Proposed changes to Croquet England's Constitution

by Gabrielle Higgins [^]
16th August (CqE Official News)

The Board of Trustees will be proposing changes to Croquet England's Constitution at this year's AGM. Constitutional changes don't excite everybody. But the Constitution is the foundational document setting out the basis on which CqE operates: why it exists, what purposes it can spend its money on, how the trustees who make the decisions are appointed, how decisions are made, how members are involved and so on. So the Trustees are keen that members know what changes are proposed, and have the opportunity to raise any concerns before the papers go out in September for the AGM.

The full text of the Constitution, with the proposed changes marked and an explanation of why each is being proposed, can be found here. Many proposed changes are minor, for example to reflect current methods of electronic voting as opposed to casting votes by post or email. The most significant are:

• Clause 11 (General meetings of members)
  • Remove the requirement to elect trustees at AGMs, as our practice is to elect in advance to allow more people to vote.
  • Add a provision for charity trustees who are not members of CqE to attend and speak at general meetings (but not vote), given the intention to appoint independent trustees to strengthen the Board and benefit from external expertise. The Trustees considered requiring independent trustees to become members, but concluded that they should not be required to pay for the privilege of volunteering their services.
  • Similarly, add an express provision for non-members to attend and speak with the Chair's permission (but not vote), to ensure subscribers who have not registered as voting members can attend the AGM if they wish.
• Clause 12 (Charity trustees)
  • Enshrine the decision made since the constitution was first adopted that there should be six elected trustees and no more than five appointed trustees, to ensure there is a majority of elected trustees.
• Clause 13 (Appointment of charity trustees): Replacement of the clause in its entirety.
  • Make more use of the Charity Commission's model wording.
  • Simplify the provisions for appointment of trustees to a single power for the Trustees as a whole to make appointments (in place of three provisions, two exercisable by the elected trustees only for specific purposes and one exercisable by the Trustees as a whole for any purpose).
  • Ensure that all trustees, both elected and appointed, have term limits.
  • Ensure that Election Rules for electing trustees are no less stringent than the Charity Commission model.

Insignificant proposed changes to clauses 5 (Application of income and property), 6 (Benefits and payments to charity trustees and connected persons), and 28 (Amendment of the constitution), principally to bring CqE's Constitution closer into line with the new Charity Commission model constitution, require Charity Commission consent; an application has been submitted but no response received as yet.

The original Charity Commission model as at the date when our constitution was first drafted, and the updated one on the Charity Commission website now, can be accessed from these links for those reading this article online, or by request to me.

In addition to the changes to the Constitution, the Trustees propose changes to the appointment arrangements for Officers and members of the Executive, dealt with in the Standing Orders. This was prompted by the need to change the arrangements for appointment of the CEO from an annual appointment to a permanent one in view of the recruitment for an employed CEO. Reviewing the arrangements, the Trustees resolved to move away from annual appointments immediately after the AGM for all Officers (Chair, Secretary and Treasurer as well as CEO) and members of the Executive, in favour of three-yearly appointments, with a maximum of three terms for the Chair and members of the Executive, to seek greater levels of continuity.

The revised Standing Orders can be found here. The revisions do not become permanent unless approved at a second Board meeting, and they will be considered again, together with any feedback on the proposed Constitutional changes, at the meeting on 18 September. If you have any comments, please do email me by 11 September at gabrielle.higgins#croquetengland.org.uk.

Gabrielle Higgins

Secretary of Croquet England

Election for new President of Croquet England

by Gabrielle Higgins [^]
30th July (CqE Official News)

Following the announcement of Patricia Duke-Cox's retirement as President of Croquet England with effect from the end of the AGM in October 2025, nominations are invited for her successor.

The role of President conveys no executive powers, but the President represents Croquet England at significant events, including presenting prizes or arranging for others to do so, and chairs Annual General Meetings. The President is entitled, if they wish, to attend meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Executive.

Candidates may be proposed and seconded by any Member of Croquet England (i.e. any subscriber who has registered to vote). The Board of Trustees will also propose a candidate. If more than one candidate is proposed, Members will be asked to elect who will serve as the next President, using a Single Transferable Vote.

