Sussex County Open Half Day Singles 30 August

A lovely afternoon’s croquet on a delightful end of August day saw 4 blocks of four players vying for bragging rights (although Linda assures me that the prizes will be delivered to the respective winners. All the blocks were hard fought, and the matches were very close, as you would expect given that the handicaps were well matched in each block.

In Block A Paul Green, Jim Mander and Sam Holder all won 2 games. Paul managed to clinch the win with +4 net hoops compared to +1 for the other two.

Everybody in Block B recorded a victory, but Diana Rolfe claimed the win with +6 net hoops. Paul Griffiths was second with +1.

Block C was the tightest of all; Pat’s Mechen and Harden and Rita Dona all won two games. The Pat’s were also level on net hoops, but Pat Harden was awarded the win as she beat Pat Mechen in the head-to-head. Notwithstanding, I think they both deserved to be in the photo!

Finally, Martin Avis was the runaway winner of Block D with 3 wins. Sue Kilby came second with two wins.

Paul Green

Diana Rolfe

The Two Pats: Pat Harden and Pat Mechen

Martin Avis

Thank you to all the participants for making it a pleasurable afternoon.

And thanks to David Dickins for managing the event.

Full results

Sussex County AC Annual Tournament

30 out of a maximum 32 players took part in this year's Annual Tournament, 10 in the A class, 14 in the B class and 6 in C class.

Ideal weather for AC, pleasant sunshine to enjoy if you wish, but warm in the shade, and a light breeze to refresh, whilst you watch your opponent go round to 4-Back!

The event was played on the Club's new Quadway hoops; this may have contributed to the lack of TP's and length of games in the A class, and the nearly half of all games in the B class which went to time rather than peg-out!

In the A class, which was played as a flexible Swiss, the lower handicapped players in the group rose to the top of the table on the first day, with the exception of Jim Field who had a clearly off-form 1/3 wins; Adam Swinton, newly down from h/c 3 a month ago to 1.5 (congratulations) made a strong start with 2/3 wins. 

By lunchtime of the second day the Manager was rather fearful of a tied and not easily resolved ending, with 4 players on 3/4 wins. However, wins by two of the four,  Neil Coote and John Daniels, in the last match gave a clear win to John, as he had beaten Neil in an earlier round. This was John's second time taking the Abbey Challenge Trophy as he previously won in 2022.

With a large entry of 14 players in the B class the Swiss proceeded with little difficulty, other than the number of games going to time previously noted. The spread of handicaps was 1.5 to 8 and by the end of the first day the lower handicapped half of the draw had largely established themselves at the top of the table. The winner was David H Boyd who won all his games, ahead of Peter Thompson who lost only to David.

The C class of 6 players played a five round block and quietly got on with their games over the two days, for which the Manager was very thankful. Only 2/15 games went to time which is a very good standard. As in the B class, the winner, Steve Chapman, won all his games; Christine Rice, second placed, lost only to Steve. Steve also gained his Silver Merit Award and reduced his handicap to 7 so double congratulations to him.

Thanks very much to Rachel Pointon, ably assisted by Richard Pointon, Elizabeth Bell, Angela Price and Jo Mander for the excellent lunches each day, and to the various cake makers as well. AC players enjoy their lunch (and cake)!

It was great to see such a large number of players taking part and I hope next year will be as well attended.

John

John Daniels

David H Boyd

Steve Chapman

Full results

Perry from the Club’s Pear Tree

The perry made from the Club’s pears has won an award this year at the Brighton & South Downs Beer and Cider Festival. Samples of this year’s vintage will be made available in Spring of next year for members to try!

Level play GC open tournament 23 August 2024

For once the weather forecast was correct and the rain moved on to allow us to play in dry weather from the start.

There were 5 blocks and we were pleased to see a number of players from other clubs who joined us for the first time.

Steve Chapman was the clear winner of Block A with 5 wins.

In Block B, David Dickins had a closely fought final game against David King with both in contention to win the Block. It resulted in David Dickins winning Block B as he won hoop 13.

Francis Ainley won Block C with 4 wins.

There were a number of new players to Southwick tournaments who played in Block D. It was a closely run block with Sam Holder (Hove Beach) and Jim Mander both winning 4 games but Sam had +12 net hoops against Jim’s +5.

Again there were new faces in Block E. I think it was a record that hoop 13 took 25 minutes for one of the matches! Three players Peter Hill, Paul Brown and Helen Wilson all had 3 wins so it was down to net hoops and Peter Hill won with +8.

Well done to all the winners.

A big thank you to Marion King for very kindly coming to sort out tea and cake and for all the clearing up she did.

Fiona Phillips

And thank you to Fiona for managing the event.

Steve Chapmen

David Dickins

Francis Ainley

Sam Holder

Peter Hill

Full results

Sussex County v East Dorset

Sussex County entertained East Dorset in the semi-final of the Longman Cup (CqE's national AC handicap knock-out competition) on Thursday 22nd August hoping to reverse the result of last year's equivalent match.

