MacMillan Coffee Morning

Thanks to Linda for organising a very successful Coffee Morning in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. And to everyone who attended. More than £800 was raised.

Playing croquet at 100

Congratulations to Jean, firstly on the occasion of her 100th birthday which was earlier this summer; and secondly, on playing in her first GC open tournament on 19th September at Sussex County.

Jean is a member of Lodsworth Croquet Club and a contingent of club members came to play and support her.

The competition was in four divisions. Divisions 1 and 2 were sub-divided into 2 blocks of 4 players with semi-and final rounds for the top 2. Div 1 was won by Rob Harper, and Div 2 by Francis Ainley.

Division 3 was a block of 6 players and was won by David Larkin. Division 4 was also 6 players and was won by Sue Caulfield.

A special prize was awarded to Jean Farguson for being (we believe) the first centenarian player in golf croquet at Sussex.

Thanks to Linda to managing the event.

Full results

Playoffs: Sam Holder w/o v Paul Green; Simon Ancell 7-6 v Bob Clark

Playoffs: Tim Bick 7-4 v Tim Weller; Dominic Webb 7-4 v Robyn Clark 

Today we had an informal AC handicap doubles 14pt competition.Although advertised as an open event only Sussex members entered, so we kept it simple.

With 4 pairs we had 3 rounds in beautiful weather.

Bob and Robyn Clark won the Toblerones, courtesy of Linda, with 2 wins and a draw; 

Sadly there were no peg outs so no team got the extra 2 points on offer.

There is a final AC competition on 24th October (handicap singles). At the moment it is in danger of being cancelled so it would be good if our growing band of high handicapped AC players could enter and make it a good event.

John

The Croquet England National Inter-Club Short Croquet Competition 2026 Winners

Today a team comprising David Dickens, Steve Chapman, Rob Harper and Nigel Billingham represented Sussex County in the final of the Croquet England National Inter-Club Short Croquet Competition 2026 against Peterborough Croquet Club . The match was hosted by Watford Croquet Club (as approximately midway between both clubs) and we won this nail-biting match 6-5.

The morning session was won by us 3-0 , with our doubles pairing of Nigel and Rob beating a strong Peterborough pairing by +7, with both Steve and David winning their singles by +14 and +11 respectively.

After a great lunch, play resumed and Peterborough won the first round of singles 3-1 , with only Rob managing to win his match . Going into the final round of singles, we were 4-3 ahead, needing to win a further two singles match. Luckily Nigel won his match in quick time (+12) which just needed one further win.

Peterborough won the next two tight matches (+2 and +1) leaving the match all square with Rob to finish. He won his match +2 which sealed the win for Sussex.

The trophy was awarded during afternoon tea (along with bubbles - alcohol free of course) and we all made our way back around the M25 content with a good result for the club.

Nigel Billingham

Congratulations to them and to EVERYONE who has played in the competition. 

Sussex County open Doubles 11th September 2026

We had a field of 32 players that’s 16 pairs which i split into 4 blocks of 4 for the morning session.

In the afternoon the top two in block A and B joined up as did the bottom two. I did the same with Blocks C and D with no two pairs playing each other they all played five games. It seems that our doubles tournaments are limited to 5 games which make for a comfortable day

The full result is as follows

Blocks A & B
!st Douglas Shand & John Gosden 4 Wins + 12
2nd Steve Chapman & Paul Green 4 wins + 3
3rd Gavin Taylor & Martin Daniels 3 Wins + 5
4th Michael Gentry & Trevor Houghton- Berry 3 wins -3

Block C & D
1st Mark Barnham & David Larkin 4 WIns +7
2nd Kathy McColgan & David Cogrossi 3 wins +6
3rd Peter Hill & Jane Sim 3 wins +4
4th( Tim Bick & Francis Ainley 3 wins +
( Dave Funnel & Diane Rolfe 3 wins +3

Roger

Sussex Open GC Championship September 5th - 6th

This Championship is part of the Croquet England Open Series of tournaments. We had a maximum entry this year of 32 players. There was a good sprinkling of Overseas players making it an international event, and this is a great compliment to the club for offering such good facilities.

The field was split into four block for the Saturday each player playing 7 games.

Block A was dominated by Dominic Nunns and Albie Willett who both had 6 wins out of 7.

Block B was a closer affair with Luis de Alarcon our Spainish competitor and Alex Aiton coming out on top.

Block C was won by Gabrielle Higgins with 6 wins followed by Richard Brooks who had 5 wins.

Block D was a clear cut win for Peter Payne, our Swiss competitor, who had 7 wins out of 7 followed by Sam Murray.

On the Sunday the players were split into 4 Knockouts: 8 player in each of the Championship/Bowl/Plate and Saucer. The winner and runner up from the Blocks went into the Championship knockout where they played a 19 pt quarter-final and best-of-three semi-final and final.

I'm pleased to say that after hard fought matches the final was played out by our two Sussex County competitors, Gabrielle Higgins and Dominic Nunns, with Gabrielle coming out on top, wining 7-4, 7-2.

The consolation prizes were as follows: The Bowl was split between Chris Roberts and Miroslav Havlik, last year's winner; they ran out of time and therefore their final was tied.

The Plate was won by Andrew Hobbs who beat Davide Cogrossi in the final and the Saucer won by Gerald O’Brien.

All in all there had been a good account made by Sussex County players in both the championship and the consolation events. The following members excelled in this event

Dominic and Gabrielle played out the final.
Richard Brooks won the Shield for 5th place over all.
Martin Daniels was 12th
Simon Ancell and Liz Farrow tied the 13th/14th playoff.
Davide Cogrossi was runner up in the Plate for 18th place.
Paul Green was 20th
Gerald O'Brien won the Saucer.

