GC half day competition 19 May 2025

A full complement of 24 players enjoyed perfect weather on 19 May for an afternoon’s GC: dry, and neither too hot nor too cold.

Divisions C and E made the manager’s life easy with clear wins for Tim Bick and Rita Dona respectively, both of whom were undefeated.

Divisions A, B and F all produced multiple players on 2 wins out of 3, but two very convincing 7-2 victories meant a convincing win for Nigel Billingham in Division A, with a narrower win for Les Ardley in Division B, and very narrow win by 8 net points to 7 for Chris Baccarini over Angela Jones in Division F.

Division D meanwhile produced the ultimate manager’s nightmare, with Tony Marjoram, David Larkin, and Nira Scutt all on 2 wins out of 3 and all with 3 net points. Resolving the tie by looking at the net points in the games between only the three of them resulted in a win for Nira with 1 net point against 0 for Tony and -1 for David - and the need for a gin on the part of the manager.

Gabrielle

Thanks to Gabrielle for managing this event.

Chris Baccarini

Rita Dona

Nira Scutt

Nigel Billingham

Les Ardley

Tim Bick

Full results

Visit from Hyde Park Adelaide Croquet Club

On Sunday, 18 May the club hosted a party of 12 touring Australians. It was a friendly, not-too-competitive, day of doubles with 12 SCCC members pairing up with the visitors in the morning and a different 12 pairing up in the afternoon. The day started overcast and cool but the sun soon came through and provided some warm sunshine.

The Aussies really enjoyed the day and were impressed with our splendid lawns (and who wouldn't be). They presented the club with a lovely plaque which is already on display in the clubhouse.

The top SCCC players, winning all their three games, were Rosemary Faulkner (a.m.) and Mike Stanton (p.m.) and each was presented with a HPCC cap.

We have already been invited for a return trip 'down under' and I will circulate a note in due course to gauge interest.

Special thanks to Rachel, Richard, Nira, Judith and Rosemary W for a delicious fish and chips lunch and to whoever made the afternoon cakes.

Vincent

Short Croquet Jamboree

The Short Croquet Jamboree for local clubs was held on 12th May at Southwick. 6 half courts were available so a lot of people could participate. 18 AC players did!

There were entries from 6 clubs: Sussex, Rottingdean, Rother Valley, Littlehampton, Chichester and Hove Beach. 3 players from each team took part, and It was a lovely day with a lot of friendliness, and some players were kind and helped those who had not played for very long. Points were awarded for wins, draws and extra ones for peg outs! Some good croquet and peg outs! We had 4 rounds: Singles, Mixture of Singles and Doubles, Mixture of singles and doubles, Speed Doubles! I made up the Speed Doubles so may think again on that round!

The winners were Littlehampton (Robyn and Bob Clark, and Andrew Baxter) who led all the way but were nearly pipped at the last post! Sussex caught up and were only 1 point behind in the end. The 3 peg outs by Littlehampton were the deciding factor. Extra points for those! So congratulations to Littlehampton (and chocolates as a prize!) and grateful thanks to all who came and supported. Well done captains for getting your teams together.

Also many thanks to Ben and his team for setting up the 6 short courts. Lawns played so well.

The next Club Short Croquet Jamboree is on 25th June so I will be in touch before that. Several other clubs have expressed an interest . The event may grow bigger and bigger! Enjoy your croquet! Photo of Littlehampton receiving their prizes!

Frances Low

And thanks to Frances for organising this event and others which are encouraging players to take up or keep up AC croquet, both at Sussex and other local clubs

Doubles Tournament 9th May 2025

The tournament was divided into two blocks with eight teams in each block. A fine sunny day help to make the day enjoyable with close matches in both blocks.

Block B was won by our Super Vets Les and Christine Ardley. they won 5 of their 6 matches and were followed by Francis Ainley and Kathy McColgan and Mike Akester and Philip Harrison.

Block A was won by David King and Richard Brooks who won all of their matches they were followed by Simon Ancell and Vincent L'Estrange with 5 wins and a superior net hoops over David Dickens and Douglas Shand.

Full results

Sussex County GC D Series 2025

This year CqE has introduced a new D-Level series of tournaments for handicaps 10 and above and Sussex County hosted one of the first on Saturday, 10 May. There were eight players (special thanks to Sue Kilby who came in after a morning withdrawal) the majority of whom were new to competitive croquet.

The morning session was 2x blocks of four and our own Sue Kilby and Peter Goldsmith won all 3 of their games. In the afternoon it was a knockout format. Peter made it into the final but lost out to the overall winner, Dena Howlett from Cheam. The plate final was an all Littlehampton affair with Marion Kinshuck overcoming Michael Buck 7-6.

Everybody enjoyed the day and hopefully will be encouraged to enter more tournaments. ​

Vincent

Full results

3rd-4th playoff: Carol Corcoran beat Sue Kilby 7-6

7th-8th playoff: Val Budgen beat Dianne Randall 7-1

Murphy Shield

Today SCCC started its defence of the Murphy Shield with a 5-2 win over Roehampton.

The team of Morgan Case, David Dickins (Capt), Vincent L’Estrange and David King took a 3-0 lead into lunch before David Dickins wrapped up the win in the first match of the afternoon.

Congratulations to all.

