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GC Doubles Competition 8th April 2022 - by AdminJohn 11/04/2022 11:34

GC Doubles Competition 8th April 2022

This attracted nearly a full entry. The competition was divided into three separate blocks by ability.

Block 1 was won by Roger and Chrissie Merrington with 5 out of 6 wins, beating Richard Brooks and David King on points and in the match between them. 

Block 2 was won outright by Reg and Julia Soffe winning all their games.

Block 3 was won outright by Fiona and Andrew Fall with 5 out of 6 wins.

Congratulations to them all.

Thanks to Roger for managing the day and to Rachel Pointon, Judith Peek and Dinah Hutchins for preparing the lunch.

Full results

Block 1 RB&DK R&RC RS&CM S&TN FP&TJ AS&CK DG&PH Wins Position
Richard Brooks & David King 7 2 7 7 7 7 5 2
Robert & Robyn Clark 6 6 7 7 7 3 3
Roger Sutton & Chrissie Merrington 7 7 7 7 7 5 5 1
Sue & Tony Nicholas 3 2 2 7 7 7 3 5
Fiona Phillips & Tony Jolly 4 4 6 5 7 3 1 6
Andrew Stewart & Cathy Kirkby 2 2 2 5 6 0 7
Daphne Gaitley & Phillip Harrison 5 5 7 5 7 7 3 4

Block 2 J&RS K&BH JR&DS FB> L&CA SA&VL A&NG SF&JL Wins Position
Julia & Reg Soffe 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 1
Ken & Beryl Hughes 5 1 3 5 6 6 0 7
Jill Richardson & Douglas Shand 5 7 6 7 7 7 4 3
Fran Box & Graham Tucker 6 7 7 4 7 7 4 2
Les & Chris Ardley 5 7 3 2 7 4 2 6
Simon Ancell & Vincent L'Estrange 6 7 7 7 7 7 5 2
Anne & Noel Gill 2 3 1 6 1 5 0 8
Simon Fenn-Tye & John Low 7 3 2 7 5 7 3 5

Block 3 A&MA SC&PM PBPH P&RW GD&SE TJ&ED IJ&FA A&FF Wins Position
Angela & Martin Avis 7 6 5 7 4 3 2 6
Sue Caulfield & Pat Mechen 5 3 7 2 7 4 2 7
Paul Brown & Pat Harden 7 7 7 4 2 4 3 4
Peter & Rosemary Wyld 7 5 0 5 1 2 1 8
Gail Dowd & Sue Evans 1 7 7 7 4 5 3 5
Tony James & Elizabeth Drury 7 3 7 6 7 7 4 3
Ian Johnson & Francis Ainley 7 7 7 7 5 3 4 2
Andrew & Fiona Fall 7 7 7 7 6 7 5 1

briefing8-4-22.jpg Chilly briefing from Roger before the start of play


New Academy Season - by AdminJohn 10/04/2022 07:51

Jonathan Isaacs Discusses the Academy and more

Earlier last month the Club Website interviewed Jonathan on a number of croquet topics. His comments will be presented over a couple of articles in the next few months.

Editor:
Can we start by talking about the Academy? Because you've just taken over again as the Academy Director. How far back does your association with the Academy go?

Jonathan Isaacs:
To the very beginning, and beyond! We used to have a Summer School at Southwick, which was very well attended in the last century.

isaacs_j.jpgBut at the start of this century, the numbers attending started to diminish. And part of the reason was the length of the program which was five days. At the same time, the Croquet Association were looking to create a much better coaching operation. And I saw the opportunity to set up Southwick as the first croquet academy in the UK.

Why? One, to create a centre of excellence for coaching in the UK. Two, to create an additional revenue stream for Southwick because we we need every penny we can get to maintain 11 laws, and three, to build on the strength we already had with our coaching through the Summer School because we already had some very good coaches.

In addition to that, the Federation were looking for a centre for coaching. So eventually, we got together with the CA and the Southeast Croquet Federation, and agreed to setup the Academy. That started in 2007, and it's been pretty successful ever since.

How do you see it changing over the next few seasons?

That's a very good question. We're now in a competitive world, and whereas, when we started, the Croquet Academy was the academy for the whole country. We’ve now got four. And that means we've got competition. I think what will happen going forward is that the four academies will work together so that we'll probably all be offering beginners and improvers courses but as we get to the higher level courses we'll probably share them around so that you would have say one in the North and one of the South each year or one in the West and one in the East. And with the very high level courses, like the Triple Peel Course, you'll probably have one covering the whole country.

The other thing that will happen is that professionalism will improve. If we don't improve we'll die, it's as simple as that because the other academies will be seeking to improve and it's our responsibility to do the same.

