Nailsea & District Croquet Club held their annual 2022 OBE tournament recently.

The name comes from a meeting with a New Zealand gentleman some years ago saying he had his OBE.

When congratulating him and asking how, he said 'Over B Eighty mate!' and a seed was sown, with Nailsea's Terry Young having a trophy made and putting the tournament on the calendar.

The 10-shot game is used for this event, with no turn consisting of more than 10 shots or less than two, keeping the pace of play up with a time limit of 50 minutes.

Entries are invited for any player in their 79th year or above and they arrived from Kington Langley, Budleigh Salterton, Exeter and Nailsea for the latest staging.

The event also has a 1930s theme, with lawns adorned by brightly coloured flares, striped blazers, boaters and plus-fours.

And the sun shone all day, with Nailsea's Geoff Hughes coming out on top, one point ahead of defending champion Adam Wimshurst, with Nailsea's Pat Long in third place.

The tournament was managed by Libby, assisted by Doreen and Sandra.

*Nailsea's top team opened their South West League campaign with a convincing 5-0 home win over Taunton Deane.

Taunton's players had good chances in all five games, but Nailsea's greater experience at this level proved key, with a welcome return for Kriss Chambers, who battled hard to complete the whitewash as rain set in.

James Galpin, fresh from winning the Charity One-Ball Championhip, went close to completing a sextuple peel - croquet's equivalent of a maximum break in snooker - but just failed at the penultimate hurdle.

Nailsea have another home match on Sunday May 29 against Cheltenham, who will pose a mugh tougher test.

Spectators, and potential new members, are welcome to come and watch the action at the club, opposite the end of Birdlip Close, off Trendlewood Way.

Anyone not currently in play will be happy to explain what is going on to visitors.