News

On the Opening Day of the 2010 Season, CA President Quiller Barrett officially opened the newly refurbished clubhouse canteen and bar at Southwick.

Before formally cutting the tape, Quiller remembered his first visit to Southwick more than twenty years before, when the club was not in such good state as it is now.  He rehearsed some of the developments since then, both in lawn care and innovations like the Croquet Academy, and the support which had been received from the Croquet Association development funds. He praised the club management for the change in culture which had taken place. He thanked all those involved in the re-design and refurbishment which would make the clubhouse a much more sociable place in which to meet.



Following the ceremony, Quilller was invited to pull the first pint!




The driving force behind the work has been David Gaitley (responsible for the club bar) who did the planning and design, drawings and much of the building work.  The other main participants were Paul Castell, Jack Davies, John Gosney and Peter Pullin, supported by members of the Winter Working Party including Martin Rogers, Alan Scott and Peter Yates.

The Club owes a very large debt of gratitude to all these and others who took part.

The purpose of the work on the bar was to create an area where visitors can chat  without being in the way at busy times for meals and to make their visit to Southwick more attractive and enjoyable. Space was created by moving the servery back and this has allowed new events to take place, like Paul Castell's Skittles Evening (to be repeated, hopefully, later in the year).

It will improve serving during meals as the food and drinks queues will be separated and will allow bar staff more room to work effectively - shorter queues during the InterCounties!

During major tournaments David is intending to keep two beers on tap.  One of the major improvements David made to the club bar when he took over was dramatically to improve the range and quality of beer available on a regular basis. A contract with Dark Star, a local Sussex mini-brewery, provides their excellent Hophead and one other beer on tap. In addition, David has introduced a wide range of bottled speciality beers from around the country.



The changes to the bar area include, as well as the two beer taps, a built-in sink and glass washer, so that the bar is entirely self-sufficient and does not interfere with the operation of the kitchen area.



The re-furbished kitchen area was designed with help from Jonathan and Chrissy Isaacs and now has a dedicated vegetable preparation sink, new double oven and microwave and a commercial dishwasher.  It will be used in earnest at the first tournament in April.

This year is the 17th running of what is now the CA Charity One-ball
Championship. It is being held a month later than usual, with the advanced
level event on Sunday, 9th May. Not only will this be a little warmer but we
are also hoping for a larger entry since it clashes with few other major
tournaments.

The advanced level event is a best-of-three KO, with a consolation swiss.
There are fine prizes for the winner, runner-up and swiss victor. The entry
cost is just £13, a large proportion of which will go the Macmillan Cancer
Support.

So, please do consider joining us, entering in the normal way (see the
Fixture Book). If you wish to make a weekend of it there is also the
handicap championship event on Saturday, 8th. Most places go to heat winners
but there will be a few places left for direct entries and these are being
reserved for those also entering Sunday's advanced level event.
Accommodation can be provided/recommended.

Kevin Carter

Thanks to Richard and Jean Brooks for these pictures of the club this week.





If you're playing, don't choose pink and white!

A happy Christmas to all and best wishes for 2010.

As you can see, David Gaitley and John Gosney are making progress in the alterations to the club canteen.

I didn't ask them what their deadline for completion was!!

The late September weekend advanced tournament, played for the Solomon Trophy was won this year by Tony Mrozinski, beating runner-up Alan Cottle.

The B Class event run at the same time was won by Bob Stephens, beating runner-up Brian Kitching.

Very many thanks to Nick Harris for managing the tournament.

This year's Golf Croquet Intercounties Championship, hosted at Southwick, was won by Surrey, beating Kent and Oxfordshire to first place.

Sussex County members took three of five trophies in the Challenge & Gilbey tournament hosted this year at Southwick.

The Gilbey goblet was won by Jamie Angus, in what I believe was his first open tournament.


The Roehampton Cup (A class advanced singles) was won by Paul Castell.


The Stephenson Cup was won by Karolina Michalak.


The trophies were presented by John Solomon.

See a report on the visit of French croquet club in Catenay here.

20 players took part in the 2-legged race on Thursday and Friday 13/14th August and 32 players in the class singles events over the weekend.

2-legged race Manager Frances Low reports:
The 2-legged race, which is event 2 of the August tournament, was won this year by Jack Davies and Valerie Whittle. For those who have not heard of the event – the 2 legs consist of 14 point handicap doubles, then handicap and advanced 14 point singles. Points are scored for pegging out, peels, etc. There are 2 rounds on each of 2 days. The result was in doubt until the final round when Jack and Valerie played Paul Castell and John Bee. A close doubles was won by Jack and Valerie, +2 on time after Jack pegged out Paul and then himself to win the match. Jack won his singles but Valerie was well beaten by John. However, Jack and Valerie took the Howard Austin Cups with 56 points, well ahead in the end of John and Paul. John and Pauline Davey came 3^rd. The champion peeler was Jack! A really fun, relaxing event – try it next year!
 

