News
Alternate Stroke Doubles handicap 14 point competition 4 March 2026
The first AC open tournament of the year took place on Wednesday, 4th March in wonderful sunshine and warmth!! What a change from all the rain! It was an enjoyable day in every way.
16 players entered including 8 from Reigate and 2 from Ealing. Sadly Gabrielle Higgins was marooned in Madeira!! Flight postponed so John Low kindly stood in for her.
We played 4 rounds of 14 point, handicap, Alternate Stroke Doubles.
All the matches were very close but in the final round, Mike and Caroline Barnard were up against Liz Farrow and Andrew Baxter. The Barnards used their bisques very well and came out the winners! Well done - Reigate should be proud of them!
The winners received their chocolate prizes!!
I would like to thank everyone who came and played, and to say how I appreciated the support and friendliness. We coped with the limited space and were fortunate that the weather was kind to us. Thanks to you all!
Must mention Ben - the lawns were fantastic and so fast!! Thanks to Ben and his team.
Hope to see some of you at AC tournaments in future and /or at the Academy Coaching courses. Enjoy the season!!
Frances Low
Thanks to Frances for managing the event.
Full results
| Block A | TM&JL | LB&JD | MB&PD | AB&LF | Wins | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Marjoram & John Low | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Lucy Beach & John Davey | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| Michael Bye & Phil Davies | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |
| Liz Farrow & Andrew Baxter | 5 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Block B | KM&DD | C&MB | MP&ST | SL&DD | Wins | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathy McColgan & David Dickins | 6 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Caroline & Michael Barnard | 6 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | |
| Margaret Page & Simon Turner | 7 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |
| Simon Ling & Douglas Dykes | 8 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Finals |
|---|
| Caroline & Michael Barnard beat Liz Farrow & Andrew Baxter 7-5 |
| Margaret Page & Simon Turner beat Michael Bye & Phil Davies 9-4 |
| Kathy McColgan & David Dickins drew against Tony Markoram & John Low 5-5 |
| Lucy Beach & John Davey beat Simon Ling & Douglas Dykes 9-7 |
More photos
See what a lovely kitchen Mark and Richard are installing for us
The tea counter
(Apologies if anyone else has been involved that hasn't been named)
Last year the Charity 1-Ball national event, in which Sussex County took part, raised £8,759 for the Alzheimers charity.
This year the the charity being supported is Save the Children.
Our local heat will be on Friday 24th April, starting at 10:00
Entry fee: £10 (which goes to the Charity, not the Club.)
Wear something RED.
Enter on-line on our website.
Further information, see the Manager, Clive Hayton.
Club Summer competitions
Club competitions are now open for entry to club members only.
Choose this link, or follow menu: Play croquet - Club & team competitions - Enter Summer Club Competitions and follow instructions on that page.
Entries are open until Sunday 23rd March.
GC singles 27th February
The sun arrived a bit late but with our sturdy entrants we went ahead only facing light rain at times.
Division A - Winner was Liz Farrow winning 4 games. The result was close with Richard Brooks just missing out to Liz by one net hoop.
Division B - The clear winner was Rob Harper who won all five of his games and had net hoops of +23. Runner up was Vincent L’Estrange who won 3 of his games.
Division C - Winner Sue Nicholas who won 4 out of 5 games with +16 net hoops. Runner up was Beryl Hughes on 3 games.
Division D. - Winner Andrew Fall who won 4 of his games with both Kathy McColgan and David Larkin on 3 and net hoops +4.
Thanks to Fiona for managing the event.
Full results
| Division A | SA | RB | DD | LF | tJ | JG | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Ancell | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6 | |
| Richard Brooks | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| David Dickins | 7 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Liz Farrow | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | |
| Tony Jolly | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| John Gosden | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Division B | TN | VL | PG | RH | DK | TJ | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Nicholas | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |
| Vincent L’Estrange | 7 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| Paul Green | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Rob Harper | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| David King | 7 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| Tony James | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Division C | SC | JM | Jl | SN | BH | FA | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Collett | 4 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 6 | |
| Jim Mander | 7 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | |
| John low | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | |
| Sue Nicholas | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Beryl Hughes | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | |
| Francis Ainley | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Division D | TM | TB | MP | KM | AF | DL | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Marjoram | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | |
| Tim Bick | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | |
| Michael Pudney | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Kathy McColgan | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| Andrew Fall | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| David Larkin | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Photos
Click to select a photo and then zoom with mouse if you wish
Congratulations to our excellent groundsman Ben and his partner on the birth of their daughter.
