News
Ken Pascall
I am writing to pass on the sad news that Ken Pascall, who was admitted to hospital in Haywards Heath only a week ago with pains in his arms, then deteriorated very rapidly, and has now passed away. Janet was with him in his final days. Both Ken and Janet have been keen Association players at Southwick taking part in Jamborees and in the alternate stroke doubles sessions most Wednesday mornings (apart from the coldest ones.) Janet describes croquet and SCCC as probably Ken's first loves and they counted themselves lucky to have found a game and club which suited them as a couple so well. The funeral will be in Croydon at Ken's "home" church after the 28th February; details will be published, in due course, in the Telegraph.
I am sorry to report that Fernando de Ansorena died on the 4th February, after a courageous battle with cancer.
He was a regular visitor to Southwick, playing in our AC tournaments, latterly the Seniors’ and in the European Championship. We enjoyed his company last year at one of our themed dinners, together with his wife Pilar and son Fernando. Several of our members have enjoyed his hospitality in Jerez, where he helped to found one of the first croquet clubs in Spain.
He was a great character he never really mastered very much English. He would furnish the bar with sherry, and fly back to Spain with a box of kippers. He generously provided the Harvey’s Trophy
Croquet has lost a colourful character we will miss him.
Fernando de Ansorena
Hyacinth Coombs was an SCCC Honorary Life Member.
Hyacinth was in hospital over Christmas but was then discharged; early this morning however she suffered a major heart attack.
Hyacinth was a bastion of both SCCC and of croquet. An extremely good player, she also numbered among her many talents the energy, social drive, and know-how needed to run our club's bar. She did this for many years.
Here she is pictured awarding the prizes at the August tournament in 2008
The WTC Tier 3 Championship was won by the Czech Republic.
Final order:
1st place: Czech Republic - 3 test victories over Belgium, Germany and Norway; test tied with Sweden (7 points); total 33 match wins
2nd place: Sweden - 3 test victories over Belgium, Germany and Norway; test tied with Czech Rep. (7 points); total 30 match wins
3rd place: Germany - 1 test victory over Norway; test tied with Belgium (3 points)
4th place: Belgium - tests tied with Germany and Norway (2 points)
5th place: Norway - test tied with Belgium (1 point)
The Shield was presented to the winning team by John Solomon.
It seemed to work as we had a very enjoyable evening!!
The Tier 3 of the World Team Event (which the McRob is now the premier event) will be held at Southwick starting 18th August, for four days. Five teams from Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic and Norway will be competing.
Newsletter July 2010
Dear Member,
In this short newsletter I have summarized our year to date, outlined our future social events and most importantly have asked you to seriously consider taking on a key role in the club albeit for a limited period of time.
The Year to date
After some terrible weather in early January we managed to host our first meal in the revamped canteen, namely the postponed Christmas Dinner. Held at lunchtime, many members stated a preference for this rather than an evening event. This winter we plan to hold the Xmas Dinner on a Sunday 5th December 1.15pm for 2pm.
The opening day of the season heralded the official opening of the new bar and kitchen by Quiller Barrett, President of the Croquet Association. Comments received by members and visitors have been most encouraging and have certainly made working in the kitchen and bar easier for our helpers.
The Croquet Academy has hosted a number of courses and in spite of the economic climate numbers attending have been similar to last year. However tournament numbers have been slightly down which is understandable in these difficult times.
We held our first theme dinner on 26th June An Irish Evening. The event was attended by club members and competitors attending the British Open Golf Croquet Championships. The evening was greatly enjoyed and has maintained SCCC’s image for its excellent hospitality.
The committee gave their approval to the purchase of a new barbeque as the previous one loaned by a member had past its sell by! This has been purchased and will be used at the Summer Barbeque later this month.
FUTURE EVENTS
We have a number of social events coming up during the rest of the season. Full details will be published on the notice board. All these socials will be open to members, visitors, their partners and guests:
Friday 16th July A 60’s evening
Thursday 29th July Summer Barbeque
Saturday 4th September Gourmet Barbeque
Saturday 11th September End of season theme dinner
LOOKING AHEAD
Next year we will need a number of new volunteers on our Committee. The vacancies that will have to be filled are:
CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN CATERING COMMITTEE
BAR MANAGER
The reasons why the 3 current officers are stepping down are as follows:
CHAIRMAN
I have now completed 12 years serving croquet as either a CA Officer, SCCC Committee Member or as your Club Chairman. When I took on the role of Club Chairman I made it clear during my first year that I could only stand for a maximum of 3 years. My reasons are that I believe it is unhealthy for a club or voluntary organization to be under the same leadership for too long a period. In addition I owe it to my family to spend more time with them having spent the last 12 years immersed in the world of croquet management.
My main aims during my time in office have been to put the club on a sounder financial footing and to further develop further as one of croquet’s best clubs. I hope you feel that we have achieved those aims.
CHAIRMAN CATERING COMMITTEE
Chrissy has chaired the Catering Committee for the past 3 years mainly to support me during my time as Chairman. She has a number of family commitments which now need to take priority. However both Chrissy and myself intend to remain active members of the club but need to reduce the time that we are committing to the club.
BAR MANAGER
David Gaitley took over the bar 3 years ago on the understanding that he would serve for a maximum period of 3 years. The results of his efforts are there for all to see and it is now time for a new volunteer to take over the running of the bar. David has offered to continue to help especially with the management of the draught beer and its procurement.
I would ask that members who are prepared or interested in taking office, discuss it with myself, Chrissy or David now. I do not want the club to be in a position where the key positions remain unfilled at the beginning of next season as Chrissy, David and myself will not be available to continue in those roles and it would be a very serious situation for the club if new Officers are not in place.
Jonathan Isaacs.