Strong winds and rain made the weather the most unpleasant for some time. In the morning session, Steve Chapman suffered a rare defeat and Chrissie Merrington & Simon Fenn-Tye also lost in the doubles. David Gillett was in play as time was called but could not overcome a three-point deficit.

An excellent lunch provided by Liz Farrow was enjoyed by visitors and hosts alike.

Sussex needed to win all four of the afternoon singles to progress to the final. The first game to finish was a defeat for David and so the match was lost. However, there were wins for Chrissie, Steve and Simon, who hit in as time was called and pegged out. This gave a more respectable result of 3-4 in the match.

A marvellous cake baked by Liz was consumed afterwards. Sussex Ciounty wished East Dorset good luck in the final against either Southport or Boden.

Thanks to Chrissie for captaining the team in all four matches.

Report by David Gillett

The Editor would like to thank all the players and correspondents who submitted match reports this year. It keeps the whole Club abreast of national and other competitions. Please continue next season and indeed, more please! Photos are also very welcome.

Peter Dowd new Captain of Sussex GC Team

After representing the Sussex team for eighteen years and having the honour of being the Captain/Organiser for the last six, Richard Brooks has decided now is the right time for him to give up his leadership role.

After relegation in 2018 Sussex bounced back to Division 1 in the following year and have remained a Division 1 team since then. This year we needed to win our last match to retain our place at Southwick in 2025. Fortunately we achieved that vital win.

Richard said: "I would like thank the club members who were watching and encouraging the team on Sunday afternoon.

I also thank the team members past and present who have supported me during my time as Captain. I’m now pleased to hand over the captaincy to Peter Dowd, wishing him and Sussex every success in the future."

Thanks from the whole County to Richard for all his hard work and the successes he has brought to the County - and good luck to Peter.

Sussex County A win their last match in federation Restricted League

On another warm and sunny day we welcomed our friends from Compton for our final match in this season's R League. After defeats in our first 3 matches it was pleasing to secure a 4-3 victory thanks to 2 wins for Graham Tucker and one each for David King and Phil Harrison. It was tight-fought with 8 of the 18 games played ending 7-6.

We live in hope of better things next season!

Vincent

AC Alternate Stroke Doubles on 15th August

The AC Alternate Stroke Doubles on 15th August attracted 16 players, ranging from handicaps 1 to 24! 8 pairs made an interesting tournament which I roughly did as a Swiss.

The matches were handicap but under normal doubles handicap rules. I now realise I should have made a bisque base so all could have a few bisques. Never mind. It is a learning curve.

Anyway, the final result was a win for Liz Farrow and David Dickens who were victorious in all their 4 games, including 2 pegged out games. Congratulations to them. Andrew Baxter and Mike Akester were 2nd with 2 wins including a pegged out win. They played canny games and roqueted and hooped well!

Every pair won at least one game so I think a good day was had by all although it could have been warmer!

My thanks to all who took part particularly those who helped high bisque partners - Ray Hall, Alan Cottle, Liz Farrow and Richard Ellis. Particular thanks to Liz Farrow for getting the tea/coffee ready and for washing up!! Very much appreciated. Thanks also to Deborah Marcus who offered to help with the admin.

Alternate Stroke doubles is a good learning opportunity for beginners/improvers and it is good to play with experienced and capable AC players. Many thanks to all the players for their participation and encouragement.

Frances (Manager)

And thanks to Frances for organising and managing this event.

GC Doubles Competition 10th August 2024

16 teams, 32 players on a bright summer's day at Southwick. No great pressure as no ranking or handicap points at stake, just the opportunity of a pleasant day's croquet.

The manager decided to run the competition in Swiss format (broadly, winners play winners and losers play losers), rather than the normal separate divisions: five rounds with a optional sixth for those who wished it.

On paper the pairing of Richard Broooks and Morgan Case seemed to be a winning formula but it was not to be, and they slipped behind after the third round. Coming up on the inside, as it were, were Beryl Hughes & Gavin Taylor, Vincent L'Estrange & Simon Ancell, Francis Ainley & Paul Green and Liz Drury & Tony James. All four pairs ended Round 5 with 4 wins. A very truncated 6th round left the field somewhat clearer and the Manager award prizes to Liz & Tony for 5 wins out of 6 games and to Francis & Paul for 4 wins out of 5 as there was no suitable opponent for them in the 6th round and they had beaten Liz and Tony in an earlier round.

Some players commented they enjoyed the ooprtunity to play different opponents the swiss format allowed; others who were less happy should be assured that block play will resume in future competitions this season.

There was no lunch provided but excellent cakes for tea, courtesy of the catering team and Linda Davies and Linda Gavigan in particular.

Full results (courtesy of CroquetScores)

Federation Carnival Day 4th August 2024

There will shortly be a report on the Federation website but in the meantime, here are some photos of the event. 

Photos courtesy of Colin Myerscough and John Low

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