Bygrave Croquet Club
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"Croquet and Me"
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Soham Nov and Dec
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On November 17th Jeremy Scott and his wife Carol rep[resented Bygrave. Carol has only played Garden Croquet before so had a baptism of fire. Not only did she have to contend with new rules but also a lightning fast surface and hoops that, for a beginner, are horrendous. In their last game they played five times World Champion Robert Fulford and his wife Susan who is a relative beginner. Jeremy wished he had played them earlier in the day because he learnt a lot about the tactics that Robert so skillfully employes.
On the 18th November we were represented by Duncan Hector and Paul Sinclair. Paul was still trying to come to terms with the very fast surface and the hoops were most unfriendly to him. It must be remembered that the only club in East Anglia that is entering raw beginners is Bygrave and it will take time for skills to develop. On December 9th East Anglia played a doubles match against Nottingham. Bygrave member Duncan Hector captained the East Anglia team which comprised three partnerships, Hunstanton, Bury St Edmunds and Bygrave. Duncan partnered Peter Whiting who has now been playing for a little over a year so is still a relative beginner. The Bygrave pair won 5 matches out of 6 on a successful day for East Anglia who triumphed over Nottingham 12.5 to 5.5. |
James runs rover.
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Soham Indoor Speed Croquet October 2012
The winter series of indoor croquet started on the weekend of October 20th and 21st. This was supported by nine Bygrave members playing for various clubs - Terry Mahoney (St Albans), Jeff Race (Hunstanton), Nick Mounfield and Robert Wilkinson (Letchworth) Bygrave were represented by James Hopgood, Gabrielle Higgins, Duncan Hector, Richard Smith and Paul Sinclair. It was a baptism of fire for James who took some time to come to terms with the tactical side of the indoor game. As he discovered, this is very different to normal croquet and the biggest enemy is time.
On the 20th the pairings were James and Gabrielle as Bygrave 1 and Duncan and Richard as Bygrave 2. The handicap totals were -3 and -2 for the teams which meant that in both cases 2.5 minutes was deducted from their time allowance of 25 minutes and given to the opponents who therefore had 5 minutes more than us. If that isn't hard enough they also had to do no fewer than 3 peels on partner which is quite a feat in the time given. Both teams struggled somewhat finishing in mid field at the end of Saturday. The only consolation was that the winners were 5 times World Champion Robert Fulford and his wife Susan who as a handicap 24 played brilliantly. One highlight of the day was Duncan's opening shot in one of the games when he ran hoop 1 and 2 in one shot. On Sunday James played with Richard and Duncan with Paul Sinclair. The good thing was that James had a better day and even seemed to be enjoying himself at times. Duncan and Paul had 3 bisques and no time deduction and had a very good day. Paul has only been playing croquet for a couple of months and had previously only played Garden Croquet at Bygrave. He found it difficult to get the weight of single ball shots right due to the very fast speed of the carpet. However his hoop running and roll shots were fantastic. Against Peterborough he made an amazing full roll from hoop 5 to hoop 3 ending up no more than 2 feet from the hoop. Nobody could believe that Paul had been playing for such a short time which says a lot for the merits of learning on the hills of Bygrave Croquet Club. At the end of the day Paul and Duncan were tied with Letchworth who were declared winners because they had more wins within time. See the official report here http://www.angliacroquet.co.uk/2012/soham.php 
Nottingham (left) and the victorious East Anglia team
Keith Aiton leads GB to victory
Bygrave member Keith Aiton was Captain of the GB team in the Solomon Trophy at at Bald Head Island, NC. His team beat the USA 13-8. There are more details on the Croquet Association RSS feed on this page or on the United States Croquet Association web site http://www.croquetamerica.com/news/tournaments/2012/SolomonTrophy/scores.php
Top Dressing at Letchworth Croquet Club
Top dressinng Letchworth Croquet Club's lawns.
October 12th and 13th saw a lot of activity at Letchworth where we scarified, overseeded and top dressed the two lawns. We used nearly 15 tons of Leighton Buzzard Washed Sand and it looked like a beach when we had finished. Plenty of volunteers turned out to help with the top dressing task which took about 5 hours to complete. Hopefully this will lead to a further improvement in the flatness of the surface which is already exceptionally good.
