| December 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 194 kb) |
John Bevington |
| October 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 208 kb) |
John Bevington |
| October 2009 |
Leighton Linslade |
Newsletter
( 2,277 kb) |
John Cundell |
| September 19 2009 |
Sudbury |
The 2009 “Crocks” Croquet Championship |
|
This took place at the Sudbury, Suffolk Croquet
Club on Saturday 19th September. Fortunately, almost perfect weather
conditions prevailed, so the tournament was rated a resounding
success and much enjoyed by all who participated. However, its
success resulted from 9 months careful preparation with sage advice
from Jonathan Toye, who was disabled in a motor cycle accident, but
overcame his disability to become a first class one handed croquet
player and an inspiration to all disabled croquet players. The
Sudbury Croquet club also had three disabled members and a qualified
nurse in Bunty Dickison, so there was an awareness of the problems
encountered by disabled players.
 |
 |
From the beginning of our research, it was
evident that a full sized croquet lawn was too large for disabled
people, so we halved our full sized lawn into two 5/7ths lawns,
which were near perfect sizes for disabled players; also those who
could use their legs were taught to synchronize leg leverage with
arm swing to compensate for lack of strength and accuracy.
It was also realized that golf croquet, rather
than association croquet, would prove to be more popular because it
was more social, with all players participating on lawn and helping
each other. Finally, we realized that games should be limited to 25
minutes or to the first to 5 hoops rather than to the conventional 7
hoops with good intervals between games.
In order to keep to a programme of starting
times, there was double banking with secondaries starting 15 minutes
after primaries; this resulted in good rests between games.
The tournament was on a handicap basis so that
substitutes could be made for disabled players too exhausted to
continue; in the event, three out of ten players needed substitutes,
who not only gave generous bisques, but also helped their
competitors to use them; Andy Ellbech, an SAS member who was blown
up in Bosnia, benefited greatly from the sage bisque advice of the
disabled ex chairman of Sudbury Croquet club, Robert Walpole, but
despite the good advice, was beaten into the final by Sheila
Frampton and Viv Hatfield. Both these ladies used their legs for
leverage with synchronized swing of arms to produce some really
skilful displays. The final was won by Sheila Frampton, who was
presented with the Shield by the coach Paul Strover, who organized
the Championship with Jonathan Toye. |
Paul Strover
Photos by Melanie Outram
| September 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 267 kb) |
John Bevington |
| September 5-6 2009 |
Wrest Park |
All England Handicap Championship regional finals |
 |
The winner of the Association Croquet All England Handicap Championship Area Finals
held at Wrest Park over the weekend of 5-6 September was Geoff
Johnson of Watford. Geoff goes on to the national finals at
Roehampton on 19-20 September.
Standing L-R: Peter Hanley (Letchworth), Geoffrey Ellott (Ashby), Alan Brown (Colchester),
Adrian Kirby (Peterborough), Colin Davies (Letchworth), David
Haslam (Colchester)
Seated L-R: Terry Mahoney (Wrest Park), Geoffrey Johnson (Watford), Jeane Ackermann (Nottingham),
Tim Brewer (Wrest Park), John Smallbone (Watford), Keith Huggins (Peterborough) |
As a late addition to the calendar, Wrest Park will also be
staging the final of the golf croquet Inter Club competition between Ashby and
Surbiton on Saturday 26 September from 10 am - a late addition to our calendar.
Any golf croquet players are of course welcome to come along and watch, but they
would have to pay English Heritage the normal entry fee to enter Wrest Park. I
might be able to wangle a discount on production of a CA or club membership
card, but can't make any promises.
John Bevington
| Aug 29 - Sept 1 2009 |
Hunstanton |
110th Annual Tournament |
The block winners
|
CA Chairman Patricia Duke-Cox
making a presentation
to Timothy Race |
Terrey Sparks
| August 8-9 2009 |
Hunstanton |
Hunstanton Golf Croquet Invitation Tournament |
|
Doubles winners
Dick & Adrienne Strover
receiving the trophy |
The singles played on the Saturday were
organised into American blocks, from which the four block
winners Dick Strover played Jeff Race and Timothy Race met Mike
Percival in two very competitive semi–finals, which
interestingly led to Father and Son meeting in the final. In
front of a large appreciating crowd this proved to be a most
enthralling game of cat and mouse. However, Jeff appeared to
have taught Timothy well and he used his bisques convincingly,
just winning by the narrowest of margins much to the enjoyment
of the watching spectators.
Meanwhile the runner-up group play-off was won by
David Crawford.
