The Federation team finished off their divisional fixtures with a 4-1 win over reigning SW Federation champions, Dyffryn. The semi-final against Taunton Deane is thus a match between the only two teams in the Federation with 100% records.
Cliff Cardis got things off to a flying start with a convincing 26-3 victory. Ian Megaw and John Airey were less convincing in the doubles, but eventually came out on top by 24-18 when time was called. Ian wrapped up the match win victory in his afternoon singles and John had Swindon thinking of the whitewash, but the final result went against them. Full scores here.
The Federation team clinched the North Division title with a comfortable 4-1 victory at Worcester Norton. Their record of 5 straight wins means that even a defeat in the final match at home to Dyffryn will leave them top of the division.
The match at Worcester was effectively won in the morning session, with victories from John Airey and Di Trott won the doubles and Ian Megaw in the singles giving Swindon a 2-0 lunchtime lead. Ian lost the first afternoon game to create a bit of tension, but John scored the crucial win that sealed the match and title win, and Di rounded off the day with a win in her singles match. Full details here.
The semi-final is held at a neutral venue, arranged before the start of the season. This year's is being held at Taunton, where the Federation team will face Taunton Deane. The croquet gods have an ironic sense of humour!
The Intermediate team drew the curtains on a difficult season with a 7-0 home defeat to the Bear of Rodborough, meaning they finish bottom of the North Division with no wins. Full scores here.
The good news is that the season has been used to introduce a number of inexperienced players to competitive play. This can only be good for the future development of both the individuals concerned and the club as a whole.
Another narrow victory, this time 3-2 away to Nailsea (North), left the Federation team one win away from the North Division title.
Things started comfortably with wins in both morning matches. The first two games in the afternoon singles both went Nailsea's way to level the socres, but Di Trott was able to steer the team to victory with a comfortable win in her match. Full scores here.
The Federation team have two matches remaining, and victory in their next game at Worcester Norton will secure the division title. A defeat will leave them looking for a win at home to Dyffryn and hoping other results are favourable.
The Federation team scored the narrowest of wins in a tense finish at home to Broadwas. Three games were decided by a single point on time, with two of them going Swindon's way in a 4-3 victory.
John Airey and Di Trott scored a convincing win in the doubles, with John achieving a similar result in his singles match. The other two points came from Ian Megaw, who came from behind to clinch victory in both his games by a single point on time. His afternoon win was particularly dramatic, as time was called while he in the middle of a break that saw him come from four hoops down to snatch a victory in both his game and the match. Full results here.
The Federation team continued their good start to the season with a 4-3 victory at Cheltenham. The result also restored a measure of club pride after the Intermediates' heavy defeat.
Stars of the day were John Airey and Di Trott, who scored maximum points with a win in the morning doubles and their afternoon singles matches. Full details here.
The Intermediate team lost heavily in the home match to Cheltenham, going down to a 5-0 whitewash. The overall score is not reflective of individual performances, however, as all the Swindon players managed to score a decent number of hoops, but were unable to clinch a win.
The one bright spot was the performance of first time doubles pairing Rosemary Wall and Roger Bedells, who led for most of their game before being overhauled near the end to lose by 2 points on time. Full match scores.
The Intermediate team nearly managed to pull off a win in their first match of the aeason, but came up just short at home to Broadwas.
A win from Di Trott and Rosemary Wall's first Intermediate victory gave the team a 2-1 lead at lunch. However, Broadwas came back strongly to clinch vitory with wins in both the afternoon doubles matches. Full match scores.
The Federation team got their season off to a good start with a 3-2 victory over the Bear of Rodborough.
The star of the show was Cliff Cardis, who stormed to double-quick wins in both his matches. Full scores can be seen here.
Club chairman Arthur Ingersoll took time off from his committee duties to win the Lydiard Plate in the opening high handicap tournament of the assocation croquet season.
Arthur progressed to his final match with wins over Mary Beddells and Rosemary Wall. He then met Roger Bedells, who had also scored 2 wins. Roger took an early lead, but Arthur got into his stride and ran out winner by 10 points.
See the full results here.
The new season got underway with a golf croquet tournament. Despite mixed weather, 8 members turned out, meaning that tournament organiser John Airey got to spend his day managing the tournament, rather than playing in it.
It was a day of tight finishes, and the tournament manager may have been grateful for the extra time to brush up on tie-break rules. The morning's handicap singles were won by Ian Megaw, who made it a double in the afternoon by partnering Pat Bevan to take the level doubles.
The Federation and Intermediate League dates for this season have now been agreed, and the fixture list updated.