Annual Midweek Tournament

A gala of croquet at Southwick on Wednesday and Thursday with players in five different competitions in AC and GC, played under clear blue skies, as is always the case in Shoreham of course.

12 players competed on Wednesday and Thursday for the A class Abbey Challenge Cup, one of Sussex's more impressive pieces of silverware, and for the B class Scott Cup.

With limited numbers this year the Abbey Challenge was played in a flexible format to give the players as many games as they wished over the two days and were by and large left to their own devices by the manager: an American block as the basis, interspersed and followed by additional flexible Swiss games. Joel Taylor came fired up from the Eastern Championships and took the cup with 7/9 wins from nearest rivals Chris Coull and Chris O'Byrne. Congratulations to Joel.

Joel Taylor and the Abbey Challenge Cup

Liz Farrow and the Scott Cup

Most notable performance was probably from veteran Paul Castell who beat Chris O'Byne +14otp in what Chris described as 'brilliant play' and 'amazing'. Paul went on to beat Chris again in the Swiss rounds.

The competition for the Scott Cup was a 5 match block which was won by Liz Farrow, with 4/5 wins. Congratulations to her. Chris Rolph won his Silver Merit Award with an all round break against David H Boyd, taking the game +3. Well done to Chris. David also made an all round break of 12 in the same game but alas ......

David H Boyd taking croquet

Richard Brooks and the Jellicorse Cup

The three GC competitions were all single day events. 12 players competed for the Jellicorse Cup (A class) in two blocks with a single play-off round. The cup was won by Richard Brooks who beat Ian Shore 7-2. Congratulations to Richard. The B class competition (currently no cup) followed on Thursday and was in the same format; it was won by Stephen Hayns who beat Frances Low 7-6 in the final round. Congratulations to Stephen.

Stephen Hayns

John Knight and the Daldy Cup

Unfortunately the original Covid restrictions only allowed us to have space for one block in the C class event. Nonetheless the six players had lawns 3 and 6 to themselves; Diana Langridge and John Knight both ended with 4 wins each; although Diana had beaten John, he had the better net score and so took the cup - not the Isaacs trophy as advertised but our open competition Daldy Cup which has been out of use for some time.

As recommended there was no manager's table or office and results were sent by text to the manager who uploaded them immediately to CroquetScores so they could be seen and checked, a system that worked very well. Everyone complied very well with the Covid restrictions on distancing etc and I am sure the croquet balls, carriers etc  at Southwick have never been so clean. It is a shame there could be no catering, and we missed the Sussex beer. Still, the lawns played beautifully.

Full results on Croquetscores (AC) and CroquetScores (GC).
 

New lawn booking system

Francis has produced a new automated form to book lawns at the club.

Follow this link: sussexcountycroquetclub.org.uk/calendar/make-booking

Bookmark the link in your browser for future use.

Another mammoth one-day GC competition at Southwick

Despite having to work within Covid-19 restrictions Roger Sutton deleivered another mammoth day of Golf Croquet to 42 players from SCCC and other local clubs on 17th and 18th July. So many wanted to take part that the event had to be spread over two days - and the next one in August is set to be a two-day competition as well.

Covid restrictions meant all play had to be in 6 player groups so there was no overall winner of each of the three levels of competition - two blocks of A level and C level play and three blocks at B level.

Very many thanks to Roger for the huge effort involved in mounting the competition in difficult conditions.

Results

A level

B Level

C level

If anyone cares to submit a photo to webmaster he will happily publish it with a credit.

GC level play singles competition 17th August 2020

This competition is being run over two days in the same manner as earlier GC one-day competitions: Monday 17th August and Tuesday 18th August, playing on one day or the other.

I have contacted all existing entries to check their preferred day of play.

Anyone who wishes to enter to play on Saturday please do so even though the detail says 17th August. You can put TUESDAY in the box for Partner if you wish but I will contact all new entries in any case.

Note: Enter for the 17th August even if you can only play on the 18th.

Thanks

John Low
Tournament Secretary

Jill Austin

We are very sorry to hear that Jill Austin, long time and Life Member of the Club has died.

Many members knew her well. Pam and Gerald Gooders were two of them: "She joined the Club in 1995. Previously she had played at the Tennis Club with her sister, where they had won many competitions.

She was the type of member any club would be pleased to welcome, immediately beginning to help where she could.  She joined the Working Party, concentrating on the borders, which many visitors to the Club commented on.  She was willing to try her hand at anything apart from baking, which she laughingly admitted wasn't her thing!  She was awarded a Diploma from the CA in 2004 for her many services to croquet; the citation specifically mentioned her care of the borders.  

Jill was a good player of all forms of the game and organised the Club Roll Up afternoons.  She was also the Club Membership Secretary for many years.  A delightful person and valued club member."

Jill (third from left) at the Xmas Party in 2016

Part of Jill's Long Border, earlier in the same year

A number of members of the Club paid their respects to Jill as the cortege arrived at the church in Southwick.

GC Examining Coach 

From the Director of the Croquet Academy:

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Janet Hoptroff has attained her position as a GC Examining Coach.
The endorsements given by very well respected members of the CA Coaching  Committee were outstanding. 
Janet has worked tirelessly for The Croquet Academy for over seven years and her very professional way of Coaching has set a standard for all of us who have worked with and been led by her.

Well done Janet!

Richard Carline

One day Competitions

There are changes being made to the means of entering one day competitions for club and SECF members. In summary: on-line entry only and payment by bank transfer in advance.

The details can be found here.

These arrangements will apply from the first competition in August.

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Results of One-day GC Competition June 26th 2020

Restrictions due to Covid-19 meant the event was played in blocks of 6 players over two days. Many thanks to Roger Sutton for organising and managing the competition.

Photos anyone?

Here are the blocks and lawns for the GC competition on 26th & 27th June