To nominate a candidate, please send a nomination form giving the names of the candidate, the proposer and the seconder and any personal statement by the candidate to gabrielle.higgins#croquetengland.org.uk by 11.59pm on 16th September 2025.

Phyllis Court lost to Bowdon 1-5

by Angharrad Walters at Phyllis Court [^]
15 Jun (GC - Inter-Club)

Trustee elections

by Gabrielle Higgins [^]
15th August (CqE Official News)

High Wycombe beat Bury 4-3

by Ed Olhausen at Northampton [^]
15th August (AC - Mary Rose)

Bowdon Short Croquet

by Alex McIntyre at Bowdon [^]
14th August (AC)

A field of 25 gathered at Bowdon Croquet Club for their Short Croquet Tournament as the clouds parted and the sun once again graced the lawns.

Two Trophies were at stake with the 'Bowdon Short Croquet Trophy' being run as a flexible Swiss alongside the 'NWFCC Millennium Short Croquet Trophy' taking place concurrently as a single life knockout.

Having been furnished with a 2-peels handicap, my first ever game of short croquet converted me to the format quickly and I watched in awe as the two 4-peel handicappers breezed around the lawn.

One of these wily tacticians, Alan Mayne, reached the final of the knockout against Sylvia Steer, resulting in a clash between octogenarians in which Alan final triumphed on the Thursday Afternoon.

In the Swiss, Alan Dix triumphed with 6 wins and a single loss (to me!)

Thanks to Brian 'Deadly' Medley (aka the Diva) for managing and to the lawn manager at Bowdon for preparing such lovely lawns.

Cheltenham High Bisque

by Adam Moliver at Cheltenham [^]
14th August (AC - Handicap)

August saw the two day Cheltenham High Bisque tournament. Managed by Adam Moliver with help from Darryl Whitehead. This is a mix of play and coaching.
Day one was three games of 18 points, full-bisque, base five.

Day Two was 22 point games for the semi finals and final while others had coaching and/or coached/supervised games .

Two hot days, especially the second day, led to a final between Elaine Smith (Cheltenham) and Colin Carver (Enfield). Colin won and as a result had a two step handicap change; long overdue!

Along the way we had one accidentally pegged-out game leading to a one-ball game finish and another game ending in an exciting golden hoop.

Players struggeld with fast lawns ond day one, but overnight storms and a pre-set irrigation schedule led to more forgiving conditions on day two .

For those new to AC this is a good way to get into tournament play.

Neil Adams won the Yorkshire White Rose

Players in the White Rose at York

A now well-established tournament on the Fixtures calendar, the Yorkshire White Rose, was played for the eighth time at York CC. A field of 13 players from the north and west contested 5 rounds of play on drought-stricken lawns (Yorkshire Water having been the first to impose a hosepipe ban in July). Neil Adams from Crake and Andy Davies (York and Beverley&EastRiding) established a commanding lead after day 1 with 3 wins each. Omied Hallam from Nottingham CC, and Neil also had the distinction of each executing triple peels (2 by Omied, 1 by Neil) and earned the admiration of the York spectators.

Day 2 dawned bright and sunny once more, and play resumed including a match-up between Neil and Andy. Neil's precise and thoughtful play denied Andy much opportunity to visit the lawn and Andy's missed hit-in on partner balls not quite cross-wired at the peg allowed Neil to clear up, 26-0, after an attempt at the TP ending. Neil went 1 game ahead. Neil then lost to Omied 26-14, an intriguing contrast in styles of play, while Andy beat Clive convincingly 26-0. Both players now on 4 wins from 5, Neil was awarded the glass trophy as the winner against Andy in game 4.

Thanks to all competitors and to Paul Harbord for his excellent tournament management.

Andrew Grant won the Ashby GC B-Level

by Andy Sherwood at Ashby [^]
12th August (GC - Tournaments)

Play started on time with a full field of twelve players, in two blocks of six. All play all over Five rounds.

The first three rounds were completed comfortably before lunch.

After lunch, both blocks finished with no hint of time limits being applied.

Both blocks produced outright winners. With Andrew Grant from Woodhall Spa CC winning the blue block with five wins out of five. Nigel Wulcko from Camerton & Peasedown CC also won five from five in the red block.

