On 17th August 2023, 24 members gathered to contest the annual doubles competition at Broadwas, competing for the John Barber Trophy. The trophy is named in honour of John Barber who was a founder member of the croquet club and did huge amounts of work over the following 20 years, helping to lift the club from a small village gathering to a club that won national trophies.
The entrants had been drawn into pairs a month before the event, but now were divided into 2 blocks of 6 by random draw. Each team would play the other 5 teams in their block with the winners of each block competing in the final.
The ‘Black block’ was keenly contested and going into the final round of matches 3 teams were still in contention with 3 wins out of 4 – Eileen Holt and Jackie Guy; Ian Lambert and David Harington; Stuart Smith and Catherine Lane. Ian/David and Stuart/Catherine both managed to win their games giving both pairs 4 wins out of 5 but Stuart and Catherine were declared block winners as they had defeated Ian and David in a previous round.
The ‘Red block’ was also very keenly contested. Again 3 teams (Jon Carrington/Chloe Ballard; Peter Hill/Chris Croft and Jim and Mary Dryden) were in contention to win the block. This time Jon/Chloe and Peter/Chris managed to win their games but Jon/Chloe took top spot with 4 wins out of 5 whereas Peter/Chris had 3 wins and 1 draw.
So the final was Jon and Chloe v Stuart and Catherine. This was a titanic struggle with a lot of excellent shots but eventually Jon managed to run hoop 12 to triumph 7 – 5. This was the second year in succession that Chloe had won, each time with a different partner.
Janet Barber presented the trophy to the winning pair.
Huge congratulations to Jon and Chloe but also well done to Stuart and Catherine in silver medal position – I have to add special congratulations to Catherine who got through 6 games in the day at the age of 88!! An example for us all to try to follow.
A good day was had by all present and the weather stayed fine. Chloe earned an extra reward as her handicap was cut from 10 to 8 and Catherine also went from 10 to 9.
John Guy 18/8/23