Lane and Perkins Win Progressive Doubles

After the recent difficulties in managing the President’s Cup it looked as though the club’s yearly Association Croquet Progressive Doubles competition (Saturday 29 September 2012) was developing into similar chaos as a result of three people withdrawing at short notice.  One of those, having signed up to play, was not even contactable by phone, mobile or email right up to and beyond the Friday evening.  In the end we had 14 members able and willing to play, four of whom were new or nearly new to the Association Croquet game. This meant that in each round any two of the 14 had to receive a bye at some stage during the day.

To add incentive to try and get junior partners around to the peg, the high bisquers’ scores were doubled, so that the maximum scores were 21 in an otherwise normal 14 point game.  Winners received 3 points, 4 for a win within the time limit of 75 minutes.  Just 5 rounds took place, to allow for a leisurely “stroll” through the day.  The significance of the extra, bonus point for a win within time became clear when David Perkins and Brenda Lane won the last game of the day inside the 75 minutes, giving Brenda a final score of 14.  As she had been one of those who had played in all five rounds, a compensating adjustment had to be made to the final score of her nearest rival, Connie Stopforth.  Connie’s adjusted score became 13.75.   Need I say more? David Perkins was the low bisquer winner.  He, by comparison, had no near competition for his bottle of pink fizz.

At the end of the tournament I was agreeably surprised and, therefore, happy to hear many words of appreciation voiced for the entertainment given and received during the course of the day.  These comments went a long way to reinforcing Paul Francis’ suggestion that in 2013 it would be a good idea to also hold a similar event earlier in the season in addition to the one in September.