News from the club
Four members of the club played in the Short Course AC Tournament at the Sussex County Ground at Southwick.
The four being Tony Hicks and Jonathan Edwards, both experienced Association Croquet players and two “novices” David Russell and Keith Burt.
However, the team came second out of eight being “pipped at the hoop” by one point by Bromley CC.
Johnathan, Tony and Keith enjoying a picnic lunch (photo by David)
A team of six of the club’s members played in the “Ladies’ Golf Croquet Teams Day” at the Sussex County Ground in Southwick, Shoreham-by-Sea. The players were: Sally Short, Ann Milne, Judith Russell, Joan Felton, Lynne Lyle and Jenny Currell.
There were 14 teams playing over the 11 lawns at Southwick, the C&FCC team won at least 66 percent of their matches,
The eventual winners were Sydenham, second Hove Beach and third place went to the team from Cheam.
The team: Ann, Sally, Judith, Joan, Jenny and Lynne
An intrepid team of four, David Russell, John Effingham, Chris Fuller and Peter Raper enjoyed the wilds of deepest West Sussex, near Ducton and played in a very friendly, friendly against our adversaries at the lovely Rother Valley ground.
Following nine matches of doubles and singles. the C&FCC team narrowly lost four games to five. Will, Sarah, Robin and John of the Rother Valley team getting the better of us
The friendliness continued in their clubhouse with a gorgeous tea organised by Will and Sarah, the generous helpings of smoked salmon, ham and mustard and egg and cress sandwiches chased down with tea and coffee ended a fun-filled afternoon, as we “waddled” back to our cars for the journey home.
On Tuesday 18 June, the friendship continued at home when the team hosted Rother Valley in the SE Croquet League, Chichester winning a closed matched series of games.
The doubles were certainly “mixed” for the annual Kettle Shields tournament!
Exceptionally well organised by David and Judith Russell, the mix of novices and low handicapped croquet players added to the fun atmosphere. Each player having a different partner for the four rounds.
The title was decided by each player’s joint score for each round.
Sally Short emerged as the winner for the third year running with Lynne Lyle as runner-up.
The 18 Kettle Shield players with organisers David and Judith
Sally (R) with the winning shield with organiser David and runner-up Lynne (L)
The tournament was held between 5th to 9th of June 2024. The weather was a mixture of sun and cloud with just a couple of short patches of drizzle, but there was a chilly wind throughout. The tournament consisted of 2 events as follows (players handicaps shown in brackets):
Handicap singles
There were 6 entrants so this was played as a straight forward all play all block. I (6) won 2 of my games so ended top around the middle of the block. I played quite well and 2 of the games I lost by quite a small margin (20-21 and 19-22). The winner was Stephen Tetlow (5) from Budleigh Salterton CC who won all of his games.
Level-play singles
There were only 12 players so not really enough to split us into “classes”. The handicaps ranged from -0.5 to 6 so those of us at the higher end of that range were playing some games we were guaranteed to loose other than by some kind of miracle. This proved to be the case as I only won 3 of my 8 games. In the first game I (6) played quite well to beat Chris Donovan (2.5) by 18-9. After that I didn’t play so well and only managed to win 2 more games on the final day, both against players with handicaps of 4.5. However, it turned out that 3 wins was the best of the “high handicappers” with 3 of us achieving it. As there was such a wide handicap range, and nobody played everyone, it was decided that the best way to decide the winner of the high handicappers was with a corner 4 play-off where each of the 3 players play with 2 balls from corner 4 and try to score as many hoops as possible starting with hoop 4. I managed 3 hoops but the other two only managed 1 hoop so I was declared the winner. The overall winner was Roger Mills (1) from Sidmouth.
So I had a very enjoyable 5 days of AC croquet (about 39 hours of play).
The Twelve club members were divided into two groups for the preliminary rounds so that each player contested five matches using the “advantage” system of handicapping.
After the intensive preliminary rounds, the semi finals were David Russell against David Milne, winner David Milne. The second semi final was a tight and hard-fought semi involving Keith Burt and Tony Elkin, Tony being the victor.
The final, again was an intensely hard fought battle between David Milne (12) and Tony Elkin (6), with Tony being the eventual winner of the Simon Parkin tankard.
The picture shows Tony receiving the tankard from organiser John
Thank go to John for the organisation of the event and to Sue and Terri Hicks for scorekeeping.
The Golf Croquet, friendlies, season started with an emphatic 9 – Nil win away to Littlehampton C C on Tuesday 16 April.