On the Sunday the Doubles were played as an
Egyptian and were arranged on a pro–am basis. Despite some very
competitive play the pairing of Dick and Adrienne Strover proved
unstoppable, winning all their games and running out worthy winners.
|
L-R: David Crawford,
Terrey Sparks,
Timothy Race |
|
On lawns that were a pleasure to play and ably
managed by Ken Wheeler this is proving a tournament not to be missed in the future.
Terrey Sparks
|
| August 2 2009 |
Norwich |
An overseas visitor won the Norwich 'B' Level Tournament |
Jonathan Lamb (2) visiting from Uruguay won the Norwich 'B'
Level tournament held on 1st and 2nd August with an unbeaten 5 wins from 5
games. His nearest loss came about when the manager, Neil Chalmers
(7) substituting on Sunday morning for Feargal Smith who had been taken ill
overnight contrived to lose from an ideal finishing position by -1 on time! The
frustration of this loss obviously got to him as he failed to resolve correctly
the finishing order of the next 3 players, Colin Hemming (2.5), Ian Mantle (3.5)
and Jonathan Toye (8), who all finished with 3 wins out of 5 games. An
honourable joint runners-up solution (possibly risking the wrath of the CA
Tournament Committee) was agreed post tournament after scouring the regulations
and the Oxford list. All would have been so much simpler if Colin had beaten
Jonathan Lamb in the deciding game of the Tournament in which he came close.
However, I now regard myself as a bit of an expert in resolving 3-way ties, so
should get it right next time.
Other qualifying results were Mark Godfrey (5) and Peter
Allnutt (5), 2/5 and Malcolm Daines (8), 0/5. This was Malcolm's first venture
into the minefield of Advanced Play and although not managing to register a win
he said he enjoyed himself and learnt a lot.
On his way to the joint runners-up position, Jonathan Toye
accumulated enough index points including victories over his two co-runners-up
to earn a handicap reduction from 8 to 7.
None of the Norwich entrants completed the required 5 games
to qualify, but Feargal Smith (3.5) won 2/3, Terrey Sparks (3,5) won 2/4 and
Neil Chalmers (7) won 1/4.
Thanks as always are due to Terrey and Pam for organising the
catering on both days. Terrey would have played 5 games and qualified, but
Morrison's doesn't open till 10.00 on Sunday morning!
Neil Chalmers
| July 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 357 kb) |
John Bevington |
| July 25 2009 |
Leighton Linslade |
Friendly match vs. Hunstanton |
On 25th July ten members journeyed to ‘Sunny Hunny’
on 25th July to play a Friendly match against Hunstanton Croquet Club.
The club enjoys the most wonderful facilities, both in terms of their
five excellent lawns and clubhouse. The tournament consisted of 30
Singles and 15 Doubles games. To play that number on our two lawns would
take two full days’ play, however with five lawns there was no problem
and it was not even necessary to enforce a time limit.
Our team consisted of John & Judith Cundell,
George & Margaret Lawson, David & Jean Ball, Len and Eve Buckingham,
Sally Clay and Roger Stroud. Unfortunately Jean Ball developed a back condition
that meant she had to withdraw, so we were very fortunate to have Hunstanton’s
Chairman Terrey Sparks step in to replace Jean.
Both teams assembled before 10.00am on
Saturday morning that had dawned one of the few beautiful days in late
July – ‘Sunny Hunny’ was living up to its reputation. After
introductions all round and a welcoming drink, play commenced. The games
were mostly very close and were all played in good humour and
sportsmanship. The rounds alternated between Doubles and Singles with
many going to the deciding 13th hoop. Play finished around 5.00pm and
after a brief break, there was an enjoyable fish & chip dinner followed
by a quiz and raffle, and an announcement by Hunstanton Chairman Terrey
Sparks that Leighton-Linslade had won by 24 games to 21.
On Sunday morning, four members enjoyed a pleasant couple
of hours playing Ricochet Croquet against four Hunstanton members –
a simple yet intriguing game that certainly helps develop shot accuracy.
So ended an excellent weekend and LL left having made many
new croquet acquaintances and a pleasing win. The obvious popularity and
success for this event has led LLCC Events Secretary Tony Wells to look at
similar outings in 2010 – and LLCC will hopefully be invited back to Hunstanton!
