Sussex win Murphy Shield Quarter Final

On yet another hot and sunny day with no cooling breeze Sussex County welcomed our friends from Guildford & Godalming for a quarter-final match in the national Murphy Shield.

Ben and Nigel got us off to a good start, winning the doubles in two straight games. The two morning singles were long drawn out affairs, both going to 3 games with Jo winning hers against a 2 handicapper. 2-1 up at lunch.

Guildford & Godalming pulled one back straight after lunch and soon it was 3-3 with, as is so often the case, everything hinging on the final game.

We all sat down to watch as Jo took on Phil Tremble for the decider. Phil won the first game; the second went to the golden hoop with both players having chances to win. Jo eventually prevailed, setting up what might have been a nail-biting finish. However, a confident Jo took full control of the third game winning comfortably 7-2.

A 4-3 victory and an away semi-final against Phyllis Court or East Dorset.

Thanks to Ben, Nigel and Jo for playing and to Guildford and Godalming for the friendly spirit in which the tie was played.

Vincent

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Sussex County Southern Challenge

The Southern Challenge is a GC competition run at and by Sussex County Croquet Club for local clubs.

It was a hot day, the hoops had been reset and were very tight making hooping difficult.

I had fortunately put time limits on all games which kept the tournament moving at an acceptable pace.

Although there was an imbalance of handicaps - Bromley and Canterbury averaging 7 & 8 handicaps while Sussex County averaged 1 - the tournament finished very close and it was the last round victory (their first of the afternoon) of Canterbury over Hove Beach that gave the victory to Sussex County for the second year running.

Hove Beach were second and Sussex County 2 were third.

Tournament result

1st Sussex County 1 3 wins + 24 hoops
2nd Hove Beach 3 wins +15 hoops
3rd Sussex county 2 3 wins +5 hoops
4th Lodsworth 2 wins + 2 hoops
5th Bromley 2 wins - 12 hoops
6th Canterbury 1 win - 31 Hoops

Thanks to Roger for managing the event.

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Sussex County Open Singles – 15 July

A beautiful day welcomed 32 players for the latest one-day singles competition. 11 entrants attended from clubs outside of SCCC, notably, Nelson Morrow who was over from New Zealand and Debbie and Steve Hayns from the Isle of Wight. Divisions A, B, D and E all had 6 players, each playing 5 games. Division C had 8 players, so was split into two groups of four playing 3 games in the morning, with play-offs in the afternoon to decide the overall winner.

The conditions were challenging: high temperatures, a moderate breeze, fast lawns and uncompromising hoops. It was decided, therefore, to limit games to 50 minutes, without which, I suspect, we would have been playing well into the evening.

Division A came down to a final game playoff between Brian Aikens and Konstantin Yudintsev, both of whom had won three of their first four games. Konstantin prevailed 5-3 to win the group, and elevating Simon Ancell into second on net hoops.

Division B was won convincingly by Richard Brooks, just to show the organiser that he should have been in Division A really! Paul Green had an excellent day, finishing second in a field of lower handicappers.

The Division C Final was contested by Mike Gentry and Beryl Hughes, both of whom had come through from Block C2. Mike had won all his games to this point, and the final went with form; Mike prevailing 7-5.

Division D was hard fought, with 1 win separating the top four players. In the end, Peter Hill came out on top, with Sue Nicholas in second.

Division E was equally tight, but Tony Majoram took the title, with David Larkin in second. Commiserations to Jim Mander who broke his mallet early on, providing him with yet another hurdle to overcome on the day.

Thank you to everybody who made it such a good natured and enjoyable day.

David

Thanks to David for managing the event

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U League vs Ealing

On 10th July we hosted Ealing for our final U league fixture of 2026.

Today’s team ( Chrissie, Steve , Tony and Nigel ), seen in photo below with our opposition did as all our U league teams have done for two years won ( 5-2) and once again finished with a 4-0 win record for the season.

It was a tough day for both teams fighting both the incessant heat as well as hoops that had recently been reset for the Inter Counties at what seemed like impossible widths ( I’m sure the top players will have none of the problems we all encountered 😉).

The morning session ended 2-1 to SCCC with Steve and Nigel both winning their singles and in the afternoon session Steve, Tony and Nigel all triumphed.

A big thank you to all players that volunteered for this years squad and lets look forward to another successful year next year.