Class singles Manager John Low reports:
Rather mixed weather did not detract from the enjoyment of a weekend's croquet.  Four cups were in contention (see all the results in the previous news item).

The Abbey Challenge Cup proved to be a 3-way tussle between Dick Knapp, Paul Castell and Mark Fawcett. Dick Knapp was the victor with 6 wins in 7 games.  Mark Fawcett also had 6 wins but lost to Dick.

The Scott Cup was played as a swiss event and also proved to be a 3-way battle between Barry Gould, Ron Sherwin and Jonathan Isaacs.  Barry and Jonathan ended up with 4 games a piece, with Barry beating Jonathan and taking the cup.

The Daldy Cup was a run-away victory for Brian Kitching with a straight 5 wins.  He did say he hadn't been playing well recently so clearly this is a dangerous return to form!

The Monteith Bowl is the handicap event in the tournament and this year was played with full bisques.  Some of the players were a little disconcerted by this at the beginning, but it did have the desired effect of increasing the number of pegged out games.  There were clear winners in the two half blocks of Steve Lewendon and Pam Gooders; however, in the subsequent play-off, Wendy Spencer-Smith came through as the eventual winner of a rather fine cup.

I hope all the players enjoyed themselves and will come back again next year.

	Abbey Challenge Cup
	Runner-up: Mark Fawcett
	Winner: Richard Knapp
DAY	TIME		PLAYER 1	vs	PLAYER 2
Sat	9:30 AM		Paul Castell	vs	Mark Fawcett	+4tp
Sat	9:30 AM		Richard Knapp	vs	David Mumford	+18
Sat	9:30 AM	+2	John Taylor	vs	Mary Knapp
Sat	9:30 AM	+15	John Low	vs	Alan Mayne
Sat	12:00 PM	+8	Paul Castell	vs	David Mumford
Sat	12:00 PM	+12	Mark Fawcett	vs	Mary Knapp
Sat	12:00 PM	+3	Richard Knapp	vs	Alan Mayne
Sat	12:00 PM		John Taylor	vs	John Low	+8
Sat	3:00 PM	+26tp	Paul Castell	vs	Mary Knapp
Sat	3:00 PM		David Mumford	vs	Alan Mayne	+13
Sat	3:00 PM	+16	Mark Fawcett	vs	John Low
Sat	3:00 PM	+5	Richard Knapp	vs	John Taylor
Sat	5:30 PM	+13	Paul Castell	vs	Alan Mayne
Sat	5:30 PM	+8	Mary Knapp	vs	John Low
Sat	5:30 PM	+5	David Mumford	vs	John Taylor
Sat	5:30 PM		Mark Fawcett	vs	Richard Knapp	+1
Sun	9:30 AM	+23tp	Paul Castell	vs	John Low
Sun	9:30 AM	+19	Alan Mayne	vs	John Taylor
Sun	9:30 AM		Mary Knapp	vs	Richard Knapp	+4
Sun	9:30 AM		David Mumford	vs	Mark Fawcett	+23
Sun	12:00 PM	+4	Paul Castell	vs	John Taylor
Sun	12:00 PM		John Low	vs	Richard Knapp	+18
Sun	12:00 PM		Alan Mayne	vs	Mark Fawcett	+5
Sun	12:00 PM		Mary Knapp	vs	David Mumford	+1
Sun	3:00 PM		Paul Castell	vs	Richard Knapp	+18
Sun	3:00 PM		John Taylor	vs	Mark Fawcett	+24
Sun	3:00 PM		John Low	vs	David Mumford	+20
Sun	3:00 PM	+15	Alan Mayne	vs	Mary Knapp
	Scott Cup
	Runner-up: Jonathan Isaacs
	Winner: Barry Gould
DAY	TIME		PLAYER 1	vs	PLAYER 2
Sat	09:30 AM		Tudor Jenkins	vs	Barry Gould	+21
Sat	09:30 AM		John Davey	vs	Ron Sherwin	+11
Sat	09:30 AM	+3	Gene Mears	vs	Richard Jackson