The block runners up were a much closer affair, both decided on hoop difference. With Simon Draper from Norwich CC in the blue block, and Pamela Dawson from Gainsborough CC in the red block narrowly making the semifinals.

Andrew beat Pamela 7-3 in the first semifinal. Nigel won through against Simon 7-6 in a closely fought second semifinal. Leaving the final to be contested by the two unbeaten on the day players.

Andrew prevailed 7-3 against Nigel, giving him seven wins from seven games and the title.

The last game to finish was the 3/4 playoff, with Simon beating Pamela 7-3 in a much closer game than the score suggests.

The final was well supported by the other players at end of a good days croquet.

Liz Johnson won the Ashby GC D-Level

by Andy Sherwood at Ashby [^]
12th August (GC - Tournaments)

After a late withdrawal, the tournament started with a block of seven players, all play all.

With the block winner taking the title.

Play moved along smoothly until lunchtime with all players winning at least one game.

Play progressed nicely in the afternoon, until a late cloudburst disrupted the finish.

Because of the rain, play ended slightly later than hoped. But all games were completed with no time limits having to be imposed.

Liz Johnson from Nottingham CC finished as the winner, with an impressive five wins from six games.

The tension was high in the last game to finish, with Rob Yates from Ashby CC, needing a big win against Susan Alderman from Gainsborough CC, to take the runner up spot. Rob made a spirited recovery to take the game 7-6.

Brenda Ash from Nottingham CC, who had been the front runner for most of the day, finished as runner up with four wins and a better hoop difference.

The field was completed by Avril York from Ashby CC, Catriona Peterson and Kate Packham both from Nottingham CC.

Special thanks on the day for Janet Sherwood for her assistance and providing refreshments.

Also, to Mike Bilton who kindly offered, and was kept busy as referee.

The standard of play was excellent, with good hoop running and some spectacular jump shots.

With a mix of experienced players and newcomers to tournament play a good time seemed to be had by all.

High Wycombe beat Newport 4-3

by David Cotton at High Wycombe [^]
25 Jul (AC - Mary Rose)

High Wycombe beat Newport, 4-3 at High Wycombe in the Mary Rose, 25 July 2025

Doubles
Andrew Gregory & Mat Hardy (Newport) beat Richard Peperell & David Cotton (High Wycombe) +15

Singles
Alex Lake (Newport) beat Alan Clark (High Wycombe) +7
Gabriel Furse (HW) beat Hugh Gilbert (N) +16
Andrew Gregory (N) beat Richard Peperell (HW) +7
David Cotton (HW) beat Mat Hardy (N) +5
Alan Clark (HW) beat Hugh Gilbert (N) +18
Gabriel Furse (HW) beat Alex Lake (N) +2

Crake Valley beat Colchester 6-1

by David Cornes at Crake Valley [^]
12th August (GC - Federations Shield)

East Dorset beat High Wycombe 5-2

by Michael Rice at East Dorset [^]
11th August (AC - Longman Cup)

Great Britain wins the Solomon Trophy 2025 [GB vs. USA Test]

Great Britain wins the Solomon Trophy 2025

Team GB Won the Association Croquet Test Match Against the USA, with Stephen Mulliner Winning the Final Game as Dusk Approached the Budleigh Salterton Lawns

First played in 1987 the Solomon Trophy is a bi-annual test match played between the GB and USA teams. The event often witnesses close matches from some of the most talented players in the world.

The 2025 tournament ended 11-10 and was thereby the most closely ever fought, all coming down to the final game of the final match, between Stephen Mulliner (GB) and Stephen Morgan (USA). Having been World Champion in 2016 and this being his 12^th appearance in the GB team, Stephen Mulliner has a wealth of experience and used it to see the team through to the winning line.

The matches were livestreamed through the Croquet England YouTube channel which is now becoming increasingly popular, gaining 120 new subscribers over the past two days whilst the event was being shown.