SINGLES |
Wins |
Losses |
|
DOUBLES |
Wins |
Losses |
 |
| John Cundell |
3 |
0 |
David Ball & Terrey Sparks |
3 |
0 |
| Roger Stroud |
2 |
1 |
John Cundell & Judith Cundell |
2 |
1 |
| David Ball |
2 |
1 |
Len Buckingham & Eve Buckingham |
2 |
1 |
| Sally Clay |
2 |
1 |
Roger Stroud & Sally Clay |
1 |
2 |
| (Terrey Sparks) |
2 |
1 |
George Lawson & Margaret Lawson |
0 |
3 |
| Margaret Lawson |
2 |
1 |
TOTALS |
8 |
7 |
| Len Buckingham |
1 |
2 |
| Eve Buckingham |
1 |
2 |
| George Lawson |
1 |
2 |
| Judith Cundell |
0 |
3 |
TOTALS |
16 |
14 |
Leighton Linslade won by 24-21 |
|
|
John Cundell |
David Maugham
(winner) |
Keith Aiton and Richard Hilditch
(runner-up and manager) |
Jonathan Hills and Martin French
(Plate runner-up and winner) |
 |
Colchester beat Surbiton 4 - 2 in the Mary Rose at
Colchester in a hard-fought match, winning very much against the odds
(at least as far as handicaps go). The morning games went one-all, the
singles game between Peter Allnutt and Graham Brightwell being pegged
down to enable us all to have lunch. In the afternoon, the first two
games to finish went to Colchester. David Mooney, playing below the
handicap limit under the seven-day rule, fought back hard against Martin
Leach, pegging him out and then getting his second ball round whilst
Martin was only able to get from 4-back to Rover. Meanwhile, on the
other lawn Peter Allnutt had established a good lead but seemed to be
doing his best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but then
managed to hit in and finish just as his opponent had reached the peg
with both balls. Perhaps he had suddenly realised that if he didn't win
we would have to resurrect the pegged-down game (in which he was well
behind)!
Full results (Colchester names first):
Martin Leach (2) & Colin Hemming (2.5) lost to David Mooney (0.5) & Mary Knapp (1) -7
Jim Potter (3) beat Chris Osmond (4.5) +17
Peter Allnutt (5) vs Graham Brightwell (2) unfinished
Martin Leach lost to David Mooney -2
Colin Hemming beat Mary Knapp +15
Jim Potter beat Graham Brightwell +7
Peter Allnutt beat Chris Osmond +2
Colin Hemming
| June 13-14 2009 |
Hunstanton |
Over 50's Tournament |
Bryan Saddington |
Local Member Triumphant at Hunstanton
Hunstanton Club member Bryan Saddington was the undisputed
winner of the ‘Jane Neville-Rolfe’ over 50’s Plate, competed for over the
weekend of 12th-14th June at Hunstanton Croquet Club. In unbeatable form he
romped home seeing off the opposition by winning all eight of his games.
In second place with 7/7 wins was Cliff Daniels of Kenilworth
and third Mark Callan with 7/8, one of the club's two visitors from Australia.
Georgeen Hemming, a recent newcomer to the game, managed to achieve her bronze
award.
The tournament, which is staged annually, attracted a full
entry of 20 players from around the country and was played in near tropical
weather conditions.
Due to the previous week's heavy rain and later abundant
sunshine the lawns proved to be a little lush and heavy going. However, this did
produce that long awaited for suntan.
Terrey Sparks
|
| June 2009 |
Leighton Linslade |
Newsletter
( 754 kb) |
John Cundell |
| June 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 361 kb) |
John Bevington |
| May 9-10 2009 |
Colchester |
B-Level Tournament |
Neil Chalmers dancing |
Nick Steiner running a hoop |
There was something sinister in the air over
Colchester in the week leading up to this tournament. With 8
days to go we had 15 definites, with someone standing by to take
the last place and so fill our four lawns. Then disaster struck.
In the next 72 hours three people dropped out due to injury.
Non-trivial injuries, too, including a broken thumb.
So we started on Saturday morning with 12
players. But you know what they say, it's quality that counts,
not quantity. Nevertheless, everyone seemed to have a decent
time anyway (and let's face it, there were a few good quality
games played during the two days).
Just to vary things a little, we started the
tournament with the presentation of the trophy, and followed it
by playing the games. Or to be perfectly honest, we presented
the trophy to last year's winner Mark Homan before we kicked off
this year's event (it had been lost when he won it last May). He
was a good chap, did the right thing and handed it back straight
away. As Mark said, he is probably the only person to have held
the trophy for a year and never had to clean it!
