13-19 Jun 2009
Urunga Croquet Club
Players from as far afield as Mornington VIC, Drysdale VIC, Albury, Orange and Lismore enjoyed a week of good competition and a very friendly atmosphere. Play commenced on the Saturday with an Egyptian Event, the atmosphere was light and the competition fierce, as we played a record 56 games in the day. After a formal welcome on the Sunday morning we got down to the singles round robin matches.
All was going extremely well until the heavens again opened up on the Wednesday night, and by Friday morning the Committee had to decide whether to abandon play or continue despite the conditions, six inches had already fallen and more was to come. The lawns had water over the surface as drainage was almost impossible in the already rain soaked turf. Play did continue on half lawns and the ‘squeegee broom’ was used on a number of occasions to remove the excess water from the lawns.
The players and referees were well looked after by a number of members, catering for the duration of the Carnival, lead by Secretary Marilyn James and Treasurer Ruth Nicholson. The main catering was by Lui’s Urunga Restaurant which is located in our parent Club, C.ex Urunga Golf & Sports Club.
On the social side a very happy Carnival Dinner was held on the Tuesday, a number of smaller events were planned by the players throughout the week, and then we concluded with the Presentation after play on Friday.
Carnivals don’t just happen and the Urunga Club had a number of willing helpers, our President Brian Oldfield was in early every morning setting the hoops, Bev Oldfield was the Carnival Secretary, John Cate had the roles of Tournament Manager and Referee and Barb Piggott Assistant Manager, Handicapper and computer guru.
We had seven handicap changes during the event, both up and down, and a number of peg outs. The results were as follows:
Egyptian Block A Winner Roger Fox (Orange) Runner up Archie McCulloch (Forster)
Egyptian Block B Winner Robert Leese (Urunga) Runner up Tony Earle (Port Macquarie)
Block A Winner Bill Blaikie (Taree) Runner up Judy Evans (Mornington VIC)
Block B Winner Jean Lieschke (Albury) Runner up June Nixon (Forster)
Block C Winner Fay Simpson (Killara) Runner up Archie McCulloch (Forster)
Block D Winner Brian Manton (National Park) Runner up Jill Manton (National Park)
Block E Winner Jean McCulloch (Forster) Runner up Penny Jude (Forster)
Block F Winner Jane Serotzki (Lismore) Runner up Lyn Rayward (Taree)
Many complimentary remarks were made about the running of the Carnival with players eager to return next year. If you have not been to Urunga on the Mid North Coast you may like to consider next year, although get your entry in early as we can only accept 36 players.
Barb Piggott
Captain
Urunga Croquet Club