Top dressing completed.
A week after top dressing
Inter Club final - Dave Kibble excels!Chelteham beat Nottingham 4-3 in the Inter Club Association Croquet Final today October 7th. Bygrave member Dave Kibble had another good day. In the doubles Dave and Chris Williams beat Miranda and Paddy Chapman +23tp and in the afternoon's singles Dave beat Miranda Chapman +25tp.
Victory for Peter WhitingI am delighted to report that Peter Whiting (18) beat David Clancey (18) in the final of the Letchworth Association Croquet Improvers competition. This is a great result as David is an old hand haviong played for several years and this was Peter's first season.
End of season?The 5th October saw a well wrapped up group of players who had a most enjoyable afternoon's play. We repaired to the Lodge for shortbread biscuits, tea and a couple of bottles of wine. Duncan was coaching Paul and Bridget who, although beginners, will be representing Bygrave in the winter indoor series at Soham. The only way to get any idea of speed is to practise on a carpet at home. So Paul and Bridget will be doing this over the next few weeks. Peter was coaching Annette and Liz. He invented e new handicap system in which the ladies got two turns each time they had the innings. This worked really well and they all had a grand time. This was probably the last meeting of the season but if the weather is good, we will play.
Soham Indoor Croquet
The Ross Peers Sports Centre at Soham is the home of the winter croquet series organised by the East Anglia Croquet Federation. Bygrave will be fielding four teams at Soham on October 20th and 21st. Saturday sees James Hopgood partnering Gabrielle Higgins as Bygrave 1. Their combined handicap of -3 means they get a time deduction of 2.5 mins and have to do three peels. Bygrave 2 will be Duncan Hector and Richard Smith have a combined handicap of -2 but pick up the same penalties. On Sunday Bygrave 1 will be James and Richard, Bygrave 2 will be Duncan and rookie Paul Sinclair. They will receive three bisques - yippee!
The club is very keen to introduce beginners to Association Croquet and the indoor carpet is an excellent way of getting beginners involved. Last year it was Peter Whiting, he got bitten by the bug and has played several tournaments this year as well as being active in club competitions at Letchworth. This year we have two new beginners who will be playing at Soham, Paul Sinclair and Bridget Sheldrick and hopefully they with enjoy the experience. Jennie Bond plays Garden Croquet
Because of family connections Jennie Bond is a regular visitor to Bygrave and an enthusiastic Garden Croquet player. The former Royal Correspondent is still very busy with her TV commitments and now lives in Devon. However she visits her mother and sisters on a regular basis. The three sisters Annette Hector, Susan Cannon and Jennie Bond have encouraged their 91 year old mother Pamela to play croquet. In her youth it was a popular garden game and she immediately adopts the side style technique that she learned more than 70 years ago. She has a Garden Croquet set at her home in Letchworth and it is always left set up on her small lawn. This means that she plays a lot of croquet and as a dementia sufferer it has brought both pleasure and physical activity that she otherwise would not experience. She showed no mercy when she played one of her carers last week by beating her 7-2.
Dave Kibble - member profile
Born in 1958 in the heart of industry, Dave escaped to university by the sea in Sussex and now lives in Bristol. He started playing croquet in 1992 when taking an American visitor to do something "quintessentially English" in the local park drew him into an enthusiastic croquet club. He quickly became obsessed with the fascinating game: practicing several times a week, and playing well over a hundred tournament games a year. He won Cheltenham's D, C, B and A-Class tournaments in successive years, then the British Mixed Doubles with partner Louise Bradforth, and reached a peak by winning the Western Championship in 2005. A decline was eventually traced to a now surgically corrected shoulder problem and the fight back has begun! This enabled Dave to be the first person to play in all four Eights, sadly in the wrong order! As a coach, Dave helped to re-write the AC coaching manual, introduced the Platinum award for completing a sextuple peel, and ran a workshop to support it (consequentially, becoming the first person to hold all four CA merit badges). He has run several one-day GC coaching days and is pushing for a national GC syllabus. As an examining referee, he is active locally - training and qualifying much-needed new referees.
