Open Doubles Competition 11th October 2024

There were two divisions: Division A was comprehensively won by David Dickins and Douglas Shand with 6/6 wins. Similarly, Division B was won by Jim Mander and Diana Rolphe with 5/5 wins.

Congratulations to them and thanks to Roger for managing the event.

David Dickins & Douglas Shand

Diana Rolphe & Jim Mander

Full results

Another Sussex County success

Our AC U-league team have recently become the South-East Federation winners. In a series of home and away matches the squad managed to be the only team to win every match.

The team was made up from players with a wide range of different handicaps from low to high and provided an opportunity to improve match play with the support of more experienced players. Every game was hard fought and the team managed wins against some excellent opponents.

The squad consisted of Liz Farrow, Chrissie Merrington, Steve Chapman, Simon Fenn-Tye, David Dickens and Rosemary Faulkner. Everyone involved played so well and had memorable wins.

As a result of winning the league, next season Sussex County are nominated to represent the Federation to challenge for the Croquet England Secretary's Shield where you get to compete against all the other regional winners to become the overall national champions.

Report by Simon Fenn-Tye

Sussex County wins 2024 Murphy Shield

Congratulations to our Murphy Shield Team on their victory over Chester in the final played at a neutral venue, Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, on Sunday 6th October 2024.

The Murphy Shield is a national knock out GC Competition organised by Croquet England and was established in 2010. Twenty clubs entered the competition this year and, although coming close in 2014 when we lost a very even match to Durham, Sussex County have never won the competition before.

Each team is made up of four players who must have an aggregate handicap of at least 8. The restrictions are that the competition is for players with a handicap of 2 and above, although one player in the team may have a handicap of 1.

In each fixture there are six individual singles matches and one doubles match (all the best of three games).

Because of shifting handicaps of our squad throughout the season, making some players no longer eligible to take part, we have called upon a variety of players to represent us from the first round right through to the final. Fortunately, we seem to have been always able to field a strong team for each match which shows the depth of quality players within the Club. In addition to our winning finalists, Simon Ancell, Vincent L’Estrange, David Dickens and David King, other players who represented us in the earlier rounds were, Brian Aikens, Simon Fenn-Tye, and Konstantin Yudintsev.

Finalists David King, Vincent L'Estrange, Simon Ansell and David Dickins

The earlier rounds were regional and, in our path to the final, we had had wins against Cheam, Surbiton and Guildford.

Waiting for us in the final were Chester who had battled through against Ashby, Durham and Watford.

In the morning’s play there were some very hard fought games with each individual match having one 7-6 scoreline. However, things went well for us and we went into the lunch break with a 2-1 lead meaning that, in the afternoon’s play, we needed to win two of the remaining four individual Singles matches to clinch the match.

Vincent came up with the first of the required two wins and Simon scored the winning hoop in his three set match to bring the Murphy Shield to Sussex County for the first time in its fourteen year history. The final score was Sussex County 4.5 Chester 2.5.

The trophy was presented by George Collin who represented Wrest Park in hosting the match as well as representing Croquet England in his capacity as Trustee.

Thank you to Chester for a very enjoyable match and well done to our history making team.

(Report by Brian Aikens)

End of Season and Prize Giving dinner

Friday November 8th. 6 for 6.30
Price: £12.00

This will be a slightly smaller event than formerly as we have no mechanical dishwasher. For this reason it will be a 2 course meal, and we will be limiting the numbers to 50.( Prize winners have priority!)

Menu

• Lasagne or Vegetable Lasagne
• Green salad
• Garlic Bread
• Fruit pavlova Trifle

Numbers please, and choice of food to angela@sussexcountycroquetclub.org.uk

GC Singles 24th September 2024

A rare break in the recent weather allowed for an excellent day’s croquet on Tuesday 24th September.

Three divisions were played, with the two blocks in Division B having a final set of playoff matches to complete the afternoon and determine bragging rights.

Divisions A & C had seven players in each and did well to complete all the games within time, given that there had to be a bye in each round.

In Division A both Simon Ansell and Tony Jolly got off to a flying start, both winning their first four games. This set up what looked to be the decider in round 6, which Simon edged 7 – 6. However, Michael Jay put the cat among the pigeons by beating Simon in the final round, leaving Tony needing a victory against Chrissie Merrington to win the group. However, Chrissie prevailed 7 – 5, leaving Simon as the group winner.

