Author: Peter Raper

Rain, rain and more rain. It has been a very wet winter and we are working on the courts in preparation for the new season. We will let you know when the lawns are open.

​Croquet: six hoops, four balls, four mallets and a patch of grass. Sounds easy enough.

Croquet is a game of skill and strategy, angles, tactics, guile. A bit like snooker on grass. Can you (and your partner) put your ball through the hoops before your opponent(s)?

Croquet is enjoyable and rewarding at all skill levels from beginner to advanced and can be played to a high standard even by those not as agile as they were!

Whether you are a total beginner, or have played seriously before, you are always welcome to come and join us for our regular club sessions.   All equipment will be provided. The only requirement is that you wear flat shoes, e.g. trainers. Please complete the form on our contact page or give me a call and we will let you know when we are open.

Peter Raper (Chairman)

The traditional last tournament of the season was held on Sunday 22nd October 2017. This year just ten members took part, and we all had an enjoyable day.

 

Brian Shipman, who designed the “Fishbourne Game” was the manager. In the aftermath of “Storm Brian” which arrived on Saturday, he even managed to arrange beautiful sunny (though chilly) weather until a short sharp shower arrived just as we were leaving the courts.

Update: 23/10/2017
​
Brian has now confirmed the results. Paul was declared the winner having won five of the six rounds with a total score of 21 hoops.

Janet (M) was second with three wins and 19 hoops. Brian, himself, came third with three wins and 14 hoops. The other results are here.

This year we had only 11 players all of whom arrived after a night of heavy rain equipped to face the showers which had been forecast.
We were very lucky – the sun shone most if the time and wet weather gear stayed out of sight.
With 11 players – fewer than in recent years – it meant that we used primary colours only which avoided the usual waiting around for the 4 in front to clear the hoop.
We also played level without the use of handicaps for the second year and the results indicate that this works well as they were all very close games.
There were two winners – Jane and Paul both of whom won all 4 games. Jane had just 17 hoops scored against her and Paul had 20 scored against him. Lynne was third having won 3 of her 4 games.
We would like to thank everyone who played today and Ena for keeping the scores for us
Brian & Carole Parsons

Photos: Peter

My Thanks also to Carole and Brian Parsons for managing the tournament. A wonderful day of promiscuous doubles*
Peter Raper

* Carole and Brian have added this explanation.
We play what is known as “promiscuous doubles” which means that we change partners for each game. The partners are drawn randomly. The games are worked out in advance using numbers and then names drawn to replace the numbers. We will play 4 games each (using handicaps) and the winners will be the 2 players with the most wins (or the most hoops taken at the end of the day in the event of a tie). 

We play in the South East Croquet Federation Golf Croquet Handicap League and the results for 2017 are recorded here as they are entered.
http://www.southeastcroquet.org.uk/2017leaguelists.htm#gch
We have mixed results so far this year as we played and won 5-4 at home against West Wittering on 16th June and last Thursday, 13th July, we visited Rother Valley to be beaten 5-4.

Sunday 9 July 2017
Our main Championship Trophy event was held on our lawns at the Fishbourne Centre on a beautiful sunny day with ten keen competitors. After we had all played four games in two blocks, one player on each lawn had won all four games which resulted in an exciting final, played between husband and wife Neil and Jane Humphreys.

​Neil won the match 7-3 with an impressive shot that went through the 10th hoop while the photographer was not looking!

John Uwins, who has held the trophy four times already (see below) was in third place with three wins in the first round.

Thanks to Paul and Margaret for organising the tournament and Ena for keeping the scores.

A lovely day was had by all.

Photos: Peter Raper

GOLF CROQUET SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY
This trophy was originally presented by Leslie Staniland and has been contested every year since 2000.

​Previous holders are as follows:
​
2000 – NORMAN KETTLE
2001 – NORMAN KETTLE
2002 – JOHN UWINS
2003 – PADDY JONES
2004 – JOHN UWINS
2005 – JOHN UWINS
2006 – PAUL ROBINSON
2007 – DAVID COOK
2008 – PADDY JONES
2009 – PADDY JONES
2010 – PADDY JONES
2011 – CAROLE PARSONS
2012 – JANE GRIBBON
2013 – ALEX COLCHESTER
2014 – JOHN UWINS
2015 – EDWARD HARDING
2016 – JANE GRIBBON
2017 – NEIL HUMPHREYS

Our new member, Howard, sent me the following today. An interesting Radio Clip about the history of croquet.

I was listening to Radio 2 (Chris Evans) and to my surprise heard about 3-4 mins of talk about Croquet
Just search for ‘radio 2 croquet’ or go to BBC player radio
Is this a first ?
Who listens to Radio 2?

I guess a lot of people do, if Chris Evans’ payments from the BBC (in the news today) are any indication.

This is the link to the BBC site that I found, but I’m not sure how long it will last, 
​
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058x6kh

Peter

Andrew Dutton, who plays at Woking has drawn our attention to the web site on the advert below.
​
“The programs can be trialled for 7 days after which a licence will need to be purchased. The profit for the sales will be donated to the Croquet Association for use as travel bursaries’. The web site also has useful videos on different aspects of the game and it is hoped to build up a library of tutorials.”

The Ladies Golf Singles Tournament was held on Sunday, competing for the the Ladies Shield – donated by Paddy Jones.
It was won by Jane Gribbon, with Jane Humphreys coming second.
Lynne Lyle, the holder from 2016 passed on the trophy to Jane.

Margaret said “We all had a lovely day” and also provided the photo’s (presumably helped by Brian Parsons, “the invisible man”)

​Peter

Ladies, please add your comments as appropriate.

Thanks to Jane, Lynne, Linda, Neil, Joyce and Brian who represented us at Littlehampton last Sunday.
The tournament was won by the home side, Littlehampton (River), with West Worthing and Worthing in second and third.
Linda reports that It was a pretty close run thing for the lower places and we ended up in 7th place but with the fifth highest hoop score.
The results have been posted on the Littlehampton site here.

West Wittering visited us on Friday to play our first match of the season in the league. Thank-you to Elizabeth, Brian and the two Rogers for a most enjoyable afternoon.
Our team was Carole and Brian, Jane, Lynne and myself and we won 5 games to 4, even though West Wittering scored more hoops by 53 to 47.

We ran monthly sessions with groups from The University of the Third Age (U3A) (Emsworth) last season and these are continuing. 
A new U3A group from Chichester has now been established and we look forward to meeting them again this week.
We will be arranging more of these “Guided Play” sessions during the summer.

It’s 24 degrees Celsius here at the moment and rising. Hats and sun-screen essential this afternoon.

Carry on Croquet!

Peter Raper