The Croquet Association website is mostly managed by Dave; a long-awaited re-write, together with Council membership and committee work, keeps him busy when not playing. Dave is an engineer at heart, with wide experience in creating innovative embedded products and IT solutions ranging from industrial control systems to networked gambling in Moscow bars. He loves music, fine food and wine, and is a keen cook (not to mention long-time CAMRA member). The long list of unfinished home projects disguises a love of DIY. Croquet Lawn Autumn MaintenanceBygrave's machinery will be working hard this month. Duncan has volunteered to scarify the 4 lawns at Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club. This will be a full day's work and he is taking two lawns tractors, a scarifier and sweeper. Their lawns have around 80% moss and the club is making a determined effort to eradicate the problem. The first stage is scarification which will be followed by over seeding. A couple of days later is scarification at Letchworth Croquet Club followed by overseeding and top dressing the next day. Bygrave Croquet Club's lawns are less demanding because they are intended to be a similar quality to normal gardens. Duncan has written articles on the subject which have been published in the Croquet Association Gazette and they are also on our Lawn Maintenance page here.
Bygrave's busy summer of CroquetAt Bygrave we have had a busy summer with play virtuallu every Friday and three lawns fully used most of the time. What makes Garden Croquet such fun is the fact that it is played in a garden - not on a manicured lawn. So there is a lot if skill involved in reading the lawn. This is particularly true here at Bygrave where we play on part of the infilled moating system which was originally built in 1386 click Bygrave information to find out more about the moats.
Interspersed with this some of our members have been playing Association Croquet very successfully on the National scene. Eight in Eights Week success for BygraveOne of the Croquet Association's most prestigious events is Eights Week which takes place in September each year. This is an Association Croquet competition and anyone who wishes to enter can declare their availability. From those declaring availability, four Eights are selected and usually 16 for the Selector's. In order of seniority they are The Presiden't Cup, the Chairman's Salver, the Spencer Ell Cup, the Treasurer's Tankard and the Selector's Ranelagh - Weightman Cup.
No fewer than eight Bygrave members played in the Eights. James Hopgood was 3= in the President's Cup. Nick Mounfield won the Chairman's Salver closely followed by Richard Smith in 2nd place. Dave Kibble won the Spencer Ell with Duncan Hector in 5th place. In the Treasurer's Tankard Cliff Jones was 2nd= along with Jeff Race who was a last minute entry and Strat Liddiard 6=. Keith Aiton - member profile
Keith has recently joined Bygrave Croquet Club. He has a prestigious croquet record and has captained the victorious Great Britain test match team in 2010 and is captain of the England test team v the USA October 2012.
Born in 1958 Keith took up croquet seriously while a student at Cambridge University where he was captain of the team against Oxford in 1982. The next year he reached the final of the Open Championship and won the Chairman's Salver. For the next six years he was near the top of the game in Britain while also developing an interest in coaching. From 1988 to 1992 he ran the National Junior Squad that produced world champions Robert Fulford and Chris Clarke and several other Great Britain internationals including the mighty David Maugham. Keith was coach of the winning Great Britain team in the MacRobertson Shields of 1990, 1993 and 1996. Keith's playing career became revitalised in 2005 due to the purchase of a new (modern) mallet, and he won the President's Cup that year. In 2006 he played in the Great Britain team that retained the MacRobertson Shield in emphatic fashion. Keith was the only player to win all six of his singles matches. He was picked for the team again in 2010, this time as captain. Great Britain won rather less convincingly, but Keith scored the crucial win in the deciding test match. He is a member of Bygrave, Nottingham and Bowdon croquet clubs. Outside of croquet Keith works as Commercial Mediator and is a doting father to his two children. He plays chess for his local club and golf when time permits. The rise and rise of James Hopgood
James is a member of Bygrave Croquet Club and is currently ranked 17 in the UK. His progress in the world of croquet is fascinating. This is biography written in his own fair hand.....
