Sussex County Annual AC Tournament 2026

This year we had a full complement of 32 players competing for the three trophies on offer. The weather was fine and the lawns were fast and playing well.

At the top end there were 8 minus players to whom were added a scratch and 0,5 handicap player (by D Grade) to make 10 players for the prestigious Abbey Challenge Cup. This was played as an unseeded knockout and consolation Swiss, with single games until the final which was best-of-3 games.

Top grade player Nick Parish lost to Thomas Cullis in the quarter-final, and Thomas went on to beat third placed Nigel Polhill for a place in the final where he was joined by Gabrielle Higgins.

In the first game Thomas (who had won the cup the previous year) made all the running and looked set to take the match until an error let Gabrielle into the game at hoop 3. She took her first ball round past one back when her approach to 2-back rolled sideways to give an angle of about 40 degrees. In a display of supreme confidence she took the hoop hard, running to the boundary and recipient ball. From then on it was plain sailing to the peg where she pegged out Thomas’ ball and went on to win the game.

The second game was an efficient display of controlled play by Gabrielle who won the trophy 2-0. Just as Thomas Cullis was a first-time player in the event last year, so (perhaps surprisingly) was Gabrielle this year.

Gabrielle Higgins with the Abbey Challenge Cup

3rd place went to Nigel Polhill and Nick Parish won the consolation event.

Nick Parish A-Class Consolation event winner

At the other end of the tournament, six players took plart in an American block to play for the Daldy Cup. This was convincingly won by Margaret Page, despite being the second highest handicapped player at 10 handicap, with 4 wins out of 5 (in what was also a level advanced event).

Margaret Page and the Daldy Cup

With 16 players in the B-class competition for the Scott Cup, a knockout competition would have given a definitive winner but only 4 games, so the competition was played in strict Swiss format.

By the end of the first day Richard Peperrel had settled at the top of the ‘ladder’ together with Timothy Luke, on 3/3 wins each. Sadly, Tim had to withdraw injured and Richard lost his fourth game so that by the end of play there were 3 players on 4 wins: Richard Peperell, Adam Newbould (who had beaten Richard) and Paul Castell. Since they had not all played each other, They agreed the winner would be decided on net hoops. In the end there was only 6 hoops between them and the winner was Adam Newbould with +56 points.

Thanks to our catering teams for excellent lunches, cakes etc and our barman for some interesting beers!

See you all next year I hope.

John Low
Manager

Sussex County v Surbiton

Report by Mike Akester

Sussex team met at 8.30 at The Robin Hood pub. Jo drove us to Surbiton for our final R League match.

Jo & Davide won the doubles, Kathy beat their "tricky" Margaret. Korky got a "Brucey Bonus" beating their Bruce.

0 -3 at at splendid lunch.

They came back at us in the afternoon under some hot sun.

Jo "Bing" Crosby could not hit it "Straight Down the Middle".

Korky lost too many of his nine lives against Margaret 7-6...7-6.

Davide demolished Eddie Grundy (from The Archer's) and Kathy went 3 rounds to win.

Result 2-5.

Sussex played 4 WON 4 this summer.

Sussex County & Surbiton teams at Surbiton

Sussex County v Ealing Croquet Club

On 26th August a team from Sussex County CC travelled to Ealing CC to play their fourth and final match in the Croquet South East GC Level Play League. Ealing’s Captain, Bridget Goodman is also a member of Sussex County and was therefore welcoming familiar faces to her home venue.

With the long spell of summer drought coming to an end, the weather forecast was for possible heavy showers but, miraculously, they skirted around Ealing and the match was played in warm, dry conditions.

At the lunchtime break Sussex County had taken a 3-0 lead and, following a delicious lunch provided by the home team, continued their success to run out 6-1 winners. This victory made it four out of four wins for Sussex County in this league and, although unconfirmed, means that they will be overall winners as none of the other teams in the league has a 100% record.

The same team of Brian Aikens, David Dickins, Simon Ancell and Douglas Shand played in three out of the four fixtures with Rob Harper and Konstantin Yudintsev replacing Brian and David in one of the matches.

Thanks go to all of them for their help with catering and transport in addition to putting up with endless requests for availability dates.

Brian Aikens

Sussex County v Guildford & Godalming

On Monday, 24th, Sussex County made it 3/3 wins in the R league with a hard-fought 5-2 victory against a wily Guildford and Godalming team.

Five of the seven matches went to the third deciding game.

G&G had already convincingly won their first two matches in the league, so the SCCC team knew they were up against it. They showed a lot of grit to get through.

Surbiton (A) await on Thursday. Let’s hope we adapt to playing on their lawns pretty quickly!

