Charity 1-ball local heat

The Charity 1-Ball Competition is a national corquet event held annually, each year supporting a differeent charity. Local heats feed into regional and national finals.

Our local heat took place on 14th April and over £170 raised for Alzheimer's Society. Many thanks to the generosity of the competitors and Sussex County Club members contributing to that success.

The gladiatorial fun and tactically testing elements were enjoyed by all, throughout, though sadly we had to lose the prowess of Paul Castell at lunchtime due to another commitment.

Blessed with fine Spring conditions, Ben had the Lawns playing well. One of our talented Club AC players, David Marcus, offered to be non-playing day Manager and opted for All Play All format.

Deborah Marcus shone through with no games lost, as the Event winner.- Congratulations Deborah. David Dickens was 2nd with 5 wins. Clive 3rd (4 wins). All matches were close fought in good spirit.

Thanks to Paul, Ray and Clive as, Referees, Ray as Photographer and all for such an enjoyable day.

The Regional Heat is at Surbiton on 17th May. Other commitments on that date mean we are not certain who will represent us then.

It is open to individuals to apply to play at the Regional Heat. If you wish to do so, please contact the National Organiser Debbie James (email: Charity1ball@gmail.com or charityoneball@gmail.com). Expect £20+ donation request.

In preparation for next year's charity competition we Iook forward to more structured practice and orientation Roll ups in the audumn/spring to lead in to 2026 event and a fresh selected cause. (Any requests for charities to be considered, to Debbie, as above.)

Thank you to Roger Buxton and John Low for their parts in Admin and PR.

Well done everyone for the Team effort, spirit and outcome. The Alzheimers regional coordinators are delighted.

Robin Wootton

Most of the participants in the competition, including winner Deborah Marcus - front row, centre

Club display

Advanced (AC) Tournament (12-13 Apr 2025)

The 2025 running of the Southwick Salver was blessed with warmer temperatures than is sometimes the case, and with a healthy smattering of sunshine.

Sussex County was delighted to welcome a field of 29, the largest for some time, including visitors from Portugal, Switzerland and many parts of the UK.

The Salver has been won by its fair share of world champions, but also has a friendly, fun atmosphere, offering a chance for a range of handicaps to try their luck against, in some cases, significantly stronger opponents on paper. The consolation Egyptian format allows the flexibility for players to play the sort of games and opponents they want to, whilst anyone who plays above their handicap level has a chance to win a bottle of wine along with the main event winner.

Adding to the atmosphere over the weekend were local members coming and going, notably for ‘croquet and cakes’ (name check for the great Fran Box), more international visitors, colourful bunting, some particularly nosy seagulls, and a dusk visit from a bushy-tailed fox as the last Saturday night drinks were downed.

Some of the weekend’s most enterprising play came from Ian Burridge, the only player to make two triple peels. He was unlucky to run into the generally rock-solid break play of eventual winner Andrew Hobbs in the quarters. Credit should also go to Ged Smolskas who defeated No.1 seed Dom Nunns in their quarter, earning a handicap reduction to -0.5, in a game featuring an end-to-end hit-in by Ged as a key moment. Stephen Wright had bested No.2 seed Nigel Polhill in their semi-final to earn the right to play Andrew.

In the final itself, Andrew had looked in full control at game up and on a potentially winning break, for 2b and peg when disaster struck in the form of a wrong ball error. Stephen gave him no further opportunity and equalised. However, Andrew gathered himself calmly and saw the match out.

There was some interest in manager Dom Nunns’s spreadsheet handling of the Egyptian format arithmetic. The software may shortly make its Swiss debut, if that isn’t too confusing a sentence. In its wisdom, it duly declared Alan Chance the winner. Intriguingly, had the semi-finalists been eligible, Ged would have just pipped Alan on the Egyptian points system, and so was duly awarded the Easter egg for 3rd place. Happily, Nigel declared he didn’t care because he didn’t like chocolate anyway.

Andrew wrapped up the weekend with a gracious speech thanking groundsman Ben Harwood and his CTC team for such excellent lawns for the time of year, Clive Hayton of SCCC and the catering team led by Rachel Pointon.

Dom Nunns

Thanks to Dominic Nunns for managing the event.

Winner Andrew Hobbs with the Manager

Andrew Wright, losing finalist

Alan Chance winner of the Egyptian event

AC Alternate Stroke Doubles 11th April 2025

The sun shone and so we were able to play 4 games in the Alternate Stroke AC Doubles. There were 12 entries so 6 pairs which was ideal.

The manager could have been caught out with the result on points but it worked out in the final round!

The winners were David Dickens and Robin Wootton. David and Robin and worked well together with David's tactical acumen. Congratulations to them - they won 3/4 games.

Runners up were Jonathan and Tony who won 2/4 games and had a draw!

Thanks to all who took part, and made it a very pleasant tournament.

My biggest groan (disappointment) was that there were no peg outs!! In spite of a generous helping of bisques! Still early days and I look forward to more AC tournaments.

Frances Low

Thanks to Frances for managing the event.

GC Doubles Competition 4th April 2025

What a lovely day to play croquet!

Warm Spring sunshine with a cool breeze and the lawns looking and playing at their best. The manager's job was easy - a round number of entrants (18 pairs) and no late drop-outs. Three divisions of 6 played 5 matches.

In Division C, Linda & Gerald and Fiona & Andrew both won 4 matches. Although the former beat the latter, Fiona & Andrew were narrow winners by virtue of +9 net hoops against +6 for Linda & Gerald.

Division B also had two pairs with 4 wins, Francis & Kathy and Sue & Tony. As with Division C the winners, Francis & Kathy net +9, also lost their game against runners up Sue & Tony, net hoops +6.

Division A was more even with 4 pairs each winning 3 games with David & Steve prevailing with +8 net hoops over the runners up Brian & Konstantin, +6.

Thanks to everyone for an enjoyable day's croquet played in a friendly spirit. Congratulations to the winners and special thanks to Ben & CTC for the superb lawns and to Jo, Gill and Angela for providing a lovely lunch while undergoing a hygiene inspection from the local council!

And thanks to Vincent for managing the event and providing photographs.

Full results

A Division Winners Steve Chapman & David Dickins

B Division Winner Kathy McColgan & Francis Ainley

C Division Winners Andrew & Fiona Fall