Format was Egyptian with a variable starting
index dependent upon handicap, and the first round was drawn
randomly but with the lower and higher handicaps separated to
avoid large disparities appearing too early. In this format the
winner is the player who increases his index the most, rather
than the one who has the highest index at the end. Games were
limited to two hours followed by six Wharrad turns. Strictly
speaking, this format is contrary to tournament regulations (it
should be 1½ hours and 12 Wharrad turns) but in the six years
I have been running this tournament the arrangement has proved
almost universally popular, and has been taken up by at least
two other clubs. We did have a complainant this year, however,
who stated loudly that Wharrad turns encouraged negative play at
the end of a game; it is interesting, though, that his actions
during his own Wharrad turns convinced everyone other than
himself that the reverse is true.
Alan Edwards won all four of his games on day 1,
establishing a lead which he simply increased on day 2 to win
the tournament with a score of +21 points. Second was Martin
Leach on +13, and third, playing in his first advanced
tournament, was Nick Steiner. Alan received the Roy Alford
trophy and an engraved glass goblet. Nick, for such a good
showing for an inexperienced player, received the Manager's
Special Prize of a bottle of Croquet aperitif.
Report and photos by Colin Hemming |
| May 2-3 2009 |
Colchester |
Spring Weekend Handicap Tournament |
Gerry Varndell in play |
With only 13 entrants, it looked as though
the 4 lawns at Colchester were going to be sparsely populated during the
weekend. Fortunately, a number of local members were happy to come along
for periods ranging from one session to 2 days to help swell the
numbers, and the manager had to fill in whenever numbers became odd.
This meant that the lawns were full for most of the time. The only
obvious drawback to this arrangement was that the manager, normally the
most mild-mannered and likeable of men, became stressed to the point of extreme grumpiness,
not to say downright rudeness, when having to play as well as manage.
Gerry Varndell (right)
receiving the trophy
from Colin Hemming |
He should have been prepared for his games to be interrupted, of course: it is a well-known
fact that no croquet player is capable of following the simplest written instruction, and that most
consider the straightforward entry of a result on to a piece of paper a
challenge for the most creative and undecipherable way of doing so; if
so prepared, he would not have been disappointed. He is nevertheless
grateful to all of the players for following his (verbal) instructions
regarding bisque markers: he would probably not have made it through the
weekend if any had been replaced in the box upside-down.
Jonathan Hills (one of the part-timers) played a remarkable shot on
the Saturday afternoon: hampered after running 2-back he felt
constrained to play the next shot lying flat on his back (feet pointing
towards 3-back) with the mallet held somewhere over his left shoulder.
Quite why he did this is not entirely clear: something to do with being
the only way he could see the point of contact between mallet and ball.
Earlier in the day Neil Chalmers had been using his mallet as a
back-scratcher (not during the striking period, I hasten to add). Both
incidents had spectators scrambling for cameras and camera-phones but
unfortunately no-one was quick enough to record either incident for
posterity. On the Sunday Georgeen Hemming achieved a remarkable double,
winning both her games on a "Golden Hoop". Greatest number of games was
played by George Woolhouse, playing no fewer than 10 over the three days.
So much for the highlights, now the results. Winner was Gerry
Varndell, winning 5 games out of 6, second was Nick Steiner winning 6
out of 8 and third Georgeen Hemming winning 4 out of 6.
Colin Hemming
| March 31 2009 |
Sudbury |
"Clochemerle" celebrations |
On the 31st March at 2.00 pm, the new Disability
Lavatory/Washing facility extension to the Sudbury (Unity) Croquet
Pavilion will be opened with suitable “Clochemerle” celebrations by gaslight!
The Sudbury (Unity) Croquet Club is situated off Quay Lane, Sudbury,
Suffolk, [opposite the Cricket ground]. Parking is available a few yards
away at the Quay theatre.
Beside the Press, there will be members of SAS [Success after Stroke],
who will receive croquet coaching, and representatives from sponsors
e.g. “Awards for All” [Lottery] £8,000, West Suffolk LSP £1,500, Babergh
DC £2,000, Sudbury Town Council £150 and Members of the Unity Croquet
Club Trust £6,000.
The person opening the new extension will be Jennifer Strover, who
featured on television in November 2004 after winning £12,650 from
William Hill to celebrate her mother-in-law’s 100th birthday.
Mother-in-law may also be present. Hopefully, you won’t be “there from
Monday to Saturday” like the three old ladies in the *limerick!* “Oh
dear, what can the matter be”.
Paul Strover
| March 2009 |
Leighton Linslade |
Newsletter
( 234 kb) |
John Cundell |
| February 2009 |
Wrest Park |
Newsletter
( 440 kb) |
John Bevington |
| January 2009 |
Leighton Linslade |
Newsletter
( 335 kb) |
John Cundell |
January 17-18 2009
November 15-16 2008
October 18-19 2008 |
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Last update:
27 December 2009
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