Scottish Croquet Association

Aberdeen Tournament 2015

12-13 September 2015, Albury and Westburn

Campbell Morrison won the Aberdeen & Crathes handicap weekend beating Charles Henderson +2 on time in the final, a tense game in which Charles made some progress with his bisques until Campbell eventually hit and went to rover. Charles continued to make hoops but then ran out of bisques and Campbell looked set to finish until an attempted rover peel came to grief giving Charles a glimmer of hope. He couldn’t quite manage to draw level in the time turn, however, and Campbell was declared the winner. He was frankly lucky to be in the final at all: the talented Block 2 winner Simon Robins came so close to beating him in the semi-final at Westburn that the result, 18-10, had already been reported to the manager. This was hastily withdrawn when Simon missed a six foot peg-out, pegging out one ball, and Campbell made the most of his opportunity and finished with a nicely controlled three ball break. Blocks 3 and 4 were won by David Houston and Charles Henderson respectively with Charles emerging the victor in the semi-final at Albury +9. In Block 2, Ian Hall was equal with Simon on 3 wins but was edged out by Simon on net points.

The players are to be congratulated on completing all the scheduled games on the Saturday. The threatened rain held off until around lunchtime and then came down with persistence and determination until all players were sodden and only the hot cups of tea and coffee brought around kept everybody going. The lunches at both venues were very welcome and many thanks to Meg, Eleanor, Edwina and Margaret for providing all day catering to the needy competitors. All players and supporters gathered at the RNUC on Saturday evening for drinks and a fabulous and convivial dinner. There was a big change on Sunday when the sun came out and some players were even spotted putting on sun cream. The final was played in front of a large and appreciative crowd in bright sunshine before the presentation to Campbell. Many thanks to Charles Henderson, Brian Clark, Bill Strachan and the Aberdeen & Crathes Club for all their efforts in hosting this wonderful tournament.

Congratulations to Brian Durward and Jola Jurasinska on their handicap reductions to 5 and 11 respectively.

Jane Morrison, Manager

Results

All games 18 point (both clips starting on Hoop 5) with 2 hour time limits

Final

Campbell Morrison beat Charles Henderson +2T (15-13)

Semi-finals

Campbell Morrison beat Simon Robins +1
Charles Henderson beat David Houston +9T (13-4)