Ealing Croquet Club

There were 14 players gathered on a glorious Spring Sunday for Ealing’s heat of this year’s Charity One-Ball Competition. Andy Dibben’s excellent Flexible Swiss Excel programme was used to run the tournament, which meant the leisurely arrival of competitors during the morning presented no problems, with the computer scheduling games as and when everyone was ready. (The only slight hiccup came when the manager’s better half attempted to enter a result, causing a degree of meltdown from both man and machine.)

Players could play as few or as many games as they wished, with two enthusiasts clocking up 5. The clear winner was Margaret Page with 4 wins out of 4. Martin Blackmore was second with 3 out of 3, and Sean Doherty third with 3 out of 4.

It was good to see adherents of both AC and GC playing and prospering. In particular Luis declared that he had got the hang of it, pleaded for another game, and proceeded to thrash the manager with all four of his bisques standing.

Everyone’s generosity meant that we raised an impressive £170 (plus Gift Aid) for this year’s designated charity, the Alzheimer’s Society. This gave us two places in the National Final at Surbiton on May 17th. Margaret and Martin are unavailable, which means that Fred Overton-White (who tied with Simon Tuke on 3 out of 5) and Sean will be our representatives.

Many thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable day. We even tucked into unseasonal mince pies and Christmas cake.

Report: Simon Tuke

Photograph: Lindy Jordan