James first discovered “garden Croquet” back in the summer of 1994 while studying at the University of Cambridge. The occasional games James played were in the Fellows’ gardens and involved the usual Oxbridge attributes: drink, lots of it, Crown-green four Plummer lawns, beautiful scenery, the distraction of Chauffeur punters talking nonsense on the River Cam, no tactical knowledge, vaguely aware of the rules, playing turns in order of number of University Degrees , and very long and heated debates regarding whether rushing a ball off the lawn was end of turn or not. Only some of these attributes have disappeared since James took up the Sport seriously! For upon moving to Edinburgh in 2004, James spotted, while buying a rump chip steak in a local chip shop, an advert for a beginner’s course at the Meadows Croquet Club (http://www.meadowscroquet.org.uk/). Assuming this would be similar to his University Croquet experience, James visited hoping for more… only to discover flat lawns, tight hoops, bisques, good coaching, a decent local pub, and a thoroughly more interesting game than he thought imaginable. James entered the Scottish handicap tournament circuit in Association Croquet in September 2004, began advanced AC play from June 2006, discovered the delights of travelling the British tournament circuit in August 2007, and played his first tournament level GC game in April 2010. His first proper tournament win was in September 2011, when he won the CA Chairman’s Salver. James is a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. His research area is in Statistical Signal Processing, with a primary interest in audio and image enhancement using numerical Bayesian methods. Nick Mounfield - the World's fastest improving croquet player
Marcus Evans,Richard Smith, David Maugham (capt) Ian Lines, Samir Patel
England Team wins the home Internationals
As expected, England won the Home Internationals at the weekend. Having won 29 of their 30 matches in the last 10 years they were hot favourites. The team was led by David Maugham and included Bygrave member Richard Smith. England beat Scotland 3-0, Wales 3-2 and Ireland 3-2.
Bygrave Croquet Club was asked to supply customised shirts for the team on a 5 day deadline which we achieved. In fact we can do a 24 hour turnround if necessary. Again this proves that teams play better in our clothing. |
Richard and James
James and Gabrielle look on
Croquet Shop
Buy Croquet sets and accessories from our Club Shop.
Mallets £60 Hoops £40 to £90 per set Balls £60 per set Corner Flags £30 per set Centre Pegs £17 Plastic clips £10 per set Croquet Sets £75 to £340 Champagne!
On May 18th we started the new croquet season with Champagne all round! The lawns looked resplendant with the two new croquet sets laid out complete with corner flags and brand new colourful pegs. There were 8 new club croquet mallets with brass bound hardwood heads and Englich Ash shafts. These proved to be very popular and a definate step up. Unfortunately the photographer failed to take any pictures but we had all three lawns in operation. Terry Mahoney who is a scratch player came and demonstrated his excellent coaching skills. Bridget and Graham visited us from Hinxworth where they hope to set up a Garden Croquet Club. Graham had a marvellous old Slazenger mallet, round head and brass bound. Duncan demonstrated how to run an angled hoop by jumping the ball through. It was a seemningly impossible angle but the ball obliged by leaping into the crown of the hoop and spinning through. This was one of our new mallets showing off! Paul and Anne were there too and Anne has made a definate improvement since last year. Trevor and Geraldine came too - Trevor with a damaged shoulder but apparently still able to absorb red wine! Pauline was our "newcomer of the week" and soon got to grips with the concept of croquet. A dark horse methinks! On the third lawn Annette played her 90 year old mother who thoroughly enjoed the challenge. Newport Open 26/27th May
This is going to be double dutch to garden croquet players but here is my report on last weekend's tournament at Newport where our member Nick Mounfield (pictured left) excelled.
