SWINDON Croquet Club enjoyed mixed results over the course of the past week, with one win and one defeat from their two matches.

On Sunday, the golf croquet team travelled to Worcester to play Worcester Norton.

The day started badly, with Swindon losing three of the doubles games, but the team were not discouraged. By the last set of singles, however, they had pulled themselves level at 7.5-each and the visitors didn’t let the tension get to them, going on to win 10.5-9.5 - the club’s first ever golf croquet victory.

Garry Douel played exceptionally well, winning all his singles games, Elaine Wheeler showed her experience by winning two singles and a doubles, and Wendy White, playing in her first competitive match, scored well despite not winning.

Later in the week, the B Association croquet team went to Cheltenham, where they were outclassed. Two married couples played the doubles game, Mary and Roger Bedells for Swindon and Martin and Belinda George for Cheltenham, with the latter pairing winning 14-7.

In the afternoon, Roger Bedells played Peter Paulden, who excelled at long rolls and, with the advantage of extra bisques, was able to beat the Swindon player 14-6. Martin George played Marner but the Swindon player had lost confidence and couldn’t compete, losing 14-4.

Mary Bedells played Willbourn and had only started both her balls on the lawn when Willbourn had an excellent run, getting to peg with his first ball before letting her on the lawn again.

She then managed two breaks of three each before Willbourn scored again, but eventually he got in and, with bisques, got his second ball to rover before Bedells scored again en route to a 14-8 victory. Cheltenham won the match 5-0.