16 teams from 14 clubs took part in this year's GC Teams Day at Southwick. The competition reverted to the format used successfully by Bill Arliss (who was able to visit briefly in the afternoon) for many years but unfortunately did not attract as many entries as was hoped. Nonetheless a successful and enjoyable day.
The morning was devoted to doubles play with the competition in 4 rounds. The event was won by Royal Tunbridge Wells with 3.5 wins in 4 rounds; Sussex A, Sussex B and Roehampton all had 3 wins.
A light lunch was available and Linda Gavigan, who was leading the catering team in between playing for Sussex B, thanked the clubs for their strong support as most players used the service. Thanks to Linda, Fran Box, Frances Low and Trevor Wright for all their hard work preparing the lunch.
The singles competition in the afternoon comprised of 6 rounds; the weather, which had been by turns sunny and chilly throughout the day, gave us a nasty shock in the last round when the heavens opened, fortunately only for ten minutes.
The competition went down to the wire, with Compton and Reigate Priory both ending up with 9.5 wins out of 12 games. Reigate Priory was the winner with 2 net points more than Compton.
Thanks to Martin Peacock who was the Supervising Referee for the day, assisted in the afternoon by Roger Sutton, Robin Wootton and Frances Low (who was also a formidable parking attendant!). The day was managed by John Low who enjoyed his moments of power wielding Pam Arliss' foghorn to start and end the games.
More photos here
Sussex was represented by Rosemary Faulkner, Robyn Clark, Deborah Marcus and John Low. In the morning doubles the combination of Robyn's good roquet and hooping skills and John's tactical experience meant Hurlingham never really got going as Sussex got round to hoop 8 (John) and hoop 12 (Robyn). John took the final bisque to go round and complete the hoop 12 peel but was hampered on his escape ball so unable to peg out. Instead he split the opposition and laid up with a rush for Robyn's ball to peg which she duly did after Hurlingham missed the long shot.
In his morning singles Guy Hewitt from Hurlingham completed a round of 12 hoops without bisques and went on to win the game against Rosemary and thereby gaining his silver award. Guy is a recent convert to croquet, having had to give up rugby and tennis due to knee injury; invited to try croquet he is now hooked and a rapid improver, reducing his handicap to 3.5 over 3 years. Congratulations on gaining the award.
In the afternoon Rosemary Faulkner took the lead in her match and was able to maintain it after she ran out of bisques. Despite the best efforts of her opponent to split her balls she made a number of good hits-in to keep the upper hand and stall any attack on her lead, finishing the game +5
Thanks to Deborah Marcus for organising the match and also for organising an excellent lunch for both teams.
Longman Cup Match - Sussex County v Hurlingham 25 May 2022
7 games
Guy Hewitt beat Deborah Marcus +13
Richard Andrews beat Rosemary Faulkner +15
John Low & Robyn Clark beat Martin Read & Henry Bagwell +25
John Low beat Guy Hewitt +21
Martin Read beat Deborah Marcus + 15
Rosemary Faulkner beat Henry Bagwell +7(t)
Richard Andrews beat Robyn Clark + 10
Hurlingham beat Sussex County 4 games to 3
Following on from winning the one day competition on Friday, Richard went to Tunbridge Wells on Saturday in a positive frame of mind. His good form continued and he was able to produce one of the best tournament results of his croquet career by winning all seven games and with a +29 hoop count total.
Full results are on CroquetScores for those who are interested.
This was the third time Richard had won the Montevideo having first won in 2012 and again in 2016.
Due to Covid the competition hadn’t been played since 2019.
26 players from the South East of England braved the elements of a rain soaked Friday morning to compete in this very popular 1 day series.
The tournament was split into 3 sections:
A low handicap block of 8 players handicaps ranging form -2 to +1.
A mid handicap block of 8 players with handicaps ranging from 2 to 5.
A higher handicap group with handicaps ranging from 6 - 9. This last group consisted of 10 players placed in 2 cross blocks of 5 with the winners and second placed individuals in each block playing a final for 1- 4th places.
The low handicap block was won by Richard Brooks (-1) with 6 wins with Jane Humphreys (0) (SCCC) and Brian Aikens (1) (Rottingdean) taking second and third places.
The mid handicap groups was won by Louise Taylor (3) (Merton) with 6 wins with Husband Gavin Taylor(4) taking second place with 5 wins.
The higher handicap group was played cross blocks to avoid a bye and proved to be a hard fought contest.
It was eventually won by Linda Gavigan (7) who beat Rachel Pointon (9) in the final with Vincent L’Estrange (7) taking 3rd place from Simon Fenn-Tye (6). All 4 players representing SCCC.
After a very wet start the weather improved and by mid afternoon the players were enjoying warm sunny weather.
Our thanks must go Angela Avis and Linda Davies who provided a first class ploughman’s and dessert.
