Dalby Ladies' Croquet Club celebrates its fourth birthday

H*eading: DISTRICT NEWS Nobby April 29.*

*Newspaper: The Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette*

*Date: Wednesday 1 May 1940, page 10*

*Found on: [Trove](https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article285692648), National Library of Australia*

The Dalby Ladies' Croquet Club celebrated its fourth anniversary with a birthday party, which was held on the lawns this afternoon. The large attendance exceeded all expectations and the novelty events and the programme prepared by members made the afternoon most enjoyable. The club house, where afternoon tea was served, was decorated in the club colours, with blue and gold streamers radiating from a central basket of golden dahlias and chrysanthemums, and on the tables were vases of antignum and carnations. In the centre of the main table was an iced and decorated birthday cake. At afternoon tea the president (Mrs. A. White), on behalf of the club, thanked the people for attending and apologised for the absence of last year's president (Mrs. W. H. Coulson), who was unable to attend owing to illness in her family. All the trophies and last year's work had been under the direction of Mrs. Coulson, and last year was a happy one. Mrs. White called on the first president of the club (Mrs. W. J. Vowles) to cut the birthday cake. Mrs. Vowles expressed her pleasure at the large gathering and hoped that they would all be present to see the 21st birthday of the club. She hoped that there would be an increase in its membership and wished the club every happiness and success. The patroness (Mrs. Thomas Jack), who is also a playing member of the club, unveiled an honour board presented to the club by Mrs. A. White and thanked her for her gift, which would always remind them of her generosity and goodness to the club. Following on this the winners of trophies during the year were presented with their prizes. The winners and events were as follow: Open championship, Mrs. Thomas Jack; runner-up, Mrs. A. Irvine; C Grade championship, Mrs. P. Lalor; runner-up, Mrs. W. Hoffman; consistency competition, Mrs. V. Irvine; B Grade handicap, Mrs. Thomas Jack; doubles handicap, Mesdames H. N. Smoothy and J. M. Welsh; doubles championship, Mesdames A. White and J. M. Welsh; runners-up, Mesdames W. H. Coulson and P. Lalor; C Grade handicap, Mrs. P. Lalor; novice B Grade handicap, Mrs. W. J. Quirk; novice C Grade handicap, Mrs. J. Thompson.

Results of the afternoon's novelty events were: Bell competition, Mrs. J. Thompson; ladder competition, Mrs. Thomas Jack; crazy competition, Mrs. A. White; clock croquet, Mrs. A. White.

The article as it was printed in The Toowoomba Chronicle, 1 May 1940. Scan from Trove, National Library of Australia. (Trove, National Library of Australia)