Bishop Monkton Croquet Club has been very much in the public eye this past week as the spotlight firmly shone, in different ways, on the club both nationally and county-wide.

Club member, Bob Strover, successfully competed in Croquet England's National ‘B’ Level (4 handicap) final held at Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club in Devon, finishing as runner-up. A fantastic achievement at national level.

It was a tough two day competition with 16 finalists as, in a total of 15 games, each finalist played one another. Bob was one of only two finalists who won 12 of their games, including his final match with the eventual winner, but unfortunately missed out on top spot by a difference of just 15 hoops. First place went to Adrian Coward of the home club.

Representing the club again, but in a different way was Jo-Ann Hughes who took part, via Zoom, in a BBC Radio Leeds Sunday morning radio broadcast with presenter Nick Ahad.

This four hour radio broadcast is billed as fun, updates and entertainment to brighten up Sunday mid-morning and for the first time last Sunday featured a “Not a Pub, But a Club “ quiz, pitting Jo-Ann against Claire, of the Crochet Club “Halifax Hookery”.

Before answering 60 seconds of questions, each contestant spoke briefly about their respective club. Asked by the presenter whether croquet was 'a bit-posh', Jo-Ann assured him that this was no longer the case, but that it was really great fun, competitive, if you wanted it to be and sociable. She then gave a big shout of support to Bob at the National Championships, pointing out that he was the only Northerner at the competiton. Came the response “Bob, the might of Yorkshire is behind you”.

And even more good news for the club. Jo-Ann won the quiz with nine points, two ahead of Claire. So, for now, she has the distinction of being top of the “Not a Pub but a Club" quiz leaderboard.

To listen to the broadcast (at around 1.10 p.m.) please click here