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26-27 September 2026, Knightswood

Eight hardy players gathered at Knightswood lawns in Glasgow to compete for the West of Scotland AC Handicap title 2026 despite the weather forecast.  Unfortunately, one player had a late start because the manager is an idiot who failed to read an e-mail properly.

On Day 1 we enjoyed some unexpected sunshine during the early rounds of play.  John Campbell achieved the only peg-out of round one.  The other victors in round one were Dave McLaughlin, Roger Binks and Stefan Colling.

The good weather at this stage had drawn four members of Glasgow Croquet Club who kindly provided teas, coffees, snacks, support and varying levels of interest in learning about Association Croquet.

In Round 2 Dave won his match against Stefan 26-0 with a bisque to spare and Roger beat John 26-16.  Brian Durward beat Sue Fraser 20-15 and Phil Banfill beat Ian Price 21-16. 

By now the Glaswegian weather was closing in on us and not all players wanted to start a 3rd round of matches on the Saturday. Notable results from Round 3 were Dave beating Roger 26-6, to secure the only 100% record from Day 1, and Brian completing a TPO while beating Stefan 26-16.  The third game had to be pegged down for the night.  Congratulations to Roger for whom two wins out of three was enough to secure a handicap reduction overnight.

Sunday started grey and the drizzle followed us onto the lawns where it only got stronger as the day went on and the two players with a late start didn’t see a dry spell all day.

Dave continued his winning streak on Sunday morning beating Brian 17-12 giving him an unassailable lead in the competition. Some of us thought better of continuing to play further into the afternoon so we stopped for a presentation ceremony where Brian, as SCA Chairman – presented Dave with a trophy he last won in 1992.

The pegged down game was completed and those who wanted another game accepted the compromise solution of completing 18-point games in the lawns which became increasingly difficult to play on as time went on causing a necessary change in tactics.  Ian Price inflicted Dave’s only defeat of the weekend and was disappointed to find out that this didn’t mean that he took possession of Dave’s trophy. We all found out that when playing underwater you don’t want to be up against a former deep-sea diver as John beat Phil 26-19.

The manager wishes to apologise to Sue Fraser who, not for the first time and not always by her own choice has travelled to Glasgow and played fewer games than she expected.

The Manager wishes to thank:

• Glasgow Life for the use of the lawns
• John from Glasgow Life for manning the pavilion
• Brian and Dave for laying out the lawns and for lots of lawn repairs
• Roger for being Referee of Tournament and providing a new box and wrapping for the trophy
• All of the players for supporting the event and making it fun despite the weather – particular thanks to those who travelled to join us in Glasgow

Stefan Colling
The Idiot Manager

Results

(Also on Croquet Scores)