The latest Nailsea croquet tournament exceeded all expectations, with wonderful weather after dire warnings of flash floods and lightning from the Met Office.

The upper class of eight were competing for the Peter Dyke Ruby Shield, a new trophy commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the club by Peter Dyke.

His first action in 1981 was to go round the pubs in Nailsea selling raffle tickets and for many years he single-handedly coached, refereed, handicapped, set hoops, laid out lawns, managed tournaments and internal competitions and generally ran the club.

Dyke has also coached many juniors who have gone on to become top class players and the tournament played out as a fitting tribute to his efforts.

From the two blocks of four, semi-finalists Chris Donovan, Peter Kirby, Jonathan Lambton and Robert Upton emerged, with Donovan and Kirby winning through to produce the most entertaining Nailsea final for a very long time.

The hoops were accurately set to 1/16 but, as expected at Nailsea, they were rigid and not very friendly and players soon learned not to expect to run them from angles or to bully them.

Donovan and Kirby both played accurate breaks but had occasional hoop failures with much muttering about the hoop-setters.

A good crowd thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment and the ending was particularly exciting wkth many twists and turns but Donovan was the eventual winner.

North Somerset Times: Club founder Peter Dyke presenting the new shield to Chris Donovan from SidmouthClub founder Peter Dyke presenting the new shield to Chris Donovan from Sidmouth (Image: Kathy Wallace)

Dyke presented the shield and must have been pleased to see such a fitting final before receiving a small replica of the shield as a keepsake as his three grand-daughters played on the grass where his daughters had played in 1981.

Six higher handicap players competed in an American block and didn’t disappoint the crowd either.

Harvey Smith, aged 14 and handicap 11, spent the first game getting to grips with the hoops and lost to Margo Soakell.

But he then started to fly to win all his remaining games and with a beautiful swing and accurate croquet strokes, he is surely destined for great things, with his personality set to win him many fans.

Joint second in this class were Neil Fillery and Libby Howard-Blood, on three wins each.