Team GB:

Harry Fisher (Roehampton Croquet Club)
Stephen Mulliner (Surbiton Croquet Club)
Debbie Lines (Peterborough Croquet Club)
Gabrielle Higgins (Sussex County Croquet Club)
Jack Good (Bowdon Croquet Club)
Samir Patel [Captain] (Surbiton Croquet Club)

(Surbiton Croquet Club) Watch the stream - https://www.youtube.com/live/yQMuWJ5S0qY?si=MzHBOjJ_dIvxVU22

Tim Russell won the Budleigh GC Open Series

by Louise Smith at Budleigh Salterton [^]
6th August (GC - Tournaments)

Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club hosted a high-quality 16-player GC Open Series tournament over the weekend of 2-3 August, with the first top eight seeds playing off minus handicaps and strong competition throughout. After tightly-fought block stages, Tim Russell (Roehampton) came through two long knockout matches before defeating top seed Stuart M. Smith (Budleigh) 2-0 in the final to claim the title.

A full report will feature in the Croquet Gazette, and all scores can be viewed here:

https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/budleigh-open-series/competition/main-k-o

Mark Simmerson won the Tyneside Advanced

by Derek Watts at Tyneside [^]
4th August (AC)

Congratulations to Mark Simmerson (2) from Sheffield Croquet Club who won the Tyneside AC Advanced Weekend by winning 5/6 games.

With an entry of only 4 this year it was decided and agreed that all play all twice over the two days using the Pavilion Lawn - double banking with a 2.5-hour time limit - which worked out very well. Only one game finished after time so well done to all players for expediting play.

Apart from a very short shower on the Sunday morning, the weather remained dry, no wind, warm and sunny.

Results:

Mark Simmerson (2) Sheffield CC) beat Phil Errington (1.5) +21 and +18, Stephen Pratt (6) +17 and +22, Dennis Scarr (-0.5) +16

Dennis Scarr (-0.5) Middlesbrough CC beat Stephen Pratt (6) +18 (24-6) and +22, Phil Errington (1.5) +22 and +12 and Mark Simmerson (2) +1

Phil Errington (1.5) Belsay Hall CC beat Stephen Pratt (6) +20 and +10

Stephen Pratt (6) Alnmouth CC lost all his games.

Phil Errington's Handicap changed from 1.5 to 2

Nottingham lost to Bowdon 2-5

by Angharrad Walters at Nottingham [^]
2nd August (AC - Inter-Club)

Ken Cooper beat Keith Aiton +16
Jack Good & Angharrad Walters beat James Death & Omied Hallam +26
Ian Vincent beat Andrew Winn +5

Andrew Winn beat Keith Aiton +20
Ian Vincent beat Ken Cooper +18
Angharrad Walters beat Omied Hallam +4
Jack Good beat James Death +12tpo

Hurlingham beat East Dorset 6-1

by Stephen Allen at Hurlingham [^]
1st August (AC - Mary Rose)

Hurlingham beat East Dorset 6-1

Scores (Hurlingham names first):

Morning:

Stephen Allen & Ludolph van Hasselt beat to Andrew Meikle & Steve Leonard +17

Guy Hewitt lost to Christine Rice -7

Martin Read beat David Williams +19

Afternoon:

Stephen Allen beat Andrew Meikle +14

Ludolph van Hasselt beat Steve Leonard +24

Guy Hewitt beat David Williams +17

Martin Read beat Christine Rice +14

Hurlingham Handicaps:

Stephen Allen (0)

Ludolph van Hasselt (2)

Guy Hewitt (2)

Martin Read (2.5)

East Dorset Handicaps:

Andrew Meikle (3.5)

Steve Leonard (3.5)

David Williams (4)

Christine Rice (4.5)

2025 Students Championship

Players in the 2025 Students

On the 26^th/27^th of July, the Oxford University Association Croquet Club (OUACC) proudly hosted the annual Student Croquet Championships - a prestigious tournament where the skill levels range from 'why are you holding that big hammer upside down' to 'I've spent every waking minute of the last 12 months prepping for this tournament'.

This year, students travelled across the UK and Europe to participate, with entrants from four universities: the usual suspects - Cambridge, Oxford, and Manchester - and an international wildcard from Bocconi University in Milan. Unfortunately, we missed out on the usual presence of the mighty Aston Wade and Teddy W-Sitwell (former OUACC President).

