Category: News

This trophy is named after Elspeth Johnson, who was formerly a much-loved club member, and whose family kindly donated the trophy in her name.  

1-Ball is a variant of Association Croquet but has a feel of Golf Croquet. As the title suggests, in 1-Ball each player has just one ball instead of two but all the laws of Association Croquet apply: roquet, croquet and continuation shots, wiring, penalties for playing out of turn and so on.  The simple change from two balls to one means each player is on the court for short bursts of time and lengthy breaks are quite rare.  It’s a fun way to play croquet.

1-Ball is also a bit of a curtain raiser as it is normally played at the start of season and is played by both Golf Croquet enthusiasts and Croquet Association enthusiasts alike.  This year it was played on 28^th August, and instead of April showers we got a lovely warm sunny day, even the breeze was warm.  

Seven players entered the Tournament; the handicaps were based on one-third of the difference between two players in a match.  Each game was timed at 45 minutes and the player with the most points won the game. It’s a point for each hoop achieved, so if you go round twice that’s 12-points, and a point for pegging out which makes it a 13- point match.  It’s a great game to watch.

Alan Locket, mathematician extraordinaire, tabled the matches, kept a tally on the point score, and kept an eye on the rules.  His creativity and mathematical structures are just legendary.  

Graham King was the outright winner with 50-points, Helen Griffith came second with 39- points, and Angela Stones was a close third with 35-points – doing it for the girls!

It was an excellent day and put a smile on everyone’s face.  If you did not attend, you missed out.  Graham took home the shield but there were no losers on the day.   The good news is: we are going to do it again next year.

Some clubs raise money for charity with 1-Ball competitions by charging a small entry fee and Croquet England invite the winners to attend a national 1-Ball tournament.  The money raised from these events goes to charity; this year it went to the British Heart Foundation.

Beverley Croquet Club Social Event – 14^th July 2024

Twelve members descended on the Croft at Little Weighton for lunch on 14^th July.  Sally, our Club Social Secretary arranged the event.  The menu was very varied and the food was very good.  Those that attended chose their meal and drinks and then paid for what they’d ordered – very straightforward.  

The group had originally intended to go on to Rowley and play croquet after lunch, but it wasn’t to be. It wasn’t the alcohol that stopped play, no, no, it was the weather.  It just didn’t stop raining. That aside, it was a lovely opportunity to socialise and to get to know people outside of their own croquet game preferences.  We had Golf Croquet players in attendance, Association Croquet players, U3A players and, one long standing member from the Association Croquet side, who had retired from the game due to ill-health, came along to share the occasion and to reminisce.  It was a l lovely.

Sally, for those of you who don’t know her, can be identified from the photograph.  She is sitting third from the top on the lefthand side of the table and, yes, the expression on her face tells you she is in her element.  She’s very good at organising these events and on this occasion, she turned what could have been a wet blanket into a delightful union. Thank you, Sally.

The news is, she is going to organise more of these – watch this space.

Basically, Short Lawn croquet is a shortened version of Association Croquet; shortened in the sense that it is played on a half-size lawn (half the size of a full lawn).  It is played to 14-points instead of 26-points and is open to all players of all standards – therein lies the challenge.  It is an opportunity to play with better players and improve your skill.  Because it is played on a short lawn the balls are much nearer to each other on the court and often it means there is nowhere for an opponent to hide.

This year’s Short Lawn Tournament was organised by John Swift, who of course is our Club Handicapper. There were 12 players with a range of handicaps; those with low handicaps (handicap of 5 or less) played each other for the Cup, and players with high handicaps (handicap of 6 or more) competed for the Bowl.  Each game had a time limit of 1-hour 15-minutes.  

The weather was beautiful for most of the day and although rain was forecast, there was nothing more than a light shower, which didn’t stop play. It was pleasantly warm.  You may be able to see threatening skies on some of the photographs, but the wind carried the rain away from Rowley.

The Cup was won by the perennial winner, Robin Edwards (those of you who know Robin will understand the reference) and the Bowl was taken by Steve Killick, who is a newcomer to Association Croquet.  Congratulations to both, and congratulations too to Neil Oakes, who came second in the Bowl competition having achieved the same number of wins as Steve, he lost narrowly on points.

A big thank you goes to John for organising the day, keeping everyone on track, and a tally on the scores, and to Rosemary, his wife, who supplied the much appreciated, tea and cakes.  Thank you John and Rosemary, a good day was had by all.

A game of croquet with a difference and, a first it would seem, at Rowley.

Beverley, Swanland and Cottingham U3A members were in invited to cake and croquet on the afternoon of 20th June 2024. The lawns had been freshly mowed, the cakes arrived in lorry loads and the sun, as well as the players, had got its hat on.

The choice of play was between Golf Croquet and Association Croquet. Golf Croquet won the day as it formed the basis of most people’s experience of the game. For those of us more used to playing Association Croquet it was quite a revelation to find there were no bonus shots for hitting another ball, and it was the first pair to score seven hoops that won the game. There was a lot of tactical play on the day and a good deal of informal coaching going on.