Mark Avery stormed to an 8/8 victory at Newport (Essex) in the heat of last weekend completing 6 TPs on the way. In second place was Robert Fulford 6/8 with 3 TPs, 1 QP 1 SXP and in third place the rapidly improving Nick Mounfield 4/6 with 1 TP. The lawns became faster as the tournament progressed but the hoops were universally firm and tight, making angled hoops very tricky to negotiate. It was an impressive display by Mark who brushed most people aside beating Robert +25tp and then +24 in the final. But in the middle order Nick Mounfield excelled himself winning a CA Gold medal for his Tp and he also took Mark and Robert to their closest results losing by 6 to Mark and 9 to Robert. The best incident of the tournament was Nick’s response to Robert’s sextuple leave. The cross wire at hoop 1 gave Nick a chance of a steeply angled hoop (it looked impossible) which he took successfully. But his take off to the tea lady was not so good, in fact it trundled into 4 back and came to a stop in a perfect running position with one of Robert’s balls temptingly in range if the right amount of wire could be taken. Unfortunatley for Nick the shot missed but only by inches. Ailsa Lines completed an excellent straight triple against me which included an “interesting” rover peel from 6 yards which was the highlight of her tournament and the low light of mine! This tournament brought Newport back onto the list of worthwhile destinations. Great Clubhouse, attractive setting and much improved lawns. Two years ago the lawns were dreadful, many said they were unplayable. After a lot of restorative work they are returning to their former glory and with a new maintenance regime firmly in place they will continue to improve. George Woolhouse and I gave initial assistance and guidance back in late 2010 when the lawns had huge bare areas, thick moss and dry patch galore. Newport’s Francis Lambert, supported by enthusiastic members, took up the challenge and has achieved a remarkable transformation. As always Andrew Gregory’s quiet management style kept us all in order and playing with little waiting. The amiable Doctor Mike Porter used his knowledge of Metal Carbenes. Ylide Rearrangements and Biometric Synthesis to produce tasty lunches and yum-yum cream teas. Friday 22nd June Croquet in the garden
Despite the weather a healthy number turned up and we had three lawns in use all afternoon. Duncan gave some coaching on how the angles work in croquet shots and some individual coaching on shooting. Everyone is improving and the new mallets, hoops and balls proved to be very popular. The next session is Friday 30th June when we anticipate blue skies and hot sunshine! 13th and 20th July - croquet in more rain!
The 13th July was so wet that only two lawns were in use because of standing water. The 20th July brought another rainy day but our stalwarts played through it all (almost). We played doubles because there were only 3 lawns and all fully occupied. In future we will have 5 lawns up and running so that we can accomodate more people. Standards are rising but as with any learning process everyone wishes they could do even better.
Herts retain Wheeler TrophyIt is unusual for us to mention Golf Croquet but Herts GC team retained the Wheeler Trophy on June 9th at Hunstanton. This is an East Anglian Inter County event which started last year. The winning Team was Captained by Bygrave member Peter Ross and the other players were David Tutt and Keith Rhodes of Letchworth CC and Nick Archer Watford CC. The scoresa were Herts 14; EACF Select 12 and Norfolk 11 with Beds, Essex and Suffolk failing to make the cut. That's twice this week that Herts have beaten Essex and Suffolk, once in Association at the Imter Counites and now at Golf Croquet. Yipee!
Garden Croquet - Friday 29th June
It was a blustery afternoon but fine and dry. There were about 10 of us and the messaage of the day was trying to rush balls into useful positions. Lawn one nearest to the wood is hilly and the sufrace was relatively fast so gaining an accurate position for a rush was very difficult if not impossible. But that is the skill of croquet played in gardens, each lawn has its own quirks and you have to read them as best you can. We played two games each and most games were getting to the peg or close which is a definite improvement.
Anne triumphs at Bygrave
Just a handful turned up to play croquet on Tuesday 12th June, not enough to finish the delicious carrot cake provided by Carol.
