News
Longman Cup
An early start for our team travelling to Roehampton for 9am to play the next round if the Longman Cup. Not sure which of us were yawning the most!
Their lawns were tremendous, even though it drizzled all day but our team still managed to win 5/2 So now into the Semi Finals - fingers crossed.
Report by Chrissie
Littlehampton Centenary Tournament
Eight teams took part in the annual, whole day,Littlehampton Centenary Tournament at Littlehampton. The format was timed games of Golf Croquet, handicap play, using ExtraTurns. The Sussex County team had a challenging start but dug deep to make a strong finish. By the end of the day we had 5 wins, 1 Draw and 3 Losses which, sadly, was not enough to keep us in contention - The winners, Fishbourne, with 8 wins, being decided on net hoops won.. Many thanks to my team players, Rosemary Faulkner, Susan Gale and Jo Crosby, for their competitive play enduring throughout the day-Graham Tucker (Captain).
Photo: Jo Crosby
Short Croquet Jamboree 17th July 2024
The 2nd Short Croquet Jamboree was held at Southwick on 17th July. Blue skies, sunshine, warmth!! Hurrah!
We had 8 clubs enter which was very pleasing. We welcomed Bromley and Chichester for the first time. Other teams entering were Littlehampton, Rother Valley, Hove Beach, Rottingdean and Sussex who fielded 2 teams.It was encouraging to see some newer players emerging and realising how challenging and interesting AC/SC can be.
The tournament was a mixture of 14 point singles and doubles, all played on short courts.
The contest ended up very close with Bromley emerging winners after pipping Chichester in the last round. Well done to them and indeed to all who took part. Do encourage players of GC to try Short Croquet. They will obtain new skills in shots and tactics.
I am grateful to the team captains, the players, and of course Clive and Ben for sorting out the lawns. The lawns played beautifully!
My thanks to all of you who played and supported this event. I look forward to another one maybe in the autumn!!
Frances Low (Manager)
Thanks to Frances for organising and managing this event.
The winning team of Martin Daniels, Frances (Manager), Karen and Adam Newbould
Compton win Croquet SouthEast Challenge Teams South Tournament
The Sussex County team of Graham Tucker, Vincent L'Estrange, Phil Harrison, David Dickins and Paul Green (not pictured) were beaten into 5th place by very strong competition. Compton won the event. Full details on the Croquet SouthEast website and CroquetScores website in due course. Commiserations to the Sussex players.
I will leave the Hut Buddy for Lawn 8 anonymous to save their blushes but isn't this a great improvement:
I'm thinking of some further improvements - maybe this is going too far? Surely not!
Oh well, back to image manipulation school ...
How about a competition for the most artistic hut?
GC Doubles Competition 4th July
22 pairs competed on a dry but windy day.
In Block A, 8 pairs completed 6 out of a possible 7 rounds. The last round produced an effective final between the two top seeds, with the winner being the only pair who could reach five wins. Nigel Billingham and Steve Chapman came out on top and a 7-2 victory for Martin Daniels and David Dickins in their final game meant that they took second place with four wins and +11 net hoops.
Block B also had 8 pairs playing 6 rounds and was won by Beryl Hughes and Gavin Taylor as the only pair with 5 wins. The runners up were Sue and Tony Nicholas with 4 wins and +6 net hoops.
In the 6 pair Block C, Richard and Rachel Pointon went into the final round with an unassailable unbeaten record of 4 wins. Kathy McColgan and Mike Akester won that final game, to take them to second place with 3 wins and +9 net hoops.
Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to Pat Harden and Marion King For all their work preparing a lovely lunch.
And thanks to Gabrielle for managing the event.
| Block A | TJ&LF | NB&SC | RB&DK | VL&SA | S&DH | MD&DD | BG&JP | LT&AH | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Jolly & Liz Farrow | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Nigel Billingham & Steve Chapman | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Richard Brooks & David King | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Vincent L'Estrange & Simon Ancell | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Stephen & Debra Hayns | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 6 | ||
| Martin Daniels & David Dickins | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Bridget Goodman & Jane Powell | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Louise Taylor & Andrea Huxley | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Block B | S&TN | DS&JR | BH> | PG&FA | PC&AC | FB> | LG&RF | L&CA | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sue & Tony Nicholas | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Douglas Shand & Jill Richardson | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Beryl Hughes & Gavin Taylor | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Paul Green & Francis Ainley | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Peter Cave & Alan Cottle | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Fran Box & Graham Tucker | 2 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Linda Gavigan & Rosemary Faulkner | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Les & Chris Ardley | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Block C | R&RP | KM&MA | JC&NS | LD&AF | SK&DL | R&PW | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard & Rachel Pointon | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Kathy McColgan & Mike Akester | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | |
| Joanne Crosby & Nira Scutt | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Linda Davies & Arthur Flatt | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 5 | |
| Sue Kilby & David Larkin | 6 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| Rosemary & Peter Wyld | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
Sussex County play social match against Hove Beach
We played a social match against Hove Beach Croquet Club on Friday and had a magnificent 6-2 victory. Everyone who played won at least one of their games.
