By Chris Ham

BUDE Croquet Club, who have entered two teams in the South West Federation Leagues, one in the Handicap League and one in the Higher Handicap League, have got their competitive season underway.

As well as that we will also be hosting our usual tournaments and Pasty Cup matches with St Agnes as well as some regional competitions.

Wednesday, April 24 saw Bude compete in their inaugural South West Federation Handicap League match against St Agnes.

In the first round of games, Bude stormed into a 4-0 lead, Tim Benson and Chris Ham winning comfortably, while Andy Middleton and Frances Hornblow had to go to a tie-breaking 13th hoop to win tight games 7-6. 

This was a morale-boosting opening to the match as St Agnes’ top two players were beaten.

The second round saw a further three wins, Tim Benson seeing off his opponent with an exemplary 7-1 performance, although Andy Middleton’s ten-game winning sequence sadly came to an end.

St Agnes staged a fight back in round three when Julia Hilder and Dave Langdown were introduced to the fray for Bude, both losing by a narrow margin.

The match score going into the final round of singles games was 7-5 to Bude with 11 wins required to secure overall victory. Bude ensured that they could not lose as three games were won by comfortable margins.

With four doubles games remaining to play, Chris Ham and Tim Benson guaranteed the points with a quickfire 7-4 win in their game. Frances Hornblow and Andy Middleton also won their tie to give Bude a 12-7 lead. 

The final match, much more relaxed with the win sewn up, saw Chris Ham and Dave Langdown extend the lead to 13-7 to give Bude a great start to the season. Congratulations to Tim Benson for winning all four of his games.