We played a doubles with David Mathews partnering Anne and Paul Noel and Annette as opponents. DM proved too strong and after some cake and a drink Carol and Anne played a game of singles. This proved to be a vary tactical game of cat and mouse with Anne winning the day. The other game was a doubles affair with Duncan and Paul playing David Mathews and David Mathews. With a few minutes to go Duncan managed to finish in style with a double peel on partner into the bargain. The next meeting will be on Friday 22nd June - the day before our Charity Race Day. Let's hope for SUNSHINE! Thornbury Challenge June 11th
On Monday June 11th Bygrave CC were going to host a visit from 22 members of the Baldock 41 Club. But the rain was persistent all evening and so we changed the sport to indoor Ice Hockey and Pool. Everyone had a great time and the 41 Club made a generous donation of £50 to our Equipment Fund. Crazy Garden CroquetLetchworth CC had their 25th Anniversary Party at Bygrave. More than 50 members attended and in contrast to recent weather it was a wonderful summer day. There was champagne and delicious food in abundance. In the afternoon we offered Crazy Croquet which is played like crazy golf. It was crazy! Hoops at all angles, double hoops, pegs to avoid (shot lost if you hit a peg) and if you go into the rough it is a shot lost too. There was also a woodland walk round the historic moated site. The moats and stew pond were constructed in 1386 and most of the system, survives today. The church which is Hertfordshire's most researched was open where the amazing stained glass window (installed for the Millenium) could be seen. The church has 5 floor levels that date back to C 700AD and wall paintings that originate from the 1500s.
Thanks to Sue, Andrea and all the others who helped to make it an enjoyable day. |
Croquet in the Olympic Games Paris 1900
St Louis 1904
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In 1900 people played basically the same game
in America and England and it was introduced as an Olympic sport
in the 1900 Paris games where three croquet events were played. Seven men and three women participated. (Yuri Ilyukhin of Kroket Russia points out that Croquet was the first Olympic sport to allow female competitors). The doubles competition was scheduled first, though it's unclear whether the French pair which won actually had any competition.
The one-ball singles was played the next week, followed by two-ball singles the week after. France, with 9 of the 10 competitors, won all the medals. Belgium was the only other nation to send a croquet player, though he did not finish the first round of his competition. In early 1900 American croquet leaders disagreed with many of the new English rules which outlawed mallets with heads made of rubber and had introduced the 6-wicket court layout. They kept the 9-wicket version and short handled mallets with heads of metal face on one end and rubber on the other. They introduced their version of 9-wicket croquet at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis which was won by an American but never played in the Olympics again. This version became known as "roque" to distinguish it from the English version by dropping the "c" and the "t" from the name. |
Was tight croquet legal in 1900?
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Charity Race Day £448
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The Charity Race Day was a great success and raised £448. Half of this goes to our equipment fund and the other half to the Sue Ryder Hospice at Moggerhanger.
The jockeys had to pull the horses along by winding string round a broomstick handle. This would surely mean that the younger people would win but not so! Jeremy Scott, adorned in morning dress, won the De Somery Sellers Plate, winning £15 for his syndicate. His success was followed by Andrew Young whose surname is slightly misleading. He won the De Warren Handicap Stakes and the £15 prize. The third race was the Lady Thornbury Maiden Stakes, this was the Ladies Race. Word has it that the Youngs had been practising so, unknown to everybody apart from Andrew Young, she should have been red hot favourite to win. However, nobody backed her at the Tote until just before the race when Andrew rushed in and placed a bet. He was the only backer so when Penny won the race the syndicate won £20 and Andrew was showered with 5,760 pennies in old money which equates to £24.`The Association Croquet Cup was the longest race demanding great stamina from the jockeys and Peter Whiting galloped home on his mount to win £25 for his syndicate. The last race of the day was the Sue Ryder Handicap Stakes and jockeys were falling like flies. A last minute substitute was summoned from the Tote's back office in the shape of Tim Hector. He is an aggressive sprinter on a racing bike so those "in the know" backed him heavily causing the odds to fall to Evens. He came in well ahead of the field and finished off a most entertaining day. The last prize to be awarded was for the best dressed couple went to Jeremy and Carol Scott. Jeremy cut a dashing figure in his brand new morning suit and Carol was fantastic in her beautiful dress and Ascot hat. |
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The Hornpipe
There was an interlude between races when we enjoyed accompanying the Sailor's Hornpipe which is that tune they play on the last night of the Proms - it gets faster and faster. Duncan provided 1000 paper bags for use by everyone who blew them up and popped them with loud bangs at the right time. This is a most demanding exercise and when it finished the floor was covered in used paper bages and a crowd of people convulsed in laughter.
