Gerry Stevens and John Guy are the winners of the 2024 John Barber Trophy.
Gerry and John beat Pauline Watson and David Kaner, 7-4, in a highly competitive final which became decidedly soggy at the end of the game when the heavens opened – saving Barry Kirby and Jim Dryden the job of setting up the rain train for one evening at least.
The annual GC doubles challenge was competed for by twelve doubles partnerships which generally comprised of one high and one low handicap player.
It was lovely to hear a lot of positive praise for the competition and the way it was run.
Club captain John Guy again put the competition together and managed it on the day.
The John Barber Trophy commemorates the memory of the Broadwas Croquet Club founder after the competition was initiated by John’s widow and founder member, Janet Barber.
The pairs played in three blocks of four in the morning and the best of the blocks pairs then earned a place in the semi-finals.
The partnership of Stevens and Guy had the biggest disparity in handicaps, with John playing off one and Gerry playing off a handicap of sixteen.
Gerry and John reached the final after beating Eileen Holt (5) and Phil Apperley (10), 7-2, while Pauline (14) and David Kaner (8) won a place in the final after beating Janet Bedford (4) and newcomer Derry Bancroft (16), 6-5 when time was called.
After Gerry and John receive the trophy from Janet, John confessed to making an error in scoring during the afternoon.
John said “I made a mistake. I’d written a score down wrongly. My dear wife (Jackie) and Hazel (Felton) should have been in the semi-final, but because I got the score wrong, they weren’t.”
Janet Bedford rightly interjected. She said “Yes but what you’ve shown us is, you are human!”
In my opinion, John Guy does so much for the club over the year that I’m amazed that he can even remember which day of the week it is. All present in the clubhouse unanimously agreed that all is forgiven.
As I said above, I heard a lot of praise for the tournament and John should be congratulated. Many thanks John.
Paul Felton
(More pictures below)