We owe a great thank you to Hove Beach who - as usual - provided a wonderful spread of food washed down with refreshing Pimms. A great time was had by all.
Thanks to Francis Ainley for report and photo
British Open GC Championships held at Sussex County
The premier British GC event weas held at Sussex County this year. The doubles competition was won by Reg Bamford and Tobi Savage who beat Will Gee and Jack Goode.
Full report on the Croquet England website.
(Photo: Ray Hall)
Sussex wins inaugural GC Southern Challenge
Report by Bill Arliss, Manager of the competition
Some Background
This is a rebranded version of a competition that was started back in 2012 and run by the South East Croquet Federation (SECF, now re-branded as Croquet SouthEast). At that time we were looking for new competitions and one that sprung quickly to mind was a club version of the GC Inter Counties. The format of teams of four playing two singles and one doubles, level play GC appeared to be very popular and so we went ahead on that basis.
The response from the SECF clubs was so good that even in the first year, we had to run it as two separate divisions, 1 and 2 with twelve and eight teams participating. It grew even more in the following years to two second divisions, north and south but we also went outside the SECF boundaries to invite a few teams from neighbouring federations to strengthen division 1.
Regrettably all things came to a grinding halt with the pandemic, and we had to restart in 2023. The SECF decided that, as div 1 contained several non SECF teams, they would handover the management of this division to Sussuex County but continue with the second divisions them themselves. Because of the rather late decision making on this issue, the uptake was limited for 2024 due to lack of publicity but six teams met at Southwick on June 24/25 for an excellent weekend’s croquet. It is hoped that in future years we can increase the entry to twelve teams which gives an ideal format of all play all, once, and is the maximum that can be accommodated on the eleven lawns at Southwick.
This Year’s Event
The six teams entered were from Cheam, East Dorset, Guildford and Godalming, Hich Wycombe, Ryde and Sussex County. Although only four players were required each round, all but one club brought substitutes, some playing on one day only. The format started with an all-play-all twice, with the second meeting following after all first meetings had been concluded. As a weekend event, a time limit of 55 minutes had to be imposed but in practice it only applied to three singles and four doubles games out of a total of 30 games.
Sussex County surged ahead in these two-block rounds and after Round 9 had nine wins and only 3 individual games dropped. However East Dorset managed to secure their first match win of the day by beating Sussex in Round 10 2-1.
All teams were then ranked for the final playoffs into three pairs with each pair playing best of three games. The ranking order was:
1st Sussex County
2nd High Wycombe
3rd Guildford & Godalming
4th Ryde
5th Cheam
6th East Dorset
It was agreed that the 3th/4th match could be split into two separate matches to allow substitutes to be used. The ranking positions were maintained in the first and third playoffs with 2-1 wins but Ryde managed a jump into third position with a 4-2 win in the revised format.
Although Sussex had a very clear run in the blocks, the match with High Wycombe in the final went right to the wire. With each side having one match win, the first singles pairing arrived at hoop 13 in the third game, each with a ball in a scorable position. Ian Shore (High Wycombe) was first to go and tried a rather angled jump shot rather than clearing Bob Clark (Sussex County). Regrettably the angle was too great and Bob had a simple shot to win the Simon Carter Rose Bowl.
Thanks very much to Bill Arliss for managing this event and to the Catering team of Rachel Pointon, Sue Gale, Angela Marjoram, Rosemary Wyld, Arthur Flatt, Angela Avis, Rosemary Faulkner and Judith Price.
Congratulations to the Sussex County Team captained by Liz Farrow for winning the inaugural competition.