Jonathan Isaacs
Tournament Manager
20th May 2022
And thanks to Jonathan for managing the competition.
| A | MC | RB | LF | JH | NH | RS | BA | RW | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Case | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | |
| Richard Brooks | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |
| Liz Farrow | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | |
| Jane Humphreys | 7 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Neil Humphreys | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| Roger Sutton | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 8 | |
| Brian Aikens | 7 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | |
| Robin Wootton | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 |
| B | PD | tJ | DM | LT | AS | BH | GT | SA | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Dunk | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | |
| Tony Jolly | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |
| David Marcus | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | |
| Louise Taylor | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |
| Andrew Stewart | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 5 | |
| Beryl Hughes | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 8 | |
| Gavin Taylor | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| Simon Ancell | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| C | GT | VL | DC | RP | SFT | LG | KH | FA | PM | RP | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graham Tucker | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | |||||
| Vincent L'Estrange | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | |||||
| Dave Comber | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| Richard Pointon | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | |||||
| Simon Fenn Tye | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | |||||
| Linda Gavigan | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | |||||
| Ken Hughes | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Francis Ainley | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |||||
| Pat Mechen | 1 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| Rachel Pointon | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
Vincent L'Estrange beat Simon Fenn-Tye 7-5 (3rd and 4th places)
Linda Gavigan beat Rachel Pointon 7- 2 (1st and 2nd places)
Richard, Bob, Ian and Liz ventured forth on 10th May to Woking with Richard and Liz having a (pleasant?) detour through more of the countryside than they had envisaged due to a road closure. We weren’t too late!
Richard and Bob won the doubles without too much trouble, while Liz and Ian lost the first two singles.
After a lunch break Richard and Ian won their singles while Bob lost his.
After a nail biting finish Liz finally won the 3rd game decider of her afternoon match giving Sussex County Croquet Club a 4 -3 win over our opponents.
Having lost the toss for which lawns to play on, we will now be going to East Dorset on June 8th to play the second round.
Liz
Having played Woking a week earlier in the inter-club knockout competition we returned the challenge them again in this league match. Both teams had made one change to their previous line up but the final result was the same a 4-3 match win for Sussex.
Owing to the different rules of the respective competitions the batting order for our team had to change somewhat. I had played as number one the week before, I was now relegated to position three.
This time our successes were Liz and Richard who each won both of their singles matches. Morgan and Bob fought hard but found Woking’s Jeff Dawson and Mike Town to be in top form on the day.
In the end everything hinged on Liz’s last singles game which she nearly lost at the tenth hoop when the opponents ball was almost through to score the point.
Amazingly she was able to clear it from an angled position behind, near the boundary and then went on to win 7-6.
Report by Richard Brooks
Sussex A captain
Thanks very much to Fran Box for organising a very successful and enjoyable Skittles and Fish & Chips evening.
Eight teams again took part in this competition but, unlike last year, the weather was pleasant with only spits and spots of rain on Saturday and warm sunshine most of Sunday.
This year we reverted to the normal Swiss format of play so fine rounds were achieved over the two days.
By the end of Saturday and the first three rounds, Reigate Priory was in the lead with 5 wins, away from Cheam, Guildford & Godalming and Purley Bury, all with four wins each.
Sunday morning saw Reigate Priory falter somewhat, their B team losing to Purley Bury, but still in the lead by one win. The final round pitched Reigate Priory A against Purley Bury A at the lop of the Swiss ladder, a match which went down to the wire, being won +1 on time by Purley Bury.
The Sussex lawns played well and it was just a shame we were unable to attract more clubs to enter a team for this event which is one of the very few where you see a wide range of playing ability in the same competition.
Thanks to Clive Hayton and Richard Pointon for managing the bar and to Karen Hayton, Sue Gale, Pat Harden and Rachel Pointon for the lunches.
Purley Bury Team Captain with Jonathan Isaacs presenting the trophy
Block 1was won by Richard Brooks and David King. The cross-over of Blocks 2 & 3 was won by Francis Ainley & Ian Johnson.
| Block 1 | BA&PH | RB&DK | LF&JI | CH&RW | CM&RS | B&RC | ASK | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Aikens & Paul Hinton | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | =3 | |
| Richard Brooks & David King | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Liz Farrow & Jonathan Isaacs | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Chris Heath & Robin Wootton | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 7 | |
| Chrissie Merrington & Roger Sutton | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | =3 | |
| Bob & Robin Clark | 7 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | |
| Andrew Stewart+Kathy Kirkby | 5 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| Block 2 | FA&IJ | T&RE | AB&FB | R&RP | B&KH | DL&SR | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francis Ainley & Ian Johnson | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Trish & Richard Ellis | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| Anne Bolland & Fran Box | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Rachel & Richard Pointon | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | |
| Beryl & Ken Hughes | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | |
| Diana Langridge & Sue Rice | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| Block 3 | SC&PM | JS&PH | ST&MA | LD&TJ | SF&AG | C&LA | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Susan Caulfield & Pat Mechen | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |
| Jenny Sutton & Pat Harden | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | |
| Sandra Towner & Mike Akester | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Liz Dury & Tony James | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Simon Fen-Tye & Alan Grundy | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | |
| Christine & Les Ardley | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
Beryl & Ken Hughes beat Simon Fen-Tye & Alan Grundy 7-6
Francis Ainley & Ian Johnson beat Liz Dury & Tony James 7-6
Early bird Chrissie Merrington arrived first at the Club yesterday. Gate still locked. Key in her bag in the boot. Shut boot, opened gate, then discovered she had locked her car key and phone in the car.
There the car sat until she was able to commandeer a phone from a passer-by and persuade her sister to bring her spare keys.
In the meantime all the other competition (and tennis) players had to park on the roadside.
Still, at least she got the pick of the car park!
Empty car park after Chrissie chose her space!
(Photos: Pat Harden)
In future ....