David King ran out comfortable winner in Division 2 Block 1, just losing one game 7-6 to Jill Richardson, who finished second in the group. Division 2 Block C was sadly reduced to 5 players due to one no-show.

Notwithstanding, Robyn Clark had a good day, winning three of her four matches, and then beating David King 7-6 in the B v C crossover match to win the division. In fact, Block 1 finished the day with bragging rights over Block 2, winning 4 of the 5 playoff matches.

Performance of the day, however, goes to Kathy McColgan, who won all of her matches in Division. Thanks to all who took part in a very good-natured day.

And thanks to David Dickins for managing the event.

Full results

Division B Crossover Round

Robyn Clark beat David King 7-6
Jill Richardson beat Sue Nicholas 7-4
Andrea Huxley beat Jane Powell 7-6
Jim Mander beat Francis Ainley 7-4
Rosemar Faulkner beat Robin Wootton 7-5

GC Doubles Competition 14th September 2024

The competition had two divisions. Division A was won by Steve Chapman and Nigel Billingham. Division B was won by Phil Harrison and Mike Akester, beating Linda Gavigan and Vincent L'Estrange by one net point. Congratulations to them and thanks to Richard Ellis for managing the event.

Full results

Finalists please note the lawn allocation. Do come down and watch. AC schedule is below.

GC CLUB COMPETITION FINALS SCHEDULE 2024

LEVEL PLAY DOUBLES DIVISION 1 Wednesday 25 September 10.00

Lawn 8 Ivan Segal/Brian Aikens v Richard Brooks/David King

CHAIRMAN’S CUP Wednesday 25 September 11.00

Lawn 10 Konstantin Yudintsev v David Dickins

IMPROVERS CUP Wednesday 25 September 2.00 p.m .

Lawn 5 Jo Crosby v Alan Price

HANDICAP DOUBLES Thursday 26 September 2.00 p.m

Lawn 5 Jerry Key/Alan Price v Fran Box/David Dickins

COMMITTEE CUP Friday 27 September 11.00

Lawn 10 Sue Kilby v David Larkin

HANDICAP SINGLES Friday 27 September 2.00 p.m.

Lawn 8 Richard Ellis v Ray Hall

LEVEL PLAY DOUBLES DIVISION 2 Friday 27 September 2.00 p.m.

Lawn 5 Vincent L’Estrange/David King v Jo Crosby/Bob Clark

DRAWN PAIRS Thursday 10 October 2.00 p.m

Lawn 5 Vincent L’Estrange/Pat Harden v Rachel Pointon/Mike Stanton

_____________________________________________________________________

QUAICH - Gabrielle Higgins v Morgan Case Played 17 September

Won by Gabrielle 7- 2 3-7 7-4

To be arranged - President’s cup, Southwick cup & Supervets.

AC competitions finals

CqE Diplomas for David King and Frances Low

Croquet England Diplomas recognise those club members who have given outstanding service to croquet and have been active in Club or Federation affairs over a long period. Diplomas have been awarded this year to David King and Frances Low. The citations read:

David has been a member of the club since 2011. He is always ready to offer help and is very keen to help people play and improve their game. David is a club coach and he coaches on Academy GC courses as well as helping with newcomers on our four free lessons introductory offer. His welcoming nature and friendly patient approach have been key to getting many newcomers to join the club.

David’s background as an accountant means he is great assistance to the club treasurer and he acts as the examiner of the club’s annual accounts as well as helping out with monthly accounts and the financials for special events. He also acts as the Treasurer for the South East Federation.

It was in the three GC World Championships that SCCC has held since 2019 that David’s organisational and people skills came to the fore. In 2019 he acted as the main point of contact for visiting players on their transport arrangements between the four host clubs - Southwick, Compton, Tunbridge Wells and West Worthing. In 2022 and 2023 he ran the player registration process and the gate for spectators.

David has captained club teams, most recently in the South East Fed GC R league where SCCC have been champions in 5 of the last 11 years. David regularly plays in tournaments. In doubles his regular partner is Richard Brooks and they are a very successful pair in local tournaments.

