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THE BOWDON BLOG
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2008
January to September
    
January - March

The year started with some hard work by Alan Mayne and his team giving  all fences, huts and ball-stops a much needed coat of paint.


Meanwhile, across the other side of the world Keith Aiton was reaching the New Zealand Open Quarter-finals, former member Chris Clarke became the World Champion (also in New Zealand) and Andrew Winn kept his unstoppable overseas form by going to South Africa and returning with the Culligan Trophy for the second year running. Alongside Andrew in South Africa were Sylvia and Mike Steer and Val and Elmyr Hughes.
Ian Lines won the Plate event in the World Golf Championships held in South Africa.

 
Andrew Winn and the Culligan Trophy

Ian Lines and the World Golf Plate
World Champion Chris Clarke had even more to celebrate when he married fellow former Bowdon clubmate Jenny Williams just before the World Championships.

Jenny & Chris and their croquet guests

John Lucas became the first winner of a Bowdon competition when he won a  one-ball competition in March played on the winter lawns



......and congratulations went to club coaches Lorna Frost and Ken Cooper who were awarded their C.A. Grade 1 Coaching badges and to Ian Lines who got his Grade 3 award.

 
April & May

The lawns were formally opened on April 5th and it wasn't long before Bowdon members started to make their mark on the new season. None moreso than Ros Pimlott who won three events in April and May, the Pendle Golf Handicap , the Ripon Golf Open and just to show she can play Association as well Ros triumphed in the Bowdon May Handicap Weekend .

Ros receives the Reed Cup from Sheila Black

A triple of wins also for Ian Lines who won the Southport Advanced , the Cheltenham Advanced and the Coles .



Andrew Winn won the Neil Williams Millenium Trophy at Heaton Park (above) with David Walters picking up the 'B' level prize.

Cheshire (made up of  all Bowdon players) came a narrow second in the Counties Championship down on the south coast and in the Greek Open Rupert Webb won the Handicap Doubles and was runner-up in the Singles.

In the middle of May the Beginner's course commenced with Ken Cooper aided by many club members introducing the
game to a record number of participants (see pics below).
   


The annual Hot Pot Supper was, as usual, very well attended and a great success.

Bowdon fielded six team in the North-West Federations leagues and the first fixtures saw two all Bowdon derbies. In a cracking match in the Handicap league Ros Pimlott's St. Mary's drew with Charles Harding's Firs team whilst in the Advanced League Ken Cooper's Saints beat John Wilkinson's Canons . Other matches saw Saints beat Southport Sandgrounders and win 5-1 at Bury . Firs lost at home to Fylde but had  an impressive 6-0 win at Southport . St. Mary's enjoyed theit day out in the Lake District by beating Crake Valley 4-2 . John Saxby's Midweek team, the Griffins, were held 3-3 by Bury and the Short team started what was to become a championship season with a 10-6 win over Southport .

The Mary Rose won their first round match against Wrest Park 5-1 .
 
The Wednesday competition got under way with wins for John Wilkinson, Margaret Russell, Sue Cooper, Lorna Frost and Patrick Cheyne (joint), Ken Cooper, Steve Lewis and two for Frank Moir.
 
June & July

June started with David Maugham winning the Bowdon June Advanced Weekend for the ninth time beating Ian Lines in the final. Colin Irwin won the Egyptian.


David Maugham also won the Easterns Championship (for the eighth time) and the East Midlands championships at Nottingham.

Keith Aiton won the Men's Championship at Budleigh Salterton and Ian Lines won the Pendle Advanced .



Also at Budleigh Martin Granger Brown beat Alan Linton to win the CA Veterans title and David Walters won his second trophy of the year, the Heaton Park Advanced, beating Ken Cooper in the final with Andrew Winn taking the Swiss consolation prize. Mark Lloyd won all six matches to win the Bristol 'B' tournament.