Nigel Billingham

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Sussex beat Canterbury in R League

Sussex Pilgrims beat Canterbury ( Result of today's R League match away July 13th)

Our team of Jo Crosby, Kathy McColgan, Davide Cogrossi, Mike Akester overnighted in Kent. Captain Mike prostrated himself in the Cathedral before the shrine and then took inspiration from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”.

Their captain collected Mike from his hotel. Their Lawns were slow and patchy but the superb lunch had us Pilgrims happy and content.

Jo & Mike won the doubles 2-1. Kathy won 1…lost one. Mike lost his singles with their No5, Jo drew her singles. But our Jude Bellingham was Davide Cogrossi who won both his games.

Sussex 4.5…..Canterbury 2.5.

Mike Akehurst

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AC 2-legged Competition

The 2-Legged AC event was held on 3rd July. The first try out of this type of event: 2 players per team, 2 rounds, 2 legs each round! All matches 14 points, with each round consisting of an alternate stroke doubles, and a singles. Some advanced singles did take place which was interesting to see for high bisquers.

Lovely weather so we got all the rounds in. There were 2 points for a win, bonus 2 points for pegging out, 1 point for a draw.

Good to see Gabrielle, Alan Cottle and Clive playing to support higher handicappers.

Times were limited, maybe too strictly,a as most games did not peg out! A lesson for the next time!

The winners were Bob and Robyn Clark with 12 points, followed by Simon and Margaret from Ealing with 6 points, and Clive and Tony also with 6 points. So Bob and Robyn received the chocolate bars from Chairman Clive.

Many thanks to all who played and supported. Plenty of ideas emerged from the play, particularly, tactical, so we will have to try and assist players to improve their standard and understanding of the game.

Thanks to the AC referees and the ROT Gabrielle.

Frances (Manager and Organiser)

And thanks to Frances for arranging the event.

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Croquet South East GC Ladies Day

The 2026 SE Fed GC Ladies Day was held at Southwick on Wednesday 1st July with a full house of 14 teams competing for the trophy.

Congratulations to Chichester for winning the tournament by just 1 game, with last year's winners Dulwich in 2nd place and Hove Beach 3rd. Well done to Sussex County who finished 5th. The team, captained brilliantly by Rosemary W, consisted of Sandra, Angela A, Linda F, Sue K and Rachel P.

It was good to see so many familiar faces back and also to welcome new ones to Southwick. Returning players were all very complimentary about our new clubhouse.

We probably couldn't have asked for better weather conditions, mostly sunny, but not as hot as last week!

Many thanks to everyone who helped with the day, in the kitchen and the bar, cake makers, and a special thanks to Bob Clark for acting as referee of the tournament and for all his help on the all-important spreadsheet keeping track of the results. Thanks also to David Larkin for acting as referee on the day and Linda for her work on the bell and hooter.

Jo, Diana and Nira

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Club Open Afternoon

The weather was wonderful and we had 35 guests to look after!! Because it was Fathers day we had whole families having a go!! We had lots of comments about the wonderful lawns and the quintessential, calm and peaceful atmosphere

Thank you to all the helpers on the lawns and in the kitchen and bar and also to all the people who donated delicious cakes. There were too many helpers to thank individually, but I would like to say the kitchen helpers headed by Jo Mander, and Deborah in the bar, worked tirelessly and were greatly appreciated, especially as the weather was so hot.

Jo handed out 10 subscription forms to potential new members!!

Thanks to Fran for organising the afternoon. Photos by Bill Arliss.

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GC singles 19 June 2026

A fine day at Southwick greeted 24 player who were divided into 4 divisions.

Division A was a close run event with Brian Aikens just beating Tony Jolly for first place, with 4 wins and plus 13 hoops against Tony's 4 wins and plus 12 hoops. Chrissie Merrington was third with 3 wins.

Francis Ainley was a clear winner of Division B with five wins, followed by Beryl Hughes - 3 wins and Kathy McColgan - 2 wins.

Division C again was close with Phil Harrison just winning with 4 wins plus 9 against John Low 4 wins plus 5. Jane Powell was third with 3 wins 2 hoops.

Our visitor from Bromley Gloria Perez-Vertiz won Division D with 5 wins against Tim Weller 3 wins and Jim Mander also with 3 wins.

Thanks to Roger for managing the event

Full results

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Summer club competitions

Changes have been made to the menu for club competitions to improve accessibility on some devices.

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