The weekend's play kicked off bright and early - painfully early, some might say - with a doubles match between Oxford and Manchester at 8am on Saturday. Despite most players being over a month into their (not so healthy) summer holiday sleeping routines, they took to the lawns with fire in their eyes, proving once again that association croquet is as much a battle of wits and strategy as it is a test of who can stay awake for 3 hours straight. By 2pm, sleep-induced delirium was reaching record levels, but the warriors were fed and the enthusiasm to get the singles underway was intoxicating.

Midway through the first round of singles, Cambridge's duo Jack and James (J&J) had a sudden realisation: they had no accommodation for the evening. Fortunately, their friend Jamie had been tasked with finding somewhere to stay, but the task proved more difficult than anticipated. In response, the trio, J&J&J, developed a detailed well-thought-out plan to simply sleep next to the lawns in the park, minimising the next morning's travel time and maximising that evening's much needed shut eye. However, after a spontaneous agreement that the evening would consist of a night out in Oxford, this grand plan lost its appeal as it would require J&J&J to drunkenly climb a 15-foot bayonet-topped fence under the light of nothing but the moon and a distant streetlamp. Instead, they booked a late-night bus to some off-grid Airbnb.

After a heroic day of play, all 8 students retired to a local pub, The Royal Oak, to rehydrate. With losers of the day's games unapologetically declaring the winners are morally obliged to buy them a pint, it was not long before shouts of a pub crawl were being heard across the table. With J&J&J determined to sample Oxford's nightlife, the evening culminated in a 3am return home and alarms set for four hours later.

As Sunday morning rolled around, 8 bleary eyed zombies once again returned to the lawns for the doubles final, the singles final and the plate final. With each match as riveting as the last, Oxford University was lucky enough to come home with both the doubles and singles trophies.

We were also fortunate enough to have international croquet legend, Harry Fisher, present the trophies to the winners after an excellent speech about the history of the tournament and the significance of the trophies.

All in all, the tournament was a great success, and it was wonderful to see so many young players travelling from around the world to play some Association Croquet.

Singles winner: Charlie Sharpe, University of Oxford

Doubles winners: Charlie Sharpe & Teodoro D'Agostino, University of Oxford

The 2025 GC Veterans Championship was won by Simon Carter

Simon Carter & Tim Russell (Photo: Ray Hall)

Play at Sussex County Croquet Club took place over three days. Following the usual programme for this event, the 24 players were arranged into two blocks, each playing 11 single games over the first day and the following morning, followed by a knockout and plate stage.

Conditions were good at Southwick; the Quadway hoops were set to their narrowest standard, which still gave a generous clearance and made the hoops manageable.

By the end of the first day, of the top seeds Tim Russell had 6 wins out of 7 games, losing to Trevor Smith; James Field had 5/7 wins, losing to Steiner Olsen and John Carr (who played like a man possessed all tournament with superbly accurate shooting), and Tournament Referee Ian Shore, who was not having a great day despite some excellent clearances and a wonderful jump shot ending to one game, finishing the day with 3/7 wins. The surprise, however, was Simon Carter who lost 3 games on the first day (3 happy players could go home saying they beat the eventual champion!)

Outside of the top seeds, others were having a good day: Phil Davies (ranked in the bottom sixth of the event) won 5/7 games on the first day, and a further 3 on the second to win him a place in the knockout stage.

By the end of the block stage it was Dochniak, Olsen, Russell and Farrow who qualified from the red block (in that order) and Huttley, Davies, Carter and Wise in the blue block.

In the quarter-finals, Simon Carter, finding form which was evading him on the first day, Tim Russell and David Wise made short work of their opponents, with Mark Huttley winning in three hard-fought games against Liz Farrow. A 7-3, 7-2 win for Simon against Mark Huttley and a harder 3 game win for Tim against David Wise set up the final for the afternoon of the final day.

Simon kindly described the final for me:

Old rivals and good friends, Simon Carter and Tim Russell, met in the final. As top seeds in their blocks, this was the expected outcome, but their paths to this point had not been without hiccups and surprises in the block stage. Simon had a particularly scrappy first day, losing three games. Tim's progress was smoother, though he did lose to the event's oldest player, Trevor Smith. Simon had then found his form and cruised in straight games to the final, while Tim had a very close best of three with David Wise in the semi to secure his place.

The final began with Simon on cracking form, running hoops from distance and leaving Tim wondering how he'd got to 6-1 down so rapidly. However, Tim showed true grit, guile and talent to claw the game back to 6 all before Simon ran a slightly nervy 13.