Full Results
Team placings at the end of the Block Stage
| TEAM | MATCHES | GAMES | NET PTS | |
| Sussex County | 9 | 25 | 69 | |
| High Wycombe | 6 | 17 | 12 | |
| Guildford & Godalming | 5 | 14 | -16 | |
| Ryde | 5 | 11 | -31 | |
| Cheam | 3 | 11 | -19 | |
| East Dorset | 2 | 12 | -15 |
Individual results
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 1 score |
Player 2 score |
| John Gosden | Ian Shore | 1 | 7 |
| Phil Tremble | Bridget Goodman | 3 | 7 |
| Mark Hamann | John Horne | 7 | 6 |
| Keith Southern | Brian Maddocks | 5 | 6 |
| Roy Tilock | Bob Clark | 6 | 7 |
| Stuart Peters | Nigel Bellingham | 3 | 7 |
| Ian Cobbold | Pam Sim | 5 | 7 |
| Ray Ore | Gareth Noott | 7 | 3 |
| Rich Waterman | Jonathan Isaacs | 5 | 7 |
| Keith Toovey | Nigel Bellingham | 2 | 7 |
| Richard Carline | David Boyd | 3 | 7 |
| Michaell Jay | Phil Tremble | 2 | 7 |
| Mark Hamann | Ian Shore | 6 | 7 |
| Keith Southern | Bridget Goodman | 7 | 4 |
| David Boyd | Stuart Peters | 7 | 1 |
| Julie Tremble | Pam Sim | 7 | 5 |
| Brian Maddocks | Bob Clark | 4 | 7 |
| Ray Ore | Brian Aikens | 6 | 7 |
| David Boyd | Liz Farrow | 1 | 7 |
| Julie Tremble | Jonathan Isaacs | 4 | 7 |
| Ian Cobbold | Rich Waterman | 7 | 6 |
| John Horne | Keith Toovey | 5 | 7 |
| Richard Carline | Roy Tilock | 4 | 7 |
| Michaell Jay | Joan Grove | 5 | 7 |
| Ian Shore | Roy Tilock | 6 | 5 |
| Bridget Goodman | Gareth Noott | 5 | 6 |
| Mark Hamann | Brian Aikens | 5 | 7 |
| Keith Southern | Nigel Bellingham | 7 | 6 |
| John Horne | David Boyd | 5 | 7 |
| Ray Ore | John Gosden | 6 | 7 |
| Pam Sim | Liz Farrow | 6 | 7 |
| Sue Peters | Jonathan Isaacs | 4 | 7 |
| Michaell Jay | Ian Cobbold | 3 | 7 |
| Richard Carline | Ray Ore | 5 | 7 |
| David Boyd | Rich Waterman | 7 | 3 |
| Julie Tremble | Keith Toovey | 7 | 4 |
| Mark Hamann | Julie Tremble | 7 | 3 |
| Keith Southern | John Gosden | 6 | 4 |
| Ian Shore | Bob Clark | 7 | 4 |
| Bridget Goodman | Brian Aikens | 4 | 6 |
| John Horne | Roy Tilock | 3 | 7 |
| Brian Maddocks | Joan Grove | 7 | 2 |
| Robert Cook | Jonathan Isaacs | 4 | 7 |
| Tony Nicholas | Konstantin Yudintsev | 7 | 5 |
| Bernie Phillips | Joan Grove | 7 | 4 |
| Phil Tremble | Sue Peters | 6 | 7 |
| Steve Chapman | Rich Waterman | 7 | 4 |
| Richard Carline | Keith Toovey | 5 | 7 |
| Mark Hamann | Stuart Peters | 4 | 7 |
| Keith Southern | Gareth Noott | 6 | 7 |
| Andrew Wilson | Ian Shore | 7 | 4 |
| Brian Maddocks | Bridget Goodman | 7 | 3 |
| Bernie Phillips | Bob Clark | 3 | 7 |
| Phil Tremble | Brian Aikens | 2 | 7 |
| Andrew Wilson | Julie Tremble | 4 | 7 |
| Brian Maddocks | Phil Tremble | 3 | 7 |
| Steve Chapman | Liz Farrow | 2 | 7 |
| Richard Carline | Konstantin Yudintsev | 7 | 6 |
| Rich Waterman | Stuart Peters | 7 | 2 |
| Keith Toovey | Pam Sim | 7 | 5 |
(more results to follow)
Some photos of the event
Click the > symbol top right of image to hide the grid
Success for Sussex County in Longman Cup against Hurlingham
Sussex County went to Hurlingham for the second round of the Longman Cup, Croquet England's national knock-out handicap AC event.
The Hurlingham Club is "a green oasis of tradition and international renown bordering the River Thames in Fulham set in 42 acres of magnificent grounds". Preparations were under way for a tennis tournament and a sign appeared during the day on the door of the gentlemen's loo "Professional tennis players only". Facilities included a BBQ area about the size of our club kitchen.
The club does, however, lie underneath the flight path to Heathrow and so it is quite noisy.
Steve Chapman got us off to a good start with a convincing win but David Gillett lost. Chrissie Merrington and Simon Fenn-Tye staged a late rally in the doubles to give us the lead at lunchtime.
Steve won again but Chrissie lost. Simon overcame a forest of bisques to secure the match for Sussex County. In the final game David and his opponent were level when time was called. The opponent hit in and scored a point. David also hit in but failed to get in front of the hoop.
Sussex meet Roehampton or St Albans in round three.
Report by David Gillett