Surely this must be good practice for pushing a pram?
GC doubles competition 14th February
Lovely sunshine, but, oh, the sharp bite of 6ºC temperature!
Two divisions of six teams each played five rounds of single level play games.
Division A was won by Konstantin Yudintsev and Brian Aikens who beat second placed Rob Harper and Paul Green by 3 points.
Division B was won by Francis and Will Ainley who beat second placed beryl Hughes and Gavin Taylor by 4 points.
Both divisions were very close at the top therefore, and congratulations to all of them.
We hope very soon we shall be out of the cramped accommodation in the Verandah Room and into our spanking new Canteen!
Full results
| Division A | VL&SA | KY&BA | RB&DK | LF&TN | JP&BG | RH&PG | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent L'Estrange & Simon Ancell | 7 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| Konstantin Yudintsev & Brian Aikens | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Richard Brooks & David King | 7 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | |
| Liz Farrow & Tony Nicholas | 5 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |
| Jane Powell & Bridget Goodman | 0 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| Rob Harper & Paul Green | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Division B | BH> | SN&MB | RF&TJ | FB&JM | F&WA | A&CJ | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beryl Hughes & Gavin Taylor | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Sue Nicholas & Mark Barnham | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Rosemary Faulkner & Tony Jolly | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Fran Box & Jim Mander | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Francis & Will Ainley | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Angela & Clive Jones | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Click to select a photo and then zoom with mouse if you wish
Don Mears
Don and Gene Mears at the Christmas Dinner in December 2023
We are sad to hear of the death of Don Mears.
Don was a long-serving member of the Club. He was a mainstay of the coaching team, both at the start of the Academy and its predecessor, the Summer School.
In 2007 he received the Lifetime Coaching Award from the Croquet Association (now Croquet England), the very first recipient of that honour for long and meritorious service to coaching. He was originally trained and assessed as a Grade 1 coach in 1989 by Ron Welch and immediately joined our former Club Chairman Bryan Teague, coaching on his formal club courses. Don soon also qualified as a Grade 2 coach, giving his unstinted time and effort to his club's internal coaching program. He has been a leading member of the coaching team at the SECF Summer School through the reigns of David Collins and Daphne Gaitley. Along with other coaches at Southwick, he coached at local clubs including Ringmer, Rottingdean and Preston Park; literally hundreds of players were helped with patience and good humour and benefited from his detailed knowledge of stroke play and tactics.
Don had an impressive reputation both for the quantity and quality of his coaching, his dedication to the sport and the energy and time he has devoted to others. In all this he was ably supported by his wife Gene, also a good AC player.
Those of us who knew Don have fond memories of him and we send our deepest sympathies to Gene and their family.
The coaching team for the 2008 Academy courses (left to right: Michael Hague, Frances Low, John Low, Don Mears, (unknown), Bryan Teague, Paul Castell, Gene Mears, John Taylor, Cliff Jones, John Hobbs, Alan Cottle and Jack Davies.
Don coaching for the Croquet Academy in 2008
A theory session in the Croquet Academy, 2013
Don's last appearance at the club in 2023
GC doubles competition 27th December 2025
A small field played in bright but cold sunlight this morning. Eight pairs played in two divisions for a short event.
Division A was won by Morgan Case & Konstantin Yudintsev who won all three games. Division 2 was won by Jo Crosby & David Larkin who likewise had a clean sweep.
Thanks to all who took part and to Gerald for managing the event.
Full results
| Division A | Wins | Losses | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Case & Konstantin Yudintsev | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Simon Ancell & Vincent L?Estrange | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Tony Jolly & Ray Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Green & Angela Avis | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Division B | Wins | Losses | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joanne Crosby & David Larkin | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Francis Ainley & Kathy McColgan | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Richard and Trish Ellis | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Fran Box & Jim Mander | 0 | 3 | 4 |
