The one slight shower of rain on the Saturday afternoon did not put a dampener on the great weather for the recent Fun Gateball Carnival held in Newcastle from Friday 29th June to Sunday 30th June.

It was a “Fun” Carnival because we did not stick to all the formalities before and after the game, we needed to keep to a tight timetable. Only six pairs entered for the Doubles competition on the Friday afternoon so there was a single block, giving each pair five games. With only five minutes between games it was a tight programme but with great co-operation from the players we finished before dark only five minutes behind schedule. The winners were Judith Squelch and Margaret Gray from Newcastle with runners-up Ruth Mulvaney and Allan Graham from Toronto.

On the Saturday there were only four entries for the Teams event so again we had only a single block with each team playing each other team twice to give six games for each team. The winning team was Epstars with Newcastle the runner-up.

Sunday was a “Rotating Doubles” competition where nobody played with the same partner twice. Of the sixteen entrants there were some novice players and so the otherwise random draw was seeded to ensure these players did not play together but had the benefit of playing with more experienced partners. Again, each player was allocated six games. Points were awarded for wins and net hoops to each player and at the end of the day the winner with most points was Greg Deakin from Epstars. Second place went to Judith Squelch from Newcastle, followed by Marion Davies from Toronto.

It was a very busy weekend but thanks to the ready co-operation of the players and all the helpers it appeared everyone had a good time. Special thanks to our sponsors Aveo, to John Park for acting as Tournament Referee and to all the others who helped to make it a very enjoyable weekend.

Written by Alan Gray – Newcastle National Park Croquet Club
Gateball Australia

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