Oxbridge Croquet Day, Sunday 8 April 2018

Juan Roberson reports: The last gasp of summer gave us a perfect day for croquet. Attendance was the usual mix of old hands and new blood - and both varieties did well….! Thanks to all who joined in to make the day a success; despite an unusually large number who were unable to attend at the last moment we still had around 25 for the day.

And thanks as always to our mentors; this year we had Rob Elliot, Alan Walsh, Neil Hardie and Ian Lucas who gave their time generously to coach the players and to Julian Todd for donating some of his fine wine as prizes.

After a social morning of free play, each of the Blues teams determined thier first pair and second pair on the day with an internal play off. For the LIght Blues Michael Wright / Graham Hall beat Andrew Fulton / Martin Maynard 4-3; for the Dark Blues Robin MIlls / Robert Laurie beat Chris Bertram / David Goodman 4-2.

In the final Blues Match, the Dark Blues prevailed. Last years winners, Robin and Robert beat this years challengers Michael and Graham 4-2. Playing for the minor places, the LIght Blues took third place with Andrew / Martin beating Chris / David 4-2.

The friendly competitive spirit is alive and well with both sides vowing to get in some sly practice between now and next year when the rivalry will, we hope, be played out on the lawns again.

HIstorically I can report that we have now had over 80 different individual participants over the past six years with a good number who have become regular attendees.