Sidmouth Herald published 14 June 2018
Photo [LtoR] Jane Babbage, Jane Hull, Roger Mills, Dave Kibble, Richard Wood, Colin Walls, Nigel Amos, Mike Taylor, Andrew Thomas, Alan Rush, Georgeen Hemming, Dave Mundy, Philip Harris, Linda Shaw, Ian Friedlander, Richard Williamson, Peter Nelson
Sidmouth Croquet Club hosted the Club's annual Mid Summer Tournament, a Croquet Association fixture, writes Richard Thurlow.
At the end of the first day of the handicap event, Colin Hemming (Colchester CC) was in the lead followed by his wife, Georgeen Hemming, Andrew Thomas and Julie Horsley (both from Sidmouth CC).
The next day, Andrew beat Julie and Colin beat Georgeen, effectively making the afternoon game a final between Colin and Andrew which Andrew narrowly won by two hoops. In the meantime, the chair of the association, Brian Shorney, had crept up with two wins to take joint second place with Colin.
The level play event started on the Friday with three blocks of players each playing six games.
In Block A on the first day, Roger Mills (Sidmouth/Budleigh Salterton CC’s) had two significant wins, over prominent players Dave Kibble, (Bristol CC), and Dave Mundy, (Sidmouth CC), but was then beaten, plus 26, by Keith Ross. The winner of Block A for the Challenge Cup was Richard Wood (Sidmouth CC) with five wins from six matches and the runner-up, with four wins from six, was Dave Kibble (Bristol CC).
Nigel Amos (Budleigh Salterton CC) won Block B for the David Rawkins Cup with five wins from six and there were no fewer than three Sidmouth payers who tied for second place – Philip Harris, Andrew Thomas and Colin Walls, all recording four wins from six matches.
Georgeen Hemming won Block C for the Fortfield Cup with her record being a splendid six wins from six matches and the runner-up was Sidmouth’s Ian Friedlander, who won five out of six.
Andrew Thomas was able to celebrate his win and his birthday with fellow players at the Bedford Hotel on the Saturday night.