Everyone that attended gave it a thumbs up and wanted to repeat the event. We will most definitely do it again, however, we may have to introduce the fun side of Association Croquet, in order to even the score – so all you Croquet U3As consider yourself forewarned!

25th May 2024 at York

This year’s event was well supported by the Federation Clubs, all the Association Croquet League Teams were represented on the day. Twenty-four players entered the competition.

There was a wide range of handicaps, which produced some interesting results. For example, Pete Johnson (from Huddersfield), with a handicap of 10, was playing his first competitive match outside of his club and he won all of his four matches. That has got to be encouraging for anyone new to competition play.

Then there was another exciting result from one of the York players, Philip Watson, who was also relatively new to competition play and he won the trophy for Best Individual. It was won on hoop points. Philip plays off a handicap of 8.

Let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks competitions are won by experienced players. the handicap system makes it a level playing field and, playing in competition with more experienced players, sharpens skills and develops play.

York’s Team 3, won the event with 2-wins and 2-draws in their four matches – see the group photo.

A big thank you goes to Philip Jay for organising and managing the event on the day and our gratitude extends to York Croquet Club for facilitating the event – thank you to the chair, Debbie James.

Do have a look at the slideshow. I hope you can see from the pleasure written on the faces of the competitors that there were no losers on the day.

The first match of Association Croquet took place on Full Lawn and at home: B.E.R.R.C vs Sheffield – Sunday 12th May 2024

And what an amazing start!

The team won both doubles games. These are timed games, and at the end of one hard fought game the score was still level, so they continued to play until one more hoop was secured. The winning hoop, known as the Golden Hoop, was scored by the Team Captain, Graham King.

Well done, team. We are very proud of you.

The players were: Graham King (Captain). Helen Griffiths, John Swift, and Jim Gillespie.

The lawn maintenance programme runs throughout the year. It is more intensive in season and requires regular mowing and white lining. This is carried out by contractors. There are seasonal treatments, such as rolling, aerating, feeding, pest control, that are done on a ‘need to’ basis and are weather dependent, which are also carried out by a paid contractor.

However, some of the maintenance programme is undertaken by a group of volunteers who mow the lawn if it requires an additional cut before a tournament or match play. We also have a group who hand weed the lawn in season to prevent chemical build up and over-seed areas that have been compacted or worn thin by use.

The contractor and volunteers work in harmony. I (Irene Morris) coordinate the programme of work for both and I’ve set up a spreadsheet which shows the monthly plan, identifies volunteers that have given their time, and indicates whether the programme is on schedule or not.

You can volunteer to help. It could be mowing, white lining, weeding, feeding, or over-seeding. We generally work a 2 hour shift on a day that the majority of volunteers can agree on.

Someone once brought home the importance of the work when they said: “There’s no croquet without the lawns.’ How true that is. We don’t have sufficient fund to pay the contractor to do all that is necessary, not at present anyway. So we have to muck in.

If you would like to join the team of volunteers email me croquet-lw-19@outlook.com I would love to have you on board.

View the live schedule HERE

On a truly horrible cold and wet December evening, a party of club members met at the Ferguson Fawcett to celebrate the annual club Christmas dinner. Fortunately the atmosphere inside the hotel was much better than outside. In fact I don’t think we could have chosen a better venue. Warm and convivial! A lovely evening with delicious food was enjoyed by all. Well done to Sally for her usual excellent organisiation.

The evening was capped by presentation of the season’s trophies. Sally did the honours. Here are just some of the talented recipients.

The annual general meeting was held at Bishop Burton Village Hall on 18 October 2023. Twelve members were present.

Two members of the Committee were stepping down from the Committee, treasurer Helen and website manager Mike. Angela, in her Chair’s address, thanked both for their work for the club over the years. Both Mike and Helen were presented with a bottle of wine each as a gesture of the club’s appreciation.

Angela also thanked Joe for his unstinting time and work spent on maintaining the lawns. Joe is stepping down as lawns manager. Maintaining the lawns is a very time consuming and involved job and it was suggested that members should be asked to commit to spending some time helping out as a joint effort, on what is the most essential job in the club.

To read more, visit our AGM & Club Policies page.

This year’s Yorkshire Federation’s Short Croquet Tournament took place at York on a glorious sunny Saturday in June. Five teams took part, two each from York and Beverley and one from Huddersfield.

It is always a delight to play on the superb lawns at York, but it has to be said that on this occasion the courts were perhaps too perfect. They were so fast that I lost count of the number of times I played what I thought was a finely controlled drive or roll, only to see the leading ball keep rolling and rolling into the distance, sometimes into the middle of the next lawn. It seemed more like playing curling than croquet.

However, some participants showed better control and much excellent croquet was enjoyed by everyone there. York Eboracum were the eventual winners and Alison Larard, also of York, took the award for the best individual performances of the day. Alison won all four of her matches. But congratulations to Robin and Ian who won three games each. For the record, our teams finished 3rd and 5th. Thanks are due to Debbie and Irene for organising the Beverley teams and driving us there and to the York members who staged the event as immaculately as they always do. And additional thanks to whoever baked the delicious cakes. Some pictures: