Half Day GC tournament 27th July 2025

The tournament was split into 4 divisions of 4 players.

The A Division was tightly contested between Martin Cooperman (Sussex County) and Sam Holder of Hove Beach. They both won 2 games with Martin having a net score 1 point higher than Sam.

In the B Division Tim Bick (Hove Beach) and Tony Marjoram both one 2 games but Tim’s net hoop score was +6 compared with Tony’s -2.

In the C Division Chris Baccarini was a clear winner winning all his games comfortably. David Larking came second with one win but a better net score than the other opponents.

Keeping it in the family Sue Kilby won the D Division from Peter Goldsmith, both won 2 games with Sue having the better net score.

Jonathan Isaacs

Thanks to Jonathan for managing the event.

Full results

Croquet SouthEast GC level play league: Sussex County v Cheam

The second of Sussex County’s four GC Level Play League matches, against Cheam CC, was on a knife edge until the very last game.

The team of Brian Aikens, David Dickens, Jonathan Isaacs and Nigel Billingham travelled up to Surbiton, which is where Cheam are playing their home fixtures, and found themselves 2-1 down at the lunchtime break with Jonathan being the sole victor.

The rain, which had been forecast, miraculously held off as afternoon play began. In order to secure the match, three wins out of the four Singles matches were needed.

Brian lost comfortably to Ian Cobold, who played very accurately and, ironically, is also a member of Sussex County. This put added pressure on the three remaining Sussex County players who all had to win in order to secure victory.

David and Nigel both won their matches in two straight games which meant that the outcome of Jonathan’s match was the decider. At one game all, Jonathan and his opponent found themselves being watched courtside by both sets of their respective team members as they began their third and deciding game.

From the off, Jonathan played a solid and controlled game which included two jump shots and a monster angled hoop run on Hoop 11 to secure the game and the match for Sussex County.

Well done the team and, in particular, well done Jonathan with wins both in the morning and afternoon sessions. As Bill Shankly famously said, “Form is temporary, class is permanent”.

Brian Aikens

Sussex County continue their defence of the Murphy Shield

On Friday, 18 July holders SCCC set off for Dulwich to play a quarter-final match in the Murphy Shield in what proved to be a close encounter.

After an early start, the Sussex team of Ben Harwood (1), Vincent L’Estrange, Paul Green and David King (all 3) arrived in buoyant mood, despite the last 14 miles of the journey through the south London traffic taking about 1 ¼ hours. (same for the return journey).

In the morning doubles, Ben & David lost by 5-7, 6-7 in a very tight match with some amazing hoop runs (some fortuitously), while Vincent scored a good 7-6, 7-4 win. A morning lead then depended on Paul Green, who was level at 1 game all and about to start his 3rd game. All went well and Paul won that 7-2 to give SCCC a lunchtime lead of 2-1.

We all enjoyed a very good buffet lunch, knowing that 2 wins in the 4 singles would give us the match . The first result in the afternoon was a 0-2 defeat for Vincent, reversing his good morning win. Next to finish was David, who was well beaten 0-2. Ben meanwhile had won his first game 7-4, but was 5-1 down in the second – but showing amazing resilience he clawed his way back to pull off a fine win by 7-5! So the match score was now level at 3 all, when we all went off to find out how Paul was getting on.

Paul had won his first game 7-4, but his opponent was fighting back hard, and went on to win the second game to level it up. All now depended on the final game. After a good start, Paul was 5-2 up, but it was not over yet – his wily opponent would not let up and was inching back, and only at the 12th did Paul manage to clinch the hoop and give us a Semi Final place with an overall 4-3 victory.

Well done team, and our thanks to Dulwich for their hospitality, and a very tough but enjoyable match.

Our semi-final will be against Guildford & Godalming or Hamptworth who have yet to play their quarter-final.

David King & Vincent L'Estrange

GC one-day singles 17 July 2025

Play was divided into 4 divisions but, as the numbers were tricky, the first three divisions were divided into 2 4-player blocks which then played knockout semi- and final rounds for the top 2 and bottom 2 players to get places 1-8.

Congratulations to all four winners and thanks to Linda for managing the event.

Full results

Division A 3rd/4th place: Brian Aikens beat Douglas Shand 7-6
Division B 3rd/4th place: Francis Ainley beat Laki Marangos 7-4
Division C 3rd/4th place: Kathy McColgan beat Mark Barnham 7-5

AC Longman Cup, Sussex County v High Wycombe

Today (19 July) we played the quarter final of the AC Longman cup against High Wycombe.

