THE LATHAM CUP Bob Whiffen, Bristol Croquet Club
The Latham Cup for handicap play in Bristol has been contested for more than 40 years, with Reg Bamford being one of the early winners. Only one person, David Gillett (Sussex County), has won it four times, including last year, and he returned this year to defend his title.
This year all the games were 18‐point full bisque with a base of 4, with a hoop 1 and 9 (3‐back) start. All three courts were used for the twelve players, six of them from Bristol and six visitors from various clubs ranging geographically from Garway (near Hereford) to Sussex County. All games were double‐banked with a time limit of 2½ hours, which turned out to be reasonable, with more than 50% finishing before time. The maximum handicap allowed was 20, but players ranged from 2½ to 14. Contrary to weather forecasts, the weather turned out to be reasonable on Saturday, and very pleasant on Sunday. The courts were still a little bumpy with the occasional bald patch, but were an acceptable speed. As it was the first tournament of the season it was the first time to use our newly acquired hoops. At the end of play on Saturday Susan King (Bristol) was the only person to have won all three games, and unfortunately the only person not to win a game was David Gillett. The game between the two of them was won by Susan by one point on time.
On Sunday morning Susan King lost her game to Mark Oldale (Garway), and by lunchtime we had four players on three wins. As there were no clear eliminations, they played two six‐ point games with one‐third of their bisque allocation for an 18‐point game. Susan King played Mike Chan (also from Bristol) and Mark Oldale played Colin Britt (Camerton and Peasedown). This resulted in the final being a repeat of the morning game between Susan King (14 handicap) and Mark Oldale (4 handicap). After one hour, after using some of her bisques, Susan was leading 9 ‐ 3. As time went on, Mark gradually reduced the six point deficit, and the game ended in a win for Mark Oldale by one point. As a result of playing in this tournament, both Susan King and Nigel Knee (Cheltenham) reduced their handicaps.
For me it was a pleasure to manage the tournament with such a pleasant group of players.
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