David Walters receives the Heaton Park Advanced Trophy from David Barrett

Martin Granger Brown at Budleigh Salterton

Mark Lloyd receives the Barbara Evans Trophy from Barbara Evans


In the NW Handicap League Firs drew 3-3 at Chester whilst St. Mary's had two home matches, beating Fylde 5-1 but losing to Bury 4-2 , and drawing their away match at Pendle . In the Advanced League Saints beat Fylde 4-2 at home whilst Canons had a mixed couple of months beating Fylde and Southport Sandgrounders but losing to Southport's Duke's Follies team 6-0. In the Midweek league Griffins lost 4-2 at Southport and beat Fylde at home by the same score. The Short team drew 8-8 at Fylde .

There were mixed fortunes for teams taking part in the national knockouts.  The Mary Rose team made their way through to the third round by beating Bath 4-3 but Bowdon were eliminated from the Longman Cup ( beaten 6-1 by Fylde ) and the Inter-Club ( 4-1 by Surbiton ).

The Solomon Cup (between USA and Great Britain) was held at Heaton Park with three Bowdon members (David Maugham, Ian Lines and Keith Aiton) playing for the home side in a 21-6 win. Keith Aiton made the news with an amazing octuple peel. A bit of glory attached to this for Bowdon who beat the USA reserves Jim Bast and Jim Butts 9-3 in a specially arranged friendly match.



More glory for Bowdon at Southport where we won the North-West Club Championship .


The Northerns , as usual, provided 5 splendid days of croquet well managed by Lorna Frost.



Lancashire won Bowdon's Alternative Counties competition.


Wednesday winners were John Saxby, Steve Lewis, Alan Mayne twice and that man again, Alan Mayne joint winner with Lorna Frost.
The big Wednesday tournament of the season, Wild Wednesday , was won by Margaret Russell (below).

August & September

Bowdon's highlight of 2008 must have been the holding of the President's Cup , which was won by Robert Fulford. Meanwhile, Ian Lines was winning the Chairman's Salver for the second time at Nailsea.

Robert Fulford wins the President's Cup

It was celebration time in September when Bowdon did the Double by winning the NW Federation's Midweek and Short leagues. John Saxby's Griffins won two vital matches, Chester at home 4-2 and Pendle on the road 5-1 whilst Steve Reynolds' Short team had three wins in August and September beating Chester (away) 10-6 , Bury (home) 13-3 and Llanfairfechan (away) 9-7 .
  
The Short Croquet team that won 9-7 at Llanfairfechan

Meanwhile, in the Advanced League the Saints beat Crake 5-4 and Canons beat Bury 4-2 but lost 6-3 at Pendle where Colin Irwin was called up to play in a three man team and won all three points. No wins in August and September in the Handicap League, St. Mary's losing 4-2 at home to Chester and Firs drawing 3-3 at Bury Caesars and losing 4-2 at Pendle .
No national glory for Bowdon in 2008 as Mary Rose fell in Round 3 losing closely 4-3 to Pendle .

It was a good period of the season also for many individuals in tournaments across the country. David Maugham won the Tyneside Advanced , was runner-up in the Southerns and won Bowdon's own North of England Championships .


Ian Lines won the Musk Cup , one of Golf Croquet's top awards and Richard Griffiths took the Bournemouth Bowl .

 

Alan Mayne won the Southwick 'B' tournament , Brian Storey had 7 wins out of 7 to win at Edgbaston and Ian Lines won the Southport Advanced title.





David Tunbridge won the All England Handicap Area final for the second time, Roy Edwards won the East Dorset Handicap Doubles Championship and Elmyr Hughes (below) won the Heaton Park handicap .



The Bowdon 'B' Advanced Tournament was won by Mark Lloyd, beating Richard Smith in the final.


In the Wednesday Competition there were Mars bars for Ros Pimlott/Alan Mayne (shared), Rupert Webb, Bill Allison, Ken Cooper, Steve Lewis, Sue Cooper and Chris Lewis.