Thanks
We owe a debt of gratitude to all who helped to make this such a successful day. Duncan and Annette for providing the Lodge and organising things. Paul Culpin for an excellent PA system, the Baldock 41 Club in the shape of John and Les who cooked and provided the burgers and hot dogs. The Adams Crowther Sheppard Marquee Consortium for the huge marquee. Anne Noel who ran the knitted animal stall and contributed a handsome percentage to the funds. Peter Whiting who was Course Steward and Syndicate organiser and Trevor Hiorns who sold lots of tickets, ran the bar, took the gate money and added everything up at the end of the day. AND all those gererous people who came and helped us raise "loads o' money".
Our horses
Our stable of horses is available for loan in exchange for a small donation to Bygrave Croquet Club. Along with this we can provide a customised spreadsheet which calculates the odds and payouts and guidance on the betting regulations so that you can run a charity racing event without the need for a betting licence.
There was an interlude between races when we enjoyed accompanying the Sailor's Hornpipe which is that tune they play on the last night of the Proms - it gets faster and faster. Duncan provided 1000 paper bags for use by everyone who blew them up and popped them with loud bangs at the right time. This is a most demanding exercise and when it finished the floor was covered in used paper bages and a crowd of people convulsed in laughter.
Thanks
We owe a debt of gratitude to all who helped to make this such a successful day. Duncan and Annette for providing the Lodge and organising things. Paul Culpin for an excellent PA system, the Baldock 41 Club in the shape of John and Les who cooked and provided the burgers and hot dogs. The Adams Crowther Sheppard Marquee Consortium for the huge marquee. Anne Noel who ran the knitted animal stall and contributed a handsome percentage to the funds. Peter Whiting who was Course Steward and Syndicate organiser and Trevor Hiorns who sold lots of tickets, ran the bar, took the gate money and added everything up at the end of the day. AND all those gererous people who came and helped us raise "loads o' money".
Our horses
Our stable of horses is available for loan in exchange for a small donation to Bygrave Croquet Club. Along with this we can provide a customised spreadsheet which calculates the odds and payouts and guidance on the betting regulations so that you can run a charity racing event without the need for a betting licence.
Hertfordshire Croquet's best result since 1908
Hertfordshire were very successful at the Inter County Championships taking 3rd place behind Nottinghamshire and Somerset. Our nearest rivals were Essex, Glamorgan and Surrey and we beat all of them achieving the best result since Hertfordshire last won this event in 1908. The Bygrave members involved were Richard Smith (Captain), Nick Mounfield (Vice Captain) and Duncan Hector who was referred to as the "President", but that was after a visit to the bar!. The Championships were held at Southwick and Eastbourne over a four day period 2nd to 5th June. This is the largest croquet tournament in the World with around 140 people in play on 14 full sized lawns - a total area of over 6 acres which is why there are two venues.
Finalists
On May 25th we had 13 participants in the afternoon's competition and after two 40 minute games of doubles Anne and Bridget were the leading pair. They played each other singles in the final. This was the first time they had played singles and spent some of the time helping each other which was fun to watch. The game was played in great spirit and Bridget came out the winner by a narrow margin.
The President of the Croquet Association, Quiller Barrett visited Bygrave to discover how we coach beginners. He was roped in to demonstrate hoop running (see picture below) and also helped by playing doubles with Annette whose game dramatically improved as a result. George was also here and helped to demonstrate break building and he partnered Geraldine. Duncan talked about how to rush balls and also played with Paul in an interesting game against Quiller and Annette. It was another great afternoon blessed by brilliant sunshine and Carol's cakes which were consumed with gusto and washed down by wine of various colours.
The President of the Croquet Association, Quiller Barrett visited Bygrave to discover how we coach beginners. He was roped in to demonstrate hoop running (see picture below) and also helped by playing doubles with Annette whose game dramatically improved as a result. George was also here and helped to demonstrate break building and he partnered Geraldine. Duncan talked about how to rush balls and also played with Paul in an interesting game against Quiller and Annette. It was another great afternoon blessed by brilliant sunshine and Carol's cakes which were consumed with gusto and washed down by wine of various colours.
Champions Day at Wrest Park