A group of 16 Probus members and partners gathered at the Chequers Inn in  Lymington for a light lunch before embarking on an extremely enjoyable and competitive game of Croquet. Graham Otter with two helpers from  the Lymington Croquet Club began by explaining the rules by which 8 teams of 2 would compete for Wine and Chocolate. Teams drawn from a sandwich bag gave the competition a very random seeding(mostly sesame).

Croquet appears as a very gentile pastime until you let our members loose.

Much time was spent destroying the oppositions' moves to go through hoops.

After two hours of intense combat - lots of laughs and groans a winning team emerged. This team of John Dixon and Alan Wright had played 4 rubbers and amassed 14 points. They were presented with their trophies in the shape of wine bottles which when brought back for presentation at the next match will no doubt be empty. Runners up Bruce Tindell and Dave Bramley were rewarded with boxes of Chocolate. Unfortunately the photographer forgot to take the pictures and so unless another competitor has photos there is no record of the occassion. The food at the Chequers was very good and the weather perfect for croquet. It was a really good day out with a lot of banter and chatter between strokes. Graham tells me that the Lymington croquet club are looking for new members and so anyone interested please contact him. Our thanks to Graham and his helpers.