They played their first friendly of the season at Littlehampton in extremely chilly conditions, but with a warm welcome. They took a stronger than usual team for a friendly, consisting of chairman David Russell, Tony Hicks, John Effingham and Tony Elkin, as all needed time on the lawns before rapidly approaching external tournaments.
Everyone played well, considering it was literally the first use of members’ mallets this year, and it resulted in a very-friendly but 9-0 win for Chichester. But Littlehampton were gracious hosts, and a lovely and particularly welcome tea was provided, though some very hard-fought matches towards the end delayed the boiling kettle which was to assuage the growing thirsts.
Tuesday 30 April home 6 – Nil win against a team from Lodsworth C C
The second friendly was a home match against Lodsworth. The team comprised David Russell, Keith Burt, David Milne and Chris Fuller. It was decided to play all doubles as both teams had a wide range of handicaps. The away team included a lovely 97-year-old with a handicap of 10. The home team won 6-0. It was an enjoyable afternoon, with play in lovely sunshine, followed by tea.
Thursday 9 May Home friendly vs West Wittering with a 7 – Nil win!
Report awaited
Tuesday 14 May – Away friendly at Lodsworth – an honourable draw!
The Chichester team of David Milne, Keith Burt, john Effingham and David Russell fight back from 2 – nil down to a hard fought 2 – All draw!
In the six-day Association Croquet Tournament at Budleigh Salterton, our Tony Hicks won through to two semi-finals, a feat of stamina, dedication and skill …. in Tony’s words:
Tony Hicks exploits at the Budleigh Salterton Spring AC Tournament 2024
The tournament was held between 7th to 12th of May 2024. The second day was rather chilly and misty but otherwise the weather was glorious with the sun shining most of the time. The tournament consisted of 3 events as follows (players handicaps shown in brackets):
Handicap doubles
This was a knockout event on the first day of the tournament. Tim Jolliff (-1) from Taunton and I (7) played using the alternate stroke option. We played quite well for our first two games winning both fairly comfortably. We contested the final against Dave Kibble (-2) and Roger Mills (1). Our play was not as good as earlier in the day so we lost quite comprehensively.
Handicap singles
This was played as 5 rounds of Egyptian block followed by the top 4 playing semifinals and finals. Entrants ranged in handicap from -2 to 16. I (7) won all my block games so ended top but then lost my semi-final and ended up in 3rd place. Due to my successes my handicap was reduced to 6 at the end of this event. The winner was Christine Rice (8) from East Dorset CC.
C-class singles
This is a level play event and had handicaps ranging from 4.5 to 9. I (6) did well to win 4 of my 5 block games, but then didn’t play so well on the final day losing both my games to end up 4th. The winner was Stephen Tetlow (6) from Sidmouth.
So I had a very enjoyable 6 days of AC croquet (about 50 hours of play) and would recommend entering some tournaments to all. This tournament was organised as 3 separate events so players could play just one or two events if desired. Most single event AC tournaments are 2 or 3 days, and single event GC tournaments normally 1 or 2 days. You are normally expected to be able and willing to play all day for each day of the tournament.
Secretary Joyce Parkin won the club’s ladies’ singles golf croquet tournament and runner-up was Anne Milne. Both had won all their group games and the other players were able to watch a tense well-fought final played in glorious sunshine.
Judith Russell and Margaret Cooper were third and fourth respectively, both having won three games in the group stage. The organisers were Paul Robinson and Margaret Cooper.
Brilliant results in two major competitions were the highlight of an amazing year for Chichester and Fishbourne Croquet Club, said chairman David Russell at the Annual General Meeting held at the Fishbourne Centre on Wednesday (March 13).
One was coming second in the national final of the Golf Croquet Federations Shield, when the club quartet played a team which included two international players. The other was retaining the Centenary Cup at Littlehampton which they had won the previous year.
David said that the amount of effort and expertise put in by the committee through the playing season and in the winter deserved credit. This included administration, maintenance, and day-to-day tasks. In addition, the planning sub-committee were working towards the installation of a new clubhouse and looking to raise funds.
He said: “I am immensely proud of the club. So many people pool together to make this club successful and buoyant.”
Treasurer Paul Robinson said funds were healthy, with costs being kept down by members carrying out many of the necessary tasks, particularly mowing & hedging.
The committee was re-elected: Chairman David Russell, Secretary Joyce Parkin, Treasurer, Paul Robinson, Sally Short, Chris Fuller, Tony Elkin, Anthony Hicks, John Effingham and Margaret Cooper.
Award winners were: Janet Mellor, Anthony Hicks, Neil Humphries, Sally Short, Joyce Parkin, John Effingham, Joan Felton, Chris Fuller, Eve Fuller and David Milne.
