With players from as far afield as Colchester and Edinburgh, Wednesday saw the start of The Sidmouth June tournament with the handicap singles, writes Julie Horsley.

Players were arranged in four American Blocks and, at the end of the day, the block winners were: David Clarke (Sidmouth), Jamieson Walker (Edinburgh Meadows), Colin Hemming (Colchester) and Huw Rees (Kingston Maurward).

The semi-finals saw David Clarke beat Colin Hemming and Huw Rees beat Jamieson Walker.

In the final Rees used his bisques to great effect to defeat Clarke 26-0.

Friday saw the start of the Class event, which was Advanced Play for all blocks.

Block A, for the Challenge Cup, saw a tie for first place with two players each with five wins - Cliff Jones (last year’s winner) and David Richards (Nailsea).

To determine an outright winner it was based on who had won between then pair earlier in the day and this left Jones retaining his title.

Block B for the David Rawkins Cup saw David Temple also bag a second successive success as he retained the cup for a further year.

Block C for the Fortfield Cup again saw a tie for first place with two both netting five wins - David Clarke and Roger Mills,both from Sidmouth. Once again it was taken back to previous game results between the two on the day and, as a result, Clarke was crowned winner.

The tournament was organised with her usual cool efficiency by Julie Horsley, and the main prizes were presented by Esme Owen, the club’s oldest playing member at 92; croquet keeps you young!