Is there a particular emphasis this season?

coaching.jpgYes, this season we want to get our existing coaches in and around the Federation and give them some new ideas, update them on changes that are taking place with coaching and the rules. And in addition, change the way that we coach AC. AC has traditionally been a big struggle and part of it is that people lose the will to live in the early stages with too much jargon and fairly long, protracted courses. Whereas last autumn Frances Low did a trial using Short Croquet. It was modular so it meant that people on the course, were taking it a little bit of the time. This made it far easier to understand and the jargon was reduced - we can't get rid of it completely, but you certainly can reduce it. And in the trial, at the moment only one person out of the twelve is actually stepped down. And that is highly successful. When I think back to the early part of the this millennium, the fallout rate was as much as probably 70 - 80%. So this is a great step forward. It's also the same as is being experienced in the north of England. So I think we’re definitely on to something and we want to emphasise the opportunity for people to take up AC via this course which is going to be run during this summer.

(Discussion to be continued)

Find and book an Academy course on their website


100 Club Spring Draw - by AdminJohn 06/04/2022 09:00

Three winners in the Spring Draw

Congratulations to the first group of winners in our 100 Club Spring Draw:

£50 No. 65 Janet Chernett (Dave Comber)
£75 No. 31 Simon Ancell
£100 No. 22 Tony Jolly


Hoop and Mallet First Issue Published - by AdminJohn 29/03/2022 18:55

HM22.jpg

The first issue of Sussex County's new magazine Hoop & Mallet has been published and is available for members in the clubhouse.

A pdf version can be downloaded here.


Close finishes in the GC class singles one day competition - by AdminJohn 25/03/2022 18:40

GC level play singles competition 25 March 2022

Tight finishes were the order of the day at today's competition, particularly in the top block where 4 of the 8 players scored 5 wins each. Only Block C was decided on outright wins.

Daphne Gaitley won Block A by 5 points from her nearest rivals Liz Farrow and Richard Brooks.

In Block B Jonathan Isaacs beat Tony Nicholas by 5 points with 5 wins each.

In Block C there was an outright win by Simon Ancell with 6 wins to his nearest rival Richard Ellis' 5 wins.

Both Block C and D had 6 of the possible 7 games to play but in the end Block D did not all manage to complete the full quota. Simon Fenn-Tye won Block D with 5 wins from Francis Ainley also with 5 wins.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Thanks to Frances Low for managing the day so expertly and to Richard Brooks for acting as Tournament Referee.

The lunch was kindly provided by Angela Avis, Amy Tucker and Karen Hayton; thanks very much to all of them.

Full results

Block A MC LF RB RS CM NG DG CH Wins Position
Morgan Case 7 3 5 7 7 3 7 4 5
Liz Farrow 4 5 7 7 7 7 7 5 3
Richard Brooks 7 7 7 7 4 5 7 5 2
Roger Sutton 7 6 5 7 7 7 7 5 4
Chrissie Merrington 1 4 4 5 3 4 4 0 8
Noel Gill 6 3 7 6 7 3 7 3 6
Daphne Gaitley 7 5 7 6 7 7 7 5 1
Christopher Heath 3 3 4 6 7 6 1 1 7

Block B JI CS AS TN DK AF SN LM Wins Position
Jonathan Isaacs 7 7 5 7 7 7 2 5 1
Charles Sale 1 7 6 7 5 7 7 4 3
Andrew Stewart 0 4 6 7 7 3 7 3 6
Tony Nicholas 7 7 7 2 7 5 7 5 2
David King 5 2 6 7 3 7 5 2 8
Andrew Fall 4 7 5 3 7 7 7 4 4
Sue Nicholas 6 5 7 7 3 5 7 3 5
Laki Marangos 7 5 4 3 7 6 6 2 7

Block C AG PH TJ SP RE SA GT JR Wins Position
Alan Grundy 7 7 7 5 4 4 3 =3
Phillip Harrison 6 6 6 6 6 6 0 8
Tony James 3 7 7 3 3 4 2 =6
Sarah Patton 4 7 4 3 4 7 2 =6
Richard Ellis 7 7 7 4 7 7 5 2
Simon Ancell 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 1
Graham Tucker 7 7 7 4 4 4 3 5
Jill Richardson 7 7 6 5 3 7 3 =3

Block D RF DC SF LG FA PB PH ED Wins Position
Rosemary Faulkner 3 5 5 7 4 1 =6
Denis Cruse 3 4 4 3 7 1 =6
Simon Fenn-Tye 7 7 7 7 7 5 1
Linda Gavigan 7 7 4 6 7 3 4
Francis Ainley 7 7 6 7 7 7 5 2
Paul Brown 6 7 7 6 7 7 4 3
Pat Harden 3 4 3 2 7 1 8
Elizabeth Drury 7 5 4 1 6 1 5


Opening Day - by AdminJohn 22/03/2022 18:43

Opening Day Saturday 2 April 2022

Please come along at 11.00 to celebrate the official opening of the summer season at SCCC featuring

The President’s team v The Chairman’s team

Members will be allocated to teams on arrival and can play GC, AC or one-ball against a selected opponent.

