Awards Lunch 2016
The Broadwas Croquet Club award winners lunch was held at the Royal Oak in Broadwas. The winners were Jeremy Pardoe who won the John Ryland Trophy, Open Handicap Golf and Open Handicap Association; John Guy and Gill Brooks who won the doubles; Jay Popplewell who won the Ladies Golf; Peter Hill, winner of the High Handicap; Ian Dampney winner of the Level Play Golf and Billy Nicholson winner of the Mens Golf.
And for the first time an award was given by Stuart Smith, the club chairman, for the outstanding performance seen by him during the season. The winner was Ian Dampney for his victory over Tim Dennis (26-0) to secure victory over Kington Maurward in the final of the South West Federation Association Croquet competition. In external competitions we won the West Midlands Golf Croquet League for a fifth time in six years and also won the South West Federation Association Croquet final held at Swindon after being runners up last year. We also won the West Midlands Federation End of Season Level Golf Croquet Tournament held at Himley Croquet Club.
Broadwas Win at Himley
The top four teams in the West Midlands Federation Golf Croquet League, Broadwas, Himley, Edgbaston and Kenilworth fought it out for the the West Midlands Federation End of Season Level Golf Croquet Tournament at Himley Croquet Club on Sunday (2nd)
On a beautiful autumn morning we (Ian Dampney, Stuart Smith and Jeremy Pardoe) played Himley in the first round and Kenilworth were drawn against Edgbaston. The score; Broadwas 4, Kenilworth 4, Edgbaston 0, and Himley 0.
The second round saw us against Edgbaston and Kenilworth against Himley. The score; Broadwas 4, Kenilworth 1, Edgbaston 3, and Himley 0.
Going into the final round we knew it was between us and Kenilworth, we had 8 points and Kenilworth 5 so one win against them would be enough and one point was what we got thanks to Ian Dampney.
So the final score was Broadwas 9, Kenilworth 8, Edgbaston 6, and Himley 1 – Close.
Thanks to Himley Croquet Club for lovely day and particularly Paul Robertshaw and Dawn Piggot of Himley C.C. Paul was the brains behind the day, everything went off without a hitch and Dawn did the scoring. As for the cakes at the end of the day, forget the croquet, the chocolate cake alone was worth travelling for.
So congratulations to everyone who has participated (Ian Dampney, captain, Stuart Smith, John Guy, Janet Bedford, Roger Wood and Jeremy Pardoe) in this year’s league, resulting in a clean sweep of all the events.
Federation League Win
The South West Federation of Croquet Clubs Final at Swindon
A contingent of five travelled to Swindon on Sunday to play Kingston Maurward in the Association Croquet South West Federation final. Captain Stuart Smith with John Guy, Ian Dampney and Jeremy Pardoe and coming along for the ride was Stuart’s father-in-law Will, a keen golf croquet player from Pendle & Craven, left Worcester hoping to make amends for losing in the final to Bath last year at Sidmouth.
First blood was to Broadwas when John Guy defeated Tim Dennis 26 – 3. Ian Dampney then beat Kath Burt, a former international, 26 – 23 after completing the match with only one ball after Kath had pegged out his other one. Bringing up the rear Stuart Smith and Jeremy Pardoe beat Jonathan Powe and Jeremy Marshall 22 – 8 in the doubles. So 3 – 0 at lunch.
In the afternoon Ian, definitely the outstanding player of the day, crushed Tim Dennis 26 – 0 in less than an hour with only three visits to the lawn. So the match was won. Jeremy and John Guy lost their singles and Stuart looked as though he was going the same way, at one stage he was 23 – 3 down but, with very little time left, two beautiful breaks saw him recover to defeat Jeremy Marshall 26 – 24. Great to watch.
The final result was 5 – 2 and the Broadwas team were presented with a fine shield on which to record this notable victory.
Thanks must go referee John Grimshaw and particularly to Swindon Croquet Club for their hospitality, the lovely lunch and the wonderful condition of the lawns – flat and true, a real treat.
Broadwas Win Level Play League
Broadwas Croquet Club have won the West Midlands Federation Level Play Golf Croquet League for 2016. Following recent wins over Himley, Edgbaston and Shrewsbury, Broadwas travelled to Kenilworth knowing that only a victory would ensure they won the league. It was all settled on Thursday (8th September) when we played Kenilworth and won 11 -8.
After 4 rounds of singles matches the Broadwas team of Ian Dampney (captain), John Guy, Stuart Smith and Roger Wood had established a narrow 9 – 7 lead. This meant that a victory in one of the remaining two doubles matches would be enough to secure victory. In a tight defensive match Dampney and Guy eventually won 7 – 3 securing the point required to secure Broadwas us our 5th West Midlands League title in the last 6 years.
Kenilworth were the only other contenders for the title having played two and won two prior the Thursday’s match, they have one more match against Himley on the 20th but they can’t match our unbeaten record of four wins.
Well done to the team which has included over the series; Ian Dampney (captain), Janet Bedford, John Guy, Roger Wood and Stuart Smith.