Well done to all club members for making this a memorable event.

Roger Sutton

Into the Final for Sussex County

Short Croquet Semi-final: Sussex County beat High Wycombe 6-5 at Sussex County Croquet Club on 4 September 2026

The results were (Sussex names first)

Liz Farrow (0) and Mike Akester (6) beat Richard Coward (1.5) and Matthew Miles Griffiths (3.5) 14-6
Nigel Billingham (1) beat David Cotton (1P) 14-7
Rob Harper (4) lost to David Tryon (6) 6-14
Liz Farrow beat David Tryon 14-10
Nigel Billingham beat Matthew Miles Griffiths 11-7
Rob Harper beat Richard Coward 14-4
Mike Akester lost to David Cotton 13-14
Liz Farrow lost to David Cotton 0-14
Nigel Billingham lost to Richard Coward 13-14
Rob Harper beat Matthew Miles Griffiths 14-7
Mike Akester lost to David Tryon 12-14

Congratulations to the team and to everyone who has played in the competition. And to their Manager Gabrielle Higgins for her support and expertise.

The final is against Peterborough Croquet Club who beat Nottingham and Bowden teams to gain their place.

The final will be on 26th September at a venue yet to be announced.

Sussex County Annual AC Tournament 2026

This year we had a full complement of 32 players competing for the three trophies on offer. The weather was fine and the lawns were fast and playing well.

At the top end there were 8 minus players to whom were added a scratch and 0,5 handicap player (by D Grade) to make 10 players for the prestigious Abbey Challenge Cup. This was played as an unseeded knockout and consolation Swiss, with single games until the final which was best-of-3 games.

Top grade player Nick Parish lost to Thomas Cullis in the quarter-final, and Thomas went on to beat third placed Nigel Polhill for a place in the final where he was joined by Gabrielle Higgins.

In the first game Thomas (who had won the cup the previous year) made all the running and looked set to take the match until an error let Gabrielle into the game at hoop 3. She took her first ball round past one back when her approach to 2-back rolled sideways to give an angle of about 40 degrees. In a display of supreme confidence she took the hoop hard, running to the boundary and recipient ball. From then on it was plain sailing to the peg where she pegged out Thomas’ ball and went on to win the game.

The second game was an efficient display of controlled play by Gabrielle who won the trophy 2-0. Just as Thomas Cullis was a first-time player in the event last year, so (perhaps surprisingly) was Gabrielle this year.

Gabrielle Higgins with the Abbey Challenge Cup

3rd place went to Nigel Polhill and Nick Parish won the consolation event.

Nick Parish A-Class Consolation event winner

At the other end of the tournament, six players took plart in an American block to play for the Daldy Cup. This was convincingly won by Margaret Page, despite being the second highest handicapped player at 10 handicap, with 4 wins out of 5 (in what was also a level advanced event).

Margaret Page and the Daldy Cup

With 16 players in the B-class competition for the Scott Cup, a knockout competition would have given a definitive winner but only 4 games, so the competition was played in strict Swiss format.

By the end of the first day Richard Peperrel had settled at the top of the ‘ladder’ together with Timothy Luke, on 3/3 wins each. Sadly, Tim had to withdraw injured and Richard lost his fourth game so that by the end of play there were 3 players on 4 wins: Richard Peperell, Adam Newbould (who had beaten Richard) and Paul Castell. Since they had not all played each other, They agreed the winner would be decided on net hoops. In the end there was only 6 hoops between them and the winner was Adam Newbould with +56 points.

Thanks to our catering teams for excellent lunches, cakes etc and our barman for some interesting beers!

See you all next year I hope.

John Low
Manager

Sussex County v Surbiton

Report by Mike Akester

Sussex team met at 8.30 at The Robin Hood pub. Jo drove us to Surbiton for our final R League match.

Jo & Davide won the doubles, Kathy beat their "tricky" Margaret. Korky got a "Brucey Bonus" beating their Bruce.

0 -3 at at splendid lunch.

They came back at us in the afternoon under some hot sun.

Jo "Bing" Crosby could not hit it "Straight Down the Middle".

Korky lost too many of his nine lives against Margaret 7-6...7-6.

Davide demolished Eddie Grundy (from The Archer's) and Kathy went 3 rounds to win.

Result 2-5.

Sussex played 4 WON 4 this summer.

Sussex County & Surbiton teams at Surbiton

Sussex County v Ealing Croquet Club

On 26th August a team from Sussex County CC travelled to Ealing CC to play their fourth and final match in the Croquet South East GC Level Play League. Ealing’s Captain, Bridget Goodman is also a member of Sussex County and was therefore welcoming familiar faces to her home venue.

With the long spell of summer drought coming to an end, the weather forecast was for possible heavy showers but, miraculously, they skirted around Ealing and the match was played in warm, dry conditions.

At the lunchtime break Sussex County had taken a 3-0 lead and, following a delicious lunch provided by the home team, continued their success to run out 6-1 winners. This victory made it four out of four wins for Sussex County in this league and, although unconfirmed, means that they will be overall winners as none of the other teams in the league has a 100% record.

The same team of Brian Aikens, David Dickins, Simon Ancell and Douglas Shand played in three out of the four fixtures with Rob Harper and Konstantin Yudintsev replacing Brian and David in one of the matches.

Thanks go to all of them for their help with catering and transport in addition to putting up with endless requests for availability dates.

Brian Aikens