Soup and bread and tea and cake will be available at a cost of £5 per head

Hope to see you there!

Contact Fiona


Weather brings damp end to Alternate Strokes Doubles Competition - by AdminJohn 16/03/2022 18:50

24 players started out in the AC alternate strokes doubles competition at Southwick today; 8 hardy souls finished the course as rain before the final game drove most players inside. Despite the wet end it was an enjoyable day and in fact one of the best-attended AC winter competitions held at Southwick for some time. Perhaps this is a more popular format and we should run more of them.

A very very welcome warming bowl of soup with bread and cheese was available for lunch which was provided by Chrissie Isaacs - thanks very much to her for giving her time to do that.

There was also a player's birthday cake for tea - Happy Birthday to him - you know who you are and thank you for that too!

Because the final round was not fully played there was no final winner but full results are reproduced below.

Robert Clark & Robyn Clark beat Ray Hall &Phil Dunk +1t, beat Simon Fenn-Tye & David Cook +3, and beat Philip Mann & David Rimmer +11
Frances Low & Chris Heath beat John Gosden & Julie Tremble +1, beat John Bateson & Philip Taylor +3 and beat Robert & Caroline Alexander +7
Robert & Caroline Alexander beat Chrissie Merrington & Pam Gooders +10, beat Philip Mann & David Rimmer +9, and beat John Bateson & Philip Taylor +1
Richard Carline & Daphne Gaitley beat Chrissie Merrington & Pam Gooders +2, and beat Liz Farrow & John Low +12
Linda Gavigan & Jonathan Isaacs beat Ray Hall & Phil Dunk +3t
Philip Mann & David Rimmer beat Richard Carline & Daphne Gaitley +1, and beat Liz Farrow & John Low +10
John Bateson & Philip Taylor beat Liz Farrow & John Low +14, and beat Simon Fenn-Tye & David Cook +2
Simon Fenn-Tye & David Cook beat Linda Gavigan & Jonathan Isaacs +1t
John Gosden & Julie Tremble beat Ray Hall & Phil Dunk +1
Liz Farrow & John Low beat Julie Tremble & John Gosden +4
Chrissie Merrington & Pam Gooders beat Linda Gavigan & Jonathan Isaacs +3


Covid delayed GC 10/10 finally played - by AdminJohn 12/03/2022 07:57

Having been postponed because of covid, the 10:10 Competition was finally held on Friday 11 March.    For those who have never played one, golf croquet is played at speed.   The game is timed with a chess clock  and each pair has only 10 minutes of play.    If one side runs out of time they can only defend and try to stop the other side from scoring any further hoops.     The record today for completing a 13 point game was around eight minutes play!     Clearance shots certainly get people running if they are the next ball.  

Each pair played seven games and took turns manning clocks.

Robyn & Bob Clark, Fiona Phillips &Tony Jolly and Clive Hayton & Ben Harwood all won four games but the clear winners were Liz Farrow and Morgan Case with 5 wins and 2 draws.

Fiona Phillips

Thanks to Fiona for organising and managing the day.

Full Results

L&J R&D R&B R&G C&B M&L D&F F&T Wins Position
Linda Gavigan & Jonathan Isaacs 3 4 2 4 3 4 6 1 + 1 draw 8
Richard Carline & Daphne Gaitley 7 3 3 3 5 5 5 3 6
Robyn & Bob Clark 3 2 7 7 4 6 5 4 2
Roger Sutton & Graham Tucker 5 5 4 4 3 4 5 2 7
Clive Hayton & Ben Harwood 5 7 2 6 4 5 5 4 4
Morgan Case & Liz Farrow 3 6 7 4 7 6 7 5 +2 draws 1
David King & Frances Low 6 4 5 6 7 6 4 3 + 1 draw 5
Fiona Phillips & Tony Jolly 7 6 4 6 4 4 6 4 3

Charity One-Ball Sussex Heat - by AdminJohn 11/03/2022 15:13

2022_One_Ball_Croquet_National_Charity_Heat.png


First Edition of New Magazine - by AdminJohn 21/03/2022 00:00

First Edition of Hoop & Mallet

The first edition of the new Sussex club magazine Hoop & Mallet is now available for download here.


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