David is a regular helper at our corporate / society events and has taken on organising a couple of them this year.

Frances has been a Grade 2 AC coach since 2006, an examining coach since 2014, a GC coach since 2016 and an AC referee since 1998.

She is a founder member of the committee that runs the Croquet Academy and has been a strong advocate of AC coaching. Her teaching background gives her a good basis for coaching and she sets high standards.

Frances is also a member of Rottingdean Croquet Club and coaches members there in AC as well as encouraging them to enter South East Federation and other events.

Frances has been very concerned about the decline in AC playing numbers. To counter this, she has led the introduction of Short Croquet at Southwick. Initially with Winter modular courses that she ran in 2021, 2022 and 2023 to introduce people to Short Croquet. During the playing season in 2022 and 23 she backed these courses up with regular Wednesday morning roll-up sessions. She has gone further in 2023 and 2024 with Short Croquet doubles tournaments and in 2024 two Short Croquet jamborees with teams from Southwick and other local clubs (several players for other clubs have benefitted from her Short Croquet Coaching as well). We now have more people playing AC than for many years, many of whom played only GC a couple of seasons ago.

Frances helped during the recent World Championships at Southwick with the player registration process and by scoring on the lawn side scoreboards.

Frances is a regular tournament manager for our one-day GC and AC tournaments and for SE Federation events held at Southwick.

Congratulations to them both.

GC Doubles Tournament 9th September

Report from Roger Sutton, Manager

The half-day doubles tournament on the 9th of September was hastily re-arranged to accommodate the 6 Spanish players who had entered the Sussex Open over the previous weekend. Their flight back to Spain on the Sunday evening had been cancelled and so I rearranged the blocks and included Jenny and I to make the numbers.

The winners of each block were
Block 1 - Helen and Andrew Wilson 3 wins +7 hoops
Block 2 - Sue Kirby & Diana Rolfe +3
Block 3 - Pilar Alvear & Sergio Garcia 3 wins +9

Congratulations to Helen and Andrew, Sue and Sue, Pilar and Sergio.

And thanks to Roger for managing the event.

Full Results

Stephen Custance-Baker wins Sussex Open Golf Championship

The Sussex Open this year was a truly international affair. 8 Spaniards had flown in from Seville and Steiner Olsen had flown in from Norway. Add to that Peter Balchin  had driven up from Wales.

The Spanish players

Saturday the field was split into 4 blocks and games battled against the rain all day, fortunately the lawns stood up to the rain and all lawns remained playable.

The first four in each block would go forward to the championship knockout on the Sunday.

Block one was led by Steiner Olsen followed by Martin French, Andy Jones and Jonathan Isaacs. Block two was won by Richard Gardener followed by Mark Hamilton, Liz Farrow, and Maria Burguete. Block three was led by Kim Taylor followed by Pilar Garcia,  Stephen Custance-Baker and Arturo Garcia. And finally block four was won by Konstantin Yudintsev, with Colin Britt Lourdes Alvear  and Bob Clark. So the Championship Knockout continued with its international flavour.

There was a slight improvement in the weather on the Sunday but heavy overnight rain had made courts 2 and 3 unplayable.

The last 16 played a single 13 point game, which was also the case for the quarter final. We were mindful that our Spanish visitors would have to leave at 5 o’clock to catch their flight home. For the losing quarter-finalists a bowl event was played which was won by Steinar Olsen.

Steinar Olsen

Liz Farrow, Richard Gardener Kim Taylor and Stephen Custance-Baker battled through to the Semi Final, which was played as a best of three 13-point games.

Richard Gardener beat Liz Farrow 7-5 5-7 7-3 and Stephen beat Kim 7-2 3-7 7-5.

This set up a final between Richard Gardener and Stephen Custance–Baker. Stephen got the better of this winning 7-2 5-7 7-2 and so won the Hamilton Trophy which was presented to him by the Mark Hamilton, in honour of his mother.

Stephen Custance-Baker

Those not in the knockout played a plate event which was won by Giles Peperell.

Giles Peperell

Thanks to Roger Sutton for managing the event and to Linda Gavigan for the pictures.

Full result

Championship

5-8th place 'Bowl'

Plate Event