The match start was delayed due to rain and lawns being very wet. After several hours of delays we started and Sussex County had a good morning with Nigel Billingham and Steve Chapman having good wins in their singles but Simon Fenn-Tye and David Gillett lost in the pairs. We ended up 2 - 1 at the break.

The afternoon was a series of 14 point matches and unfortunately despite Simon winning we came second in the other matches to lose 4-3 overall.

I would like to thank everyone for making this an enjoyable day despite the weather and to wish High Wycombe good luck in the next round.

Simon Fenn-Tye

Croquet England AC Inter-Club Championship

Sussex County secured another tight win, this time over Bristol, in the AC Inter-Club Championship to earn a place in the semi-finals for only the third time this century, and the first time since 2008.

The match went to the wire. With the games scores standing at 3-2 to Southwick, Bristol’s David Goacher embarked on a triple peel against Southwick’s Dom Nunns, always looking under control.

Meanwhile on the adjacent lawn, the innings was exchanging hands multiple times between Southwick’s Paul Castell and Bristol’s Dom Aarvold. As David was lining up his short range peg out, Paul clattered into partner while trying to get his own rush to the peg. Moments after David levelled the match at 3-3, Paul played his 5 yard peg out … and missed. But Dom narrowly missed his hit in, and Paul clinched the fourth point for Sussex.

Congratulations to the Sussex team of Dom Nunns, Gabrielle Higgins, Tudor Jenkins and Paul Castell. Commiserations to the Bristol team of David Goacher, Dave Kibble, Dom Aarvold and especially Richard M Smith who didn’t take croquet all day.

And huge thanks to High Wycombe Croquet Club for sacrificing a weekly roll-up session to host us, offering lawns that were a delight to play on, exemplary hospitality, and perfect weather to boot.

Gabrielle Higgins

Croquet South East U League: Sussex County v Compton

Sussex County had another excellent win today in the U league, beating Compton 6-1.

We only lost the doubles and there were some excellent wins by the team comprising Steve Chapman, Deborah Marcus, Simon Fenn-Tye and Nigel Billingham.

That’s 4 wins out of 4 in this year's competition which puts us in a strong position to once again win the Croquet South East U league.

Nigel Billingham

Sussex and Compton teams

CqE Secretary's Shield Competition

Sussex County played Caversham in the semi-final of the Secretary's Shield (a Croquet England competition for last season's winners of each region's AC handicap league) on Sunday 13th July.

Caversham, in contrast to Sussex County, is a one-lawn club and so the match was played at Southwick. All of Sussex's players were giving bisques to their opposite number which gave rise to fears of banditry which were largely unfounded.

David Gillett and Robyn Clark lost the doubles by one point and Steve Chapman also lost but Simon Fenn-Tye kept Sussex in touch at lunchtime.

Wins for Simon and Robyn and a loss for David made the score 3-3. Steve's game went to extra time and he scored to put Sussex County into the final against either Peterborough on Middlesbrough.

David Gillett

U league Match versus Surbiton

Our team travelled to Surbiton today for our third U league fixture.

Thankfully temperatures were lower but strong winds made for less than ideal playing conditions.

The morning session saw us ahead 2-1 , with both David Gillett and Nigel Billingham wining their respective singles matches. We won the afternoon session 3-1 , with David narrowly losing a tight match.

Overall a 5-2 win against tough opposition. So far it’s 3 wins out of 3 for the club's U league squad. Compton up next!

Nigel Billingham

Sussex County have emphatic win Against Tunbridge Wells in GC Level Play League

The first of Sussex County’s GC Level Play League matches was played on July 11th at Tunbridge Wells CC in extremely warm conditions.

Our team of Konstantin Yudintsev, Brian Aikens, Simon Ancell and David Dickens found themselves 3-0 up at the lunch interval without dropping a game.

The four afternoon singles matches were much more balanced, with three of the four going to the final game but, when Simon ran the golden hoop in his game, it secured a 7-0 victory for Sussex County.

Our thanks must go to the team members at Tunbridge Wells CC and in particular to their Captain, Michael Gentry, who were excellent hosts. They were most welcoming and, in addition to providing a delicious lunch, rounded off the afternoon by sitting down with us over a welcome cup of tea and slice of cake.

A great start to the campaign, but we all know that ‘It’s not how you start, it’s …………………………….’

Brian Aikens

Konstantin, Simon, Brian & David