News
Sussex beat Caterham 5-2 in U league
Today our U League team had a magnificent win (5-2) against Caterham who came stacked with low handicaps.
Big morning wins for Steve Chapman and Nigel Billingham in the singles against very low handicap players set a good foundation for the afternoon.
In the afternoon session there were big wins for Robyn Clarke and Nigel Billingham which sealed the match, rounded off nicely by a good but close win by Simon in the final game of the match.
A great day in fine weather. Well done team.
Nigel Billingham
The Caterham and Sussex U League Teams
GC Doubles 7th June 2025
Sixteen pairs contested the Doubles Tournament on Saturday. The weather forecast was not good but in the end the rain held off until about 4pm which allowed most of the games to be played in the dry and on the whole warm.
Because of the numbers entering the pairs had to be divided into two divisions of eight. It was recognised at the start that it was not going to be possible to complete all the seven games available but everyone made a very good effort before the weather took over.
In the end the winners of Division A were Brian Aikens and Konstantin Yudintsev with 6 wins from 6 games followed by Stephen and Debra Hayns in second place and Bob Clark and Nigel Billingham in third. Division B was won by Kathy McColgan and Diana Rolfe with 6 wins out of 6 games followed by Andrew & Fiona Fall in second place and Joanne Crosby and Nira Scutt in third.
Thanks to Andrew Stewart for managing the event.
Brian Aikens & Konstantin Yudintsev
Kathy McColgan & Diana Rolfe
Full results
| Block A | BA&KY | RC&NB | FP&TJ | S&DH | JP&BG | BH> | SN&TN | DK&LG | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Aikens & Konstantin Yudintsev | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | ||
| Robert Clark & Nigel Billingham | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Fiona Phillips & Tony Jolly | 6 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Stephen & Debra Hayns | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Jane Powell & Bridget Goodman | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Beryl Hughes & Gavin Taylor | 1 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Sue Nicholas & Tony Nicholas | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 8 | ||
| David King & Linda Gavigan | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| Block B | AF&FF | GT&FB | RW&PH | RP&RP | TM&TK | KM&DR | SK&CB | JC&NS | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Fall & Fiona Fall | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | ||
| Graham Tucker & Fran Box | 1 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |||
| Robin Wootton & Philip Harrison | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Rachel Pointon & Richard Pointon | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | |||
| Tony Marjoram & Tim Kent | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Kathy McColgan & Diana Rolfe | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | ||
| Susan Kilby & Chris Baccarini | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Joanne Crosby & Nira Scutt | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Short Croquet Competition 6th June 2025
Congratulations to Bob Clark for winning the Short Croquet competition on 6th June.
Thanks to Frances for arranging and managing the event and to Ben for preparing the short courts.
DIANA BROTHERS DRAWN PAIRS
The day was forecast for light showers . We were lucky in the morning to have it dry whereas the afternoon group valiantly faced rain for part of the time.
There were five blocks and Blocks A B and C had clear winners with three games out of three won.
- Block A. Chris Ardley & Jo Crosby
- Block B. Roger Sutton & Tony Marjoram
- Block C. Mike Akester & Susan Caulfield
- Blocks D winners were : Trevor's Wright & Sandra Towner (2 out of 3 won )
- Block E winners were : Fran Box & Nira Scutt. (2 out of 3 won)
This competition now moves on to a knockout stage with three runners up needed to make 8 Pairs for a quarter final.
The following 3 pairs had all won two games out of three so go to knockout stage.
- Les Ardley & Peter Wyld
- Clive Hayton & Anne Stanton
- Paul Brown & Fiona Phillips
Jim Mander & Angela Marjoram also won 2 games but just lost out on net hoops.
You will find knockout details on the website. Please make your own arrangements to play your matches.
Fiona
Open Afternoon Sunday 1st June
A warm welcome greeted 26 visitors to the annual Open Afternoon on Sunday. Our team of volunteers soon had everyone enjoying their first experience of playing croquet to the extent that 3 visitors signed up for the discounted 3 month trial membership with a further 7 booking their introductory free lessons.
Our bakers had provided the usual splendid array of cakes for tea, served by Jo Mander and Denise Johnson who took a splendid £102 for club funds.Thanks also to Deborah Marcus for manning the bar.
Well done to everyone who helped but most of all to Fran Box for organising the event.
Linda Gavigan
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
| Division A | RC | LF | BA | KY | SA | BH | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Clark | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Liz Farrow | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Brian Aikens | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| Konstantin Yudintsev | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Simon Ancell | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | |
| Ben Harwood | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Division B | JI | TJ | AS | AH | RC | AN | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Isaacs | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Tony Jolly | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Andrew Stewart | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Andrea Huxley | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Robyn Clark | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Anthony Nicholas | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Division C | PG | GT | SW | MG | FA | JR | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Green | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | |
| Gavin Taylor | 0 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 5 | |
| Stephen Wingrove | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Michael Gentry | 7 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | |
| Francis Ainley | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | |
| Jill Richardson | 7 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| Division D | JM | RW | SN | SH | JL | MB | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Mander | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Robin Wootton | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Sue Nicholas | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Sam Holder | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| John Low | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 6 | |
| Mark Barnham | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| Division E | KM | CM | TM | HM | LD | AM | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathy McColgan | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Christopher Mabley | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Tony Marjoram | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | |
| Helen Mabley | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| Linda Davies | 5 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | |
| Angela Marjoram | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 |
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.