The second game was Tim's from start to finish at 7-3, with Simon never really having a look in, setting up a crowd pleasing third game. This last one ebbed and flowed, with strong long-range clearances from both players, and the score was soon 4 all with every hoop being a tussle. Hoop 9-as so often is the case-was the turning point. Tim had put in what seemed like a narrow blocker that saw Simon prone on the grass in Mulliner fashion, before executing a long, angled shot to squeak past, and straight down to just by hoop 10. More tussles ensued before Tim levelled the game at 6 all. Simon's first approach to 12 had perfect weight but was the victim of a sneaky curve that swung it into the back of the hoop. Shoulders slumped, Simon waited for the inevitable jump from Tim to claim the title, but as we all know, a jump from a yard in a friendly is not the same at 13 in a championship. Tim blobbed the shot, but left his ball in front, leaving Simon to have a go, and once again, the nerves showed but Simon did achieve 'ball swap' leaving his own ball snugly into the hoop and Tim out of options.

It was a very well fought, good natured final that could have gone either way and Tim will be back next year to try to reclaim it from Simon!

The plate event, with 14 players taking part, was arranged as 7 rounds of cross-block play, in the expectation that it might peter out towards the end, which indeed it did with long journeys beckoning some players and the prospect of a good final to watch for others.

At least 5 games were played by all and at that point Ian Shore, the only player to have won all his games, was declared the winner. Sadly, there is no trophy for the plate event, so Ian fashioned his own from a paper plate and 'engraved' it himself; hopefully Croquet England can find a proper trophy for future years (and for the shield too).

Whilst the final was engrossing the crowd at Southwick, Shield finalists Liz Farrow and Phil Davies were quietly battling away on Lawn 4. Liz took the first game easily at 7-0 but Phil pulled himself together for the second, winning 7-6. The last game slipped away from him however, with Liz taking the game at 7-3.

Congratulations to the winners and to all who took part. The whole event was played in genuine good humour and with enjoyment.

We were sorry that this year, for the first time since the GC Vets was established, Richard Brooks was unable to play in the tournament for family reasons; however, he was able to attend the final and presented the Brooks Vase to Liz Farrow who won it for the second year running as the best-placed player over 75.

GC English National Doubles Champions Crowned at Budleigh

Dom Aarvold & Tim Russell (Photo: Debo Albertsen)

Budleigh Salterton hosted the 2025 GC English National Doubles Championship on 26-27 July, welcoming 16 pairs from across the country. After two days of high-quality play, Tim Russell & Dom Aarvold emerged as champions, defeating defending titleholders James Death & Sam Cuthbert in an excellent three-game final.

Diana Wilson & Louise Smith claimed the Plate title, while the Shield went to Tim Jolliff & Raouf Allim.

Thanks to all players, volunteers, and Budleigh's brilliant grounds team for a fantastic weekend of croquet.

A full report will be featured in the Gazette - all results can be found on Croquet Scores:

https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/english-national-doubles-championship/competition/championship-ko

Watford AC Midweek B-Level Advanced

by Simon Hathrell at Watford [^]
23 Jul (AC)

This year's tournament was at full capacity with 16 entrants, split by Dgrade (and as it happens, also by handicap) into two independent blocks, an 'A' block of 10 in a Flexible Swiss format and an all-play-all 'B' block of 6, the latter played with 3-hour time-limits per game.

Both blocks were well-contested with numerous close finishes and last-minute changes of fortune. One example was in a game between Geoff Johnson and John Smallbone late in the evening of the first day. With a ball having been pegged out and with John for rover and peg, Geoff gained the innings and made it to rover, which he then failed off John's peg ball. John duly dispatched Geoff to near corner III and set up with his partner ball close to rover. Geoff shot from III at the two balls near rover, missed both, but ran rover instead by a couple of feet! - for an easy +3 finish. Also on the first evening with one ball already for peg, Charlie Martin was sailing round on a finishing break against Heather Bennett, with Heather's balls then for penult and rover, until he also failed a short hoop at rover with all the balls nearby. Heather hit in with her backward ball and was able to make penult and a rover peel to win +3.

