looked in good condition after the winter rest and so before and after lunch all three lawns were fully occupied by both golf and association players who much enjoyed the day and who are looking forward to competitive croquet this season.
The club will be taking part in the National Croquet Day on Saturday 12 May when members of the public are welcome to visit.