Jo Crosby

Sussex County v Hove Beach

Yesterday we played our friendly match against Hove Beach at their club. Although some rain was predicted, luckily it held off and conditions were near perfect.

he match was very close; we were 2-all at the end of round 1 and 4-all after round 2. At first it was thought that Hove Beach had the edge when it came to net hoops with a 46-40 advantage. It was only today however that Mike A. spotted that the result of his and Susan's game had been listed the wrong way round, so the correct result was a draw: 43-43. Nevertheless it was a great event and I believe everyone had a very enjoyable time. As usual, Hove Beach's hospitality was top notch and they put on a splendid array of food and Pimms.

It will be our turn next year, so I hope we can match their welcome.

Francis Ainley

Sussex County v Chichester & Fishbourne away Federation match

The Sussex team of Rosemary, Laki, Mike and Sue won the match 5-3. We enjoyed the afternoon and were given a splendid tea.

We managed to fit in a visit to the Roman Palace next door to the croquet in the morning. Most impressive - and wonderfully set out to interest children in Archaeology and Roman Britain.

Rosemary Faulkner

GC morning tournament 18 August

Well done the winners of this half day tournament played in much cooler conditions than of late.

Division A. A close result between Francis Ainley and Tim Bick, both with 2 wins and on +5. As Francis had beaten Tim he won the block.

Division B A clear winner with 3 wins was Jo Crosby although it was a close match between her and Davide Cogrossi (7-6).

Division C. David Larkin and Nira Scutt both won 2 games but David won on net hoops.

Division D. Tim Weller was the clear winner with 3 games and +12

Division E. Peter Goldsmith and Angela Marjoram both won 2 games but Peter won on net hoops.

Thanks to Fiona for managing the event.

Full results

To follow

Sussex County v Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis (& Croquet) Club friendly match

On 12th August Fiona Phillips, Robyn Clark, Vincent L’Estrange, Tony Jolly, David King and Linda Gavigan set off early for a friendly match against Wimbledon.

After coffee and a brief tour of the club house we were ferried to the croquet lawns, tucked away behind the main club site. The lawns, recently in use as practice courts for the Wimbledon Grand Slam, were in great condition and played very well.

As we’d done the last time our hosts came to Southwick, we each partnered one of their team for two very enjoyable rounds of doubles which were hard fought but great fun.

The temperature had reached 30c+ by the time we stopped for a delicious (and air conditioned!) lunch. One of the highlights was chatting to Robert, the AELTC historian and archivist who joined us for the day (back row, first left in the photo). A mine of information on the history of the club, tennis and croquet. When we returned to the lawns the heat was such that only one further game was possible. A complete contrast to the weather last year when our visit was cancelled due to torrential rain. If only!

A leisurely tea and cake back at the main club house rounded off a lovely day.

As always, the Wimbledon hospitality was outstanding and we look forward to welcoming them to Southwick at the beginning of September. Traditionally these friendly matches are played home and away on alternate years but as last year was cancelled due to the weather we’re doing both this year.

Linda Gavigan

Alzheimers Croquet and Cream Tea a great success

Message from Tim Wilkins, Service User Involvement Officer, West Sussex, Alzheimer’s Society.

Please can you thank all your Coaches/Volunteers for all their wonderful support and information to everyone playing croquet and watching, car parking duties and all their help with everything.

Once again they were all fantastic, Angela.

The feedback I’m having from people who attended is all so positive. One gentleman who came along with his wife who has Alzheimer’s emailed me to say: ‘We had a lovely time, the afternoon was so well organised. The people who were helping us play croquet and doing the refreshments were wonderful’.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Angela Avis

It's off to the seaside for Sussex County's two teams in the Croquet South East GC Jamboree, held on Sunday 9th August.

A report by Angela Marjoram and Diana Rolfe

Sunday's glorious sunshine was perfect weather for our yearly Carnival Day, organised and run by Bill Arliss, and assisted by Bob Clark.

Eight teams arrived bright and early, most in fancy dress with a colourful variety of table decorations, hoping to win the prizes of best costumes and best table display.

Each team played 4 x 40 minute timed doubles games in the morning; followed by 8 x 50 minute timed singles games after our lovely lunch prepared by the wonderful catering ladies.

The 2 Sussex County teams - Southwick Sur Mer and Sussex Surfers both won 2 of our 4 doubles games; and in the afternoon Southwick Sur Mer won 5 of their singles, whilst the Sussex Surfers won 3 of their singles (some were won by the new target/percentage system).

Southwick Sur Mer team was captained by Diana Rolfe, with
David and Joanne Harding
Sue Kilby
Morgan Case

(Team member David Harding won both his singles in the afternoon and with them a handicap reduction.)

Sussex Surfers was captained by Angela Marjoram, with
Graham Tucker
Pat Harden
Peter Goldsmith
Paul Green

A good time was had by all, with much hilarity, helped with some Pimms, made by Tony Marjoram.

At this time the Editor hasn't received overall results in the competition but will update in due course.