Vincent L'Estrange, Morgan Case, David Dickins & David King

Hougon Winter Challenge 2025

The informal Hougon Winter AC Challenge, played for a trophy donated by Mark Hamilton, was won this year by Chrissie Merrington. And, its fair to say, not just won but trounced, overwhelmed, utterly defeated, her opponents retreated in full rout. 

Chrissie won 8 out of 10 games played, twice the percentage of her nearest rival.

Well done, Chrissie, the drinks are on you!

GC B level and C level Tournaments 2025

Over the weekend SCCC hosted two CqE Series tournaments.

B level

On Saturday, 26 April we had 32 players for the B-Level (4+ handicap) Series (with thanks to Clare Rockall from Gainsborough who stepped in when someone withdrew that morning).

The morning session comprised 8 blocks of four players but double banking and the considerable number of 7-6 matches contributed to a slow start to the day with the blocks not completed until about 1.30 despite a 9.30 start.

The top two from each block qualified for the Main Knockout, with 3rd and 4th entering the Plate. Those eliminated filtered down into the Shield, Bowl & Saucer although not all matches were played.

The overall winner was Andrew Lockwood from Guildford who beat Nicholas Barton (Dulwich) 7-2. The Plate winner was Margaret Page (Ealing), 7-3 against Edward Patel (Surbiton). Colin Carver (Enfield) won the Bowl, overcoming Simon Draper (Norwich) 7-5. Well done to all who took part and congratulations to the winners. Many thanks to the Angelas, Avis & Jones, for a splendid frittata & salad lunch.

C level

Sunday, 27 April saw the C-Level (7+ Series) with 16 competitors, again divided into blocks of four. Single banking and timed matches saw the blocks completed in good time, with Helen Lucas and Ian Prince (both Dulwich) each winning all 3 games.

Ian continued his good form right through to the Main Knockout final where he beat David Grimshaw (Tunbridge Wells) 7-2. The Plate Final was between Clare Rockall & Fiona Fall (Compton) with Clare prevailing 7-1. In the Shield Final Michael Pudney (Chichester) beat Truida Trevere (Dulwich) 7-5. Andrew Jackson (Guildford) claimed the Saucer (no milk), overcoming Robert Hassell (Tunbridge Wells) 7-3.

Thanks are also due to Rachel and Richard Pointon for a baked potato lunch with delicious curried mushrooms & coleslaw.

Special thanks to Andrew Stewart for managing both tournaments and to Ben and the CTC team for prepping the lawns which were in excellent condition.

All results

B level

Block Stage

Main Knockout

Bowl Knockout

Plate Knockout

Saucer Knockout

Others

Nigel Wulcko beat Brian Jamieson in the 13-14th playoff 7-2

C level

Block stage

Main knockout 

Playoff 3rd & 4th place: Carol Jamiesaon beat Helen Lucas 7-6

Shield knockout

Playoff 7th & 8th place: Linda Gavigan beat Angela Jones 7-2

Plate knockout

Saucer knockout

Local Wildlife Rescue ...... comes to the rescue!

Players at yesterday's GC B Level Series Tournament on Lawn 2 were surprised to find a tiny fox cub sleeping in their shelter. Assuming all was well, it was left quietly to enjoy its snooze.

However, after some time it was seen wandering onto the lawn edge and appeared weak and uncoordinated. Suspecting it had been abandonned, we phoned East Sussex Wildlife Rescue. They passed our message on the Brighton & Hove Wildlife Advice & Rescue Service (WARS), as they are nearer.

A short time later one of B&H WARS' colleagues came and rescued the little chap. She thought it had a good chance of survival - and certainly it was going to the right place.

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service is a long-established charity providing a much-needed service to wildlife in the Sussex area. You can find more information about them on their website, where you will also find how to donate to this worthy cause.

Brighton & Hove Wildlife Advice and Rescue Service are a very active group and may be found online in their Facebook group. According to a recent Argus report, they have had a busy time recently rescuing foxes, so ours will be in good hands. They are largely a voluntary organisation and may be supported through their JustGiving page.

AC Interclub Match: Sussex County v East Dorset

After no ascertainable history of ever playing each other in the AC Inter-club competition, Sussex County were this year drawn against East Dorset Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for the second year in succession. Once again, it was a close match, but we managed to avenge our 4-3 loss last year with an equally tight 4-3 win this year.

In the morning, Dom Nunns and Gabrielle Higgins never got so much as a sniff at hoop 1, losing 26tp to Jeff Dawson and David Fuller. Meanwhile Paul Castell nearly polished off Steve Leonard +24 but missed his peg out, and Steve made 5 more hoops before Paul managed to hit back in and peg out his remaining ball. Tudor Jenkins came agonisingly close to completing a quadruple peel, failing rover with all peels done, but managed to hit back in on the next turn to complete the game and leave SCCC 2-1 at lunch.

In the afternoon, Jonathan Powe made short work of Paul Castell to level the scores. Gabrielle got off to a good start against Jeff, but had more difficulty with her second ball and ended up on peg with no peels done. Jeff hit the lift and pegged her off, but Gabrielle hit back in and completed an adventurous 2 ball break to put SCCC in the lead again with 3-2. The other two games had plenty of interactivity, but Tudor squeaked a close victory over Steve +3 to secure the match. Dom was also pegged out by David, who with his own partner on 4b and Dom still on 4 had two balls off, which was duly a winning tactic.

All in all, a better result than the joke of the early posed photo might have suggested.

Many thanks to East Dorset LT&CC for their excellent hospitality.

Thanks to Gabrielle Higgins for report and photo