Sussex County Open GC Singles – 30 May 2025

A lovely day was promised by most of the weather forecasts for the GC Singles competition on Friday 30 May. In the event, the morning was cold with a threat of rain, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our 30 competitors.

The format was for five divisions with six players in each division, all of which were looking to be very well matched. At this stage the Tournament Manager would like to apologise for any marital stress caused by putting two married couples in the same block as each other!

Division A proved to be very competitive, with some excellent croquet played by all. Going into the final Game Liz Farrow had won all four, but a win by Simon Ancell (even by one hoop) would have snatched a late victory. After some fine play, Liz prevailed 7-6, thereby winning her group and all her matches.

Division B went with the form book; both Tony Jolly and Jonathan Isaacs taking four wins out of five. However, Tony, with +14 net hoops to Jonathan’s +11, came out the winner.

In Division C, Jill Richardson was the standout performer winning four of her matches to take the group and reduce her handicap to 3. Well done, Jill!

Division D was the closest of all and had the tournament manager reaching for his calculator. Going into the final round Sam Holder had won four games, and Robin Wootton three. Sam went down 7-5 to Jim Mander leaving Robin requiring a 2 hoop win over John Low to win the group. John fought all the way to take it to the golden hoop, which Robin won, putting him level with Sam on wins and net hoops. However, this was not enough, with Sam winning the group due to his head-to-head win over Robin earlier in the day.

Division E also went down to the final round, with Kathy McColgan, Tony Marjoram and Christopher Mabley all having won 3 games to that point. Tony and Christopher both went down 7-6 in their final game, leaving Kathy McColgan to take the Block with a 7-3 win.

Thanks to all who took part in a very good-natured day.

Thanks to David for managing the event and to the catering team of Anne Stanton and Rosemary Faulkner for providing lunch.

Full results

Congratulations to Deborah Marcus who has been selected to play in the England team for the annual match against the Croquet Association of Ireland for the McWeeney Trophy.

The trophy was presented by Myles McWeeney in memory of his mother Vera (a club member since the 1920s who passed away in 1981) and is competed for annually; the trophy itself was originally his father’s cigar box.

Vera McWeeney herself was originally and tennis and Irish hockey player before becoming a sports journalist for the Irish Independent and Irish Times.

Deborah with one of the club trophies

Murphy Shield, second round

Sussex County travelled to Surbiton on Wednesday to play Cheam in the second round of the Murphy Shield.

The team of David Dickins (Capt), Vincent L’Estrange, Paul Green and Francis Ainley trailed 1-2 at lunch, having only won the doubles in the morning.

With all to play for in the afternoon, David Dickins won the first singles, but Vincent narrowly lost his match to an in-form Cheam player. Both Paul Green and Francis Ainley then won the first of their best of three games, and Paul soon wrapped up the win to leave the match at 3-3.

The ever-dependable Tony Nicholas won the second game against Francis setting up a nerve-jangling decider. Francis took an early lead, but Tony came back to level things at 6 all. Francis prevailed on the golden hoop, giving Sussex a 4-3 victory, after both had has chances to steal the win.

Congratulations to all.

Congratulations to our team in the Longman Cup  who beat Watford Croquet Club 7-0 in their 1st round match. Report from Simon Fenn-Tye:

Today Sussex County sent a team away to play the first round against Watford Croquet Club. We arrived to find we were against a strong team with lower handicaps than us all.

David Dickens and Nigel Billingham played the morning singles and successfully won both. Robyn Clarke and Simon Fenn-Tye managed to win the pairs.

Having a 3 - 0 lead after the morning we started the pm singles with confidence and both Nigel and David had big wins. Simon won his match and Robyn played an excellent match to win her first Longman singles.

Congratulations to David whose handicap dropped to a 9 and Nigel whose handicap became 11.

A thank you to Watford for being such welcoming hosts and making it a very enjoyable day.

A really good day for Sussex County

Sussex County v Tunbridge Wells U League Match

Our Croquet SouthEast U league team ( David Gillett, David Dickins, Richard Ellis and Nigel Billingham - Captain) played their first match against Tunbridge Wells today ( May 22nd) and, despite facing a team comprising mostly of low handicaps ( less than 4.5), they managed to win the match 5 to 2.

Nigel Billingham

Well done team and good luck in your next match.

Gabrielle Higgins

The Solomon Trophy is a prestigious international AC team event held every 1 or 2 years between the USA and Great Britain. It alternates being held in the USA and Great Britain. In November 2023 the USA won the Trophy at Sarasota, Florida, and this year it will be held at Budleigh Salterton, Devon.

The format will be a 21-point test, consisting of 9 doubles matches and 12 singles matches, each of which is played as best-of-three games.

The AC Selection Committee has selected the following GB team:

Harry Fisher
Jack Good
Gabrielle Higgins
Debbie Lines
Stephen Mulliner
Samir Patel (Captain)

Reserve: Aston Wade

Congratulations to Gabrielle and all the team.

AC 14pt one-day competition, 21 May 2025

Unfortunately the rain gods were not totally kind to the ten players taking part in today's AC 14pt competition, open to all but largely attended by Sussex members.

The competition was organised in Swiss format and four rounds were played, although heavy rain late morning and during the third game meant the field for the final round was somewhat reduced. As time was likely to be short, tied games were allowed, but only one game was in fact tied.

The winner was clear: Nigel Billingham won all his games and by substantial margins and so took home his prize of a bottle of wine. Congratulations to him and thanks to all for taking part.

Full results

Food Hygiene Inspection

Our canteen kitchen has received a Food Hygiene Rating of 5 after a recent council inspection. This is the top rating that is given.

Congratulations and grateful thanks to Angela, Rachel and Gill for all the work they have put in to enable us to achieve this rating.

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