Going for gold - after lunch!

Sidmouth Croquet Club has had a busy fortnight with competitions against other clubs and its own internal events.In a golf croquet competition against Dowlish Wake (away) Sidmouth lost 17-3, in part due to very uneven lawns. However, Pam Bowra and partner Margaret Piper did master the necessary technique to win their doubles game. This was the club's final golf match of their second season, finishing with three wins and three defeats.The postponed finals of the Colclough and Sidmouth Cups (Sidmouth Croquet Club's Handicap Doubles Tournament) were held on July 23 with Ken Wallman and Helen Pryor playing Nancy Temple and Roger Hendy. When time was up the game had been easily won by Nancy and Roger, though they failed to 'peg out', the score being 14-9. The club also ran its Robert Case Shield and Tankard afternoon event where players scored points for achieving a variety of different shots. David Temple won the Shield and Pam Bowra won the Tankard.Sidmouth welcomed players from Nailsea SE for a one-day contest in the South West Federation B league series. Home players Muriel Philpott and John Coombes combined to win by a handsome score of 14 points to the visitors' five. In the morning's singles games Pam Bowra and Roger Hendy both lost but by only one point each. Unfortunately for the home team, Nailsea SE (who were the B league winners in 2007) won the remaining four games, which were all keenly fought, resulting in final close scores with an overall win for Nailsea.The Intermediate team travelled to Poole to play against the East Dorset Croquet Club. The match started badly in the morning session with defeats for the doubles partnership of John Dixon and Barbara Clarke. Graham Harford and Mike Taylor (playing singles) left a score of 3-0 to East Dorset by lunch time. Sidmouth began to master the very fast lawns in the afternoon and won three games, two on "golden" hoops. The final score was a 4-3 win for East Dorset.