A one day course will be held at Blewbury Croquet Club in Oxfordshire on Sunday 31 July. The cost will be £10. For further details contact Jennet Blake,10 Queens Lane, Witney, OX29 4HL, tel 01865 882838.
The CA has recently published 'Alternative Croquet', compiled and edited by Don Gaunt. This is a three-part collection covering 'Fun Games', 'Standard Croquet Variations' and 'Fringe Croquet'. Clubs will find this booklet very useful when arranging informal social events and individuals will be interested in the range of entertaining games described, suitable for two, three or four players. The booklet (A5, glossy green cover, 90pp) is available from the CA Shop, priced at £7.
This year the Open Championships return to Hurlingham after an absence of two years. The event will be held from 3 to 10 July, and it is hoped to arrange that, as in the past, individual CA members who wish to attend as spectators will be admitted to the club free of charge.
Another major event will be the Mitsubishi Motors 2005 World Championship, from 6 to 14 August. The main venue will be Cheltenham Croquet Club, but some of the earlier stages will be played at Edgbaston, Bristol and Nailsea Croquet Clubs. Spectators will be welcome free of charge at all four locations.
In this, the last Noticeboard that I will produce, I should like to express my appreciation of the warm welcome I have received from all the clubs I have visited and all the players I have met during the last five years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Secretary of the Croquet Association, but the time has come for me to move out of the office and spend more time on the lawns. I wish my successor, Klim Seabright, all the best, and hope that you and he will enjoy the same happy relationship.