Sat	09:30 AM	+24	Jonathan Isaacs	vs	Pauline Davey
Sat	09:30 AM	+18	John Bee	vs	Neil Coote
Sat	13:15 PM	+3	Barry Gould	vs	Ron Sherwin
Sat	13:15 PM		Gene Mears	vs	Jonathan Isaacs	+6
Sat	13:15 PM		John Bee	vs	Tudor Jenkins	+1
Sat	13:15 PM		John Davey	vs	Richard Jackson	+6
Sat	13:15 PM	+21	Pauline Davey	vs	Neil Coote
Sat	16:30 PM	+5	Barry Gould	vs	Jonathan Isaacs
Sat	16:30 PM	+8	Ron Sherwin	vs	Gene Mears
Sat	16:30 PM		John Bee	vs	Richard Jackson	+2
Sat	16:30 PM		Tudor Jenkins	vs	Pauline Davey	+19
Sat	16:30 PM		John Davey	vs	Neil Coote	+23
Sun	09:30 AM	+20	Barry Gould	vs	Pauline Davey
Sun	09:30 AM		Richard Jackson	vs	Ron Sherwin	+15
Sun	09:30 AM	+12	Jonathan Isaacs	vs	Neil Coote
Sun	09:30 AM		Gene Mears	vs	John Bee	+9
Sun	09:30 AM	+4	Tudor Jenkins	vs	John Davey
Sun	13:15 PM		Barry Gould	vs	Richard Jackson	+10
Sun	13:15 PM		Ron Sherwin	vs	Jonathan Isaacs	+2
Sun	13:15 PM		Pauline Davey	vs	John Bee	+5
Sun	13:15 PM	+11	Tudor Jenkins	vs	Neil Coote
Sun	13:15 PM	+4	Gene Mears	vs	John Davey
	Daldy Cup
	Runner-up: John Gosney
	Winner: Brian Kitching
DAY	TIME		PLAYER 1	vs	PLAYER 2
Sat	9:30 AM	+9	Brian Kitching	vs	John Gosney
Sat	9:30 AM		Pat Jackson	vs	Quiller Barrett	+21
Sat	9:30 AM		Audrey Sherwin	vs	Christine Constable	+13
Sat	1:00 PM		Quiller Barrett	vs	Brian Kitching	+21
Sat	1:00 PM	+12	John Gosney	vs	Christine Constable
Sat	1:00 PM		Pat Jackson	vs	Audrey Sherwin	+5
Sat	4:00 PM	+11	Brian Kitching	vs	Audrey Sherwin
Sat	4:00 PM	+12	Christine Constable	vs	Pat Jackson
Sat	4:00 PM		Quiller Barrett	vs	John Gosney	+25
Sun	9:30 AM		Pat Jackson	vs	Brian Kitching	+18
Sun	9:30 AM		Audrey Sherwin	vs	John Gosney	+12
Sun	9:30 AM		Christine Constable	vs	Quiller Barrett	+1
Sun	1:00 PM	+21	Quiller Barrett	vs	Audrey Sherwin
Sun	1:00 PM	+2	John Gosney	vs	Pat Jackson
Sun	1:00 PM	+7	Brian Kitching	vs	Christine Constable
	Monteith Bowl
	Runner-up: Margaret Russell
	Winner: Wendy Spencer-Smith
DAY	TIME		PLAYER 1	vs	PLAYER 2
Sat	09:30	+7	(John Bateson)	vs	Wendy Spencer-Smith
Sat	09:30		Keith Slatter	vs	Steve Lewendon	+8
Sat	13:00	+19	Steve Lewendon	vs	(John Bateson)
Sat	13:00	+11	Wendy Spencer-Smith	vs	Keith Slatter
Sat	16:00		(John Bateson)	vs	Keith Slatter	+11
Sat	16:00	+3	Steve Lewendon	vs	Wendy Spencer-Smith
Sat	09:30	+7	Margaret Russell	vs	Karolina Michalak
Sat	09:30		Jill Carpenter	vs	Pam Gooders	+14
Sat	13:00	+2	Pam Gooders	vs	Margaret Russell
Sat	13:00		Karolina Michalak	vs	Jill Carpenter	+6
Sat	16:00		Jill Carpenter	vs	Margaret Russell	+19
Sat	16:00	+1	Pam Gooders	vs	Karolina Michalak
Sun	09:30		Steve Lewendon	vs	Margaret Russell	+16
Sun	09:30	+15	Wendy Spencer-Smith	vs	Pam Gooders
Sun	09:30	+9	Keith Slatter	vs	Karolina Michalak
Sun	09:30	+17	John Bateson	vs	Jill Carpenter
Sun	13:15	+7	Keith Slatter	vs	Jill Carpenter
Sun	13:15	+5	John Bateson	vs	Karolina Michalak
Sun	13:15		Margaret Russell	vs	Wendy Spencer-Smith	+10
Sun	13:15	+5	Steve Lewendon	vs	Pam Gooders