Title: Elsie King Association Handicap singles
Location: Dulwich
Description: Manager Simon Whiteley SECF open- association handicap singles
Start Date: 2012-04-14
Start Time: 2012-04-15
End Date: 2012-04-15

Mark Ormerod won the CA Selectorss Weekend for “up and coming” players. This advanced association tournament is designed to encourage players with the potential to go on to compete in more national tournaments- in Mark’s case it is of course a second coming, as he used to compete at this level in the 80’s. Congratulations to Mark and we look forward to more success for him.

Meanwhile Kent’s golf inter-counties team had two Dulwich players, Simon Carter and Pierre Beaudry. The team won their seventh inter-counties title confirming their position as the most consistently successful inter-counties team. Congratulations also to them.

The winning team, Pierre (left) and Simon (right)

The Winners

Michael Goodman amd John Reddish showed that age and recuperation from joint replacements is no bar to competitive croquet, convincingly winning the Fairbairns golf handicap doubles on 17th September with 4 wins out of 4. Gloria and Ken Watson chased them home with 3/4 while the rest of us admired and tried to play croquet.

For a more eloquent comentary on the day, our resident bard has written:

Thank you Simon for captaining this event
And to Pat whose lunch was heaven sent
We all enjoyed our eventful day
Although I truly have to say
That it would have been more fun to win
But losing is not such a terrible sin!
In the morning the sun shone on us all
But by afternoon it began to rain and squall
Michael and John proved a formidable pair
They truly deserved the trophy that they share
Ken and Gloria were worthy runners up
And the rest of us tried our best to catch them up
So sadly Simon and Pat, Jan and myself, and Robert and Anne
Were in order left behind
But at the end of the day we had such fun
we really, truly, did not mind!

JMP. 18/09/11

James Benson was a worthy winner of the Badger trophy winning all five of his games, beating Pierre Beaudry, Eric Driver John Reddish and Simon Whiteley (twice- once by +26), together with a handicap reduction to 7.

Title: SECF Assoc A League @Tunbridge Wells
Location: Tunbridge Wells
Date: 2011-08-19

Mark Ormerod, Ed Dymock, David Colins and Simon Whiteley took on a team from Purley Bury in the second round of the Mary Rose Association advanced inter-club teams tournament.

Although the result was a clear win, many of the games were far from one-sided. It was good to welcome our near neighbours (in croquet terms) for a very convivial match played in a good spirit.

A team of 14 players from the Nord-Jarlsberg Croquet and Country Club came to Dulwich for a friendly match on 11th June. After a brief refresher to ensure we were playing the same game (we were!). Playing on two lawns laid out on the former Bowling Green, the two sides were soon hard at play. It was too much fun to keep score but a good time was had by all.

Norway vs Dulwich: a hoop being run from the boundary?? (Great trousers Einar!):

The social side….

Høy kølle! (as they say in Norway- “high mallet”).

We look forward to seeing you again.

Association Advanced

We had nine entrants for the level advanced Ayling Cup, with handicaps ranging from 1 to 7 with one visitor Tom Whiteley (no relation) fresh from Oxford University. Tom got off to a good start, beating Mark Ormerod in a close game +2, then beating David Collins and Michael Blair on Saturday. On Sunday he won another close game against Simon Whiteley +4, followed by Ray Hall +26, makinng him a worthy winner on 5 wins out of 5.

Mark Ormerod came second with 4 wins out of 5. Of the higher handicaps, Andrew Dymond did well in his first level advanced tournament with 3/5 wins, beating Ray Hall, Michael Blair and David Collins.

Ed Dymock, Mark Ormerod, Simon Whiteley and Peter Earnshaw travelled to Watford on 2nd June for the frst round of the Murphy Shield Golf teams event, for teams with a minimum handicap totalling 12. Last year we reached the finals so expectations were high. Unfortunately we were not playing our best, while Watford played consistent and effective croquet, and we were 0-3 by lunchtime- a hard position to come back from. In the event, we were only able to take 2 of the afternoon games, making it 2-5 overall. Congratulations to Watford, and we look forward to welcoming you to Dulwich at some stage.

26th May 2011

Dulwich beat Surbiton 4-2 with one game abandoned.

(Dulwich first)

Mark Ormerod (1) and Simon Whiteley (1 1/2) beat George Noble (1/2) and Eugene Chang (1) +15

Edward Dymock (1 1/2) lost to Christian Carter (2) -2

David Collins (2) beat Ian Parkinson (1 1/2) +1

Mark Ormerod beat George Noble +16

Simon Whiteley beat Eugene Chang +5

Edward Dymock vs Ian Parkinson abandoned

David Collins lost to Christian Carter

Two closely matched teams (1 handicap point between them) played on the usual Surbiton lawns- fast with firm hoops. Unusually the doubles was the first to finish, with Mark and Simon fairly comfortable winners against George and Eugene. The two singles games turned into marathons with a number of finishing opportunities on both sides before Ian prevailed over Ed Dymock +2 after 4 hours and David squeaked home by 1 after nearly 4 1/2 hours. The usual Surbiton lunch was delayed but was as good as ever.

In the afternoon, Mark took little time to beat George while Simon was well ahead unil a mistake after 4-back allowed Eugene to get going, and only a mistake with his second ball at penult let Simon back in for a strong finish to win +5 and take the match. By now the strong winds throughout the day were accompanied by heavy rain, so Ian and Ed abandoned their game, but Christian and David continued until Christian had pulled one back for Surbiton.

Thanks to Surbiton for their usual hospitality and good company.