Stanthorpe weather conditions for the final day of May were simply foul and prevented Association Croquet players from taking to the court for their usual round of games. The official start of winter, the next day there was a slight improvement in the weather and four intrepid (or slightly crazy) Golf Croquet players braved the cold and windy conditions to play one extended game. Shirley Evans and Jennifer Gleadhill combined to play Liz Ellway and Shirley Page. Gleadhill scored a huge 10 hoops, one of which was a jump shot. Her partner added seven for a good total of 17. Despite their good scoring their opponents Ellway and Page were in top form scoring 10 and nine respectively to come away with a narrow victory.
Although conditions on Friday were not ideal for the Gateball players it was not bad enough to the keep the group off the court and they played four hotly contested games. Les Williams, Jenny Tunbridge and Heather Widderick won the toss and played white balls as they took on Sharyn Roser, Grace Howard and Pauline Smith playing the red balls.
In the opening game Reds struggled to get their balls into play. Howard saved the day sending four white balls off the court. This game red the chance to get all of their balls into play and begin scoring. Reds were leading when Roser got another three white balls out of play and clinched the game with an Agari. The final score 11-4.
The next game was very close, and it looked difficult to predict which tea would be clear winners until some accurate long shots from Williams at the back end of the game secured a narrow 10-9 win for the White Team.
In Game Grace Howard retired leaving underdogs Roser and Smith to battle it out with the white balls against the experienced opposition. Les Williams was dead accurate with his shots; opposition was deadly accurate. Widderick scored with some very accurate long shots putting the red team in front. They went on to win the game 13-8 and scored one Agari. Two wins for the White teams
The final game was very close with nothing between the two teams for most of the game. Pauline Smith was showing a good understanding of strategy, until the last shot when Les Williams scored hoop three and went on to take two Agaris winning 15-12. Another win for the White team.
Despite the recent weather events Stanthorpe Mallet players report that the surface is holding up really well and thankfully has excellent drainage although recently it has been covered with leaves and small branches.
