By Isle of Wight Observer
Ryde Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club held its annual end-of-season tournament last weekend – the Thornton Trophy, named in memory of the club stalwart, Robin Thornton. In this doubles tournament a low handicap player is matched with a high handicap player, but with a different partner in each round.
Winning the tournament requires skill, stamina and a little luck, as you depend on 5 different partners to play well. The club introduced a new rule this year, which was to permit two players to share an entry, playing alternate games – thereby allowing people to join in, who otherwise could not cope with a whole day’s competition.
At the end of the round robin stage, the clear winner in the low handicap half of the draw was Anthony Prewer, with 28 hoops, the maximum number of possible. Nick Westmore, author of The Art of Devious Croquet, used all his cunning to score 27 hoops, edging out the joint tournament managers, Roy Tillcock and Nick England, who scored 26. In the higher handicap section scores were very tight, with 6 players on 23 hoops – Mick Abbott, Elizabeth Boyle, Tricia Cotton, Phil Poulton, Katrina Reading, and Pat Southcott; just above them was Tom Carter with 24 hoops and, topping the list, was the joint entry of Anne Larpent and Doreen Chapman with 26. Both Anne and Doreen were excellent players in their day, but Doreen is now 93 and Anne is beginning to suffer from Parkinson’s Disease.
In the final, Anne and Nick faced Anthony and Tom. The game started with some cagey, tactical play and, after 6 hoops, the score stood at 3 each and it was not possible to predict the winners. However, suddenly Anne found her form and reminded us just how good she is, by running the last four hoops, with her team ending as convincing winners 7–3.
The day shows that croquet can be played well at any age or with some disabilities. Doreen shares the trophy, because, without her good play throughout the day, Anne could not have qualified for the final.