The closest finish however was in the game between Geoff Johnson and Andrew Dutton on the second day. Geoff pegged both Andrew and himself out to leave a 2-ball finish with his second ball laid up in front of rover, and Andrew's second ball - then for 4-back - near corner IV. Andrew hit the long roquet and made an excellent long roll up to 4-back to make 4-back and penult on a 2-ball break, but then failed rover to one side. There then followed a situation which had the manager scrabbling for a Laws book to check the rules on impasse; but the potential impasse was finally resolved when Geoff shot and missed at a sliver of a ball hiding the other side of rover. Andrew then hit Geoff, but again failed rover, so Geoff hit Andrew, dispatched him to near hoop 2, but stuck in the jaws of rover himself. Andrew shot from distance, hitting the wire of rover and ending up a couple of yards behind and to the side of rover... but Geoff's ball had been knock through rover by a foot in the process! Since the shot had not been watched by an umpire a question arose as to whether Geoff's ball had been moved by Andrew's ball or by the hoop. Following a test the RoT concluded that it could not have been moved there by the hoop, so the roquet (and the peel!) was given, leaving Andrew an easy hoop approach and +1 finish.

The final outcome in both blocks depended on the results of the last round. In the 'A' block, what looked like it should be the decider between Andrew Dutton and Charlie Martin turned into a more complicated scenario when it became apparent that if Andrew won AND if Peter Rothwell beat Stephen Allen then Andrew and Peter would both be tied on 4/5 wins, without having played each other. And so it transpired. The "Matchpoints" tie-breaker also failed to separate them, leaving it to the next tie-breaker "Win Quality". On this measure Peter emerged the tournament winner by virtue of having beaten opponents with more wins than the tally of wins by the players that Andrew had beaten. Meanwhile in the 'B' block the results meant that the lead was also shared between Simon Turner, Andre Machell and Alex Lever, each on 3/5 wins; but in this case the outcome was easier to resolve because Andre had beaten both Simon and Alex in their individual encounters, so Andre won the block.

Results:
Block A
Nick Archer beat Gary Bennett +4
Charlie Martin beat Geoff Johnson +8
Andrew Dutton beat John Smallbone +18
Heather Bennett beat Stephen Allen +13
Peter Rothwell beat Stephen Mills +22
Stephen Allen beat Geoff Johnson +7
Nick Archer beat Andrew Dutton +22
Charlie Martin beat Stephen Mills +2
Peter Rothwell beat Heather Bennett +23
John Smallbone beat Gary Bennett +13
Stephen Allen beat Nick Archer +2
Charlie Martin beat Peter Rothwell +4
Andrew Dutton beat Gary Bennett +14
Stephen Mills beat Heather Bennett +16
Geoff Johnson beat John Smallbone +3
Heather Bennett beat Charlie Martin +3
Charlie Martin beat Stephen Allen +10
Andrew Dutton beat Geoff Johnson +1
Peter Rothwell beat Nick Archer +4
Heather Bennett beat John Smallbone +18
Stephen Mills beat Gary Bennett +5
Nick Archer beat Heather Bennett +7
Andrew Dutton beat Charlie Martin +16
Peter Rothwell beat Stephen Allen +11
Stephen Mills beat John Smallbone +20
Gary Bennett beat Geoff Johnson +14
Block B
Simon Turner beat Tony Elliott +8(T)
Alex Lever beat Robin Tasker +17
Andy Evason beat Andre Machell +20
Tony Elliott beat Robin Tasker +18
Andre Machell beat Simon Turner +4
Alex Lever beat Andy Evason +17
Simon Turner beat Alex Lever +13
Andre Machell beat Tony Elliott +10
Andy Evason beat Robin Tasker +3(T)
Robin Tasker beat Andre Machell +10
Simon Turner beat Andy Evason +18
Alex Lever beat Tony Elliott +18
Robin Tasker beat Simon Turner +23
Andre Machell beat Alex Lever +10
Tony Elliott beat Andy Evason +9

Tournament winners: Peter Rothwell, Andre Machell

Players & handicaps:

Alex Lever (6)
Andrew Dutton (1)
Andre Machell (6)
Andy Evason (7)
Charlie Martin (1)
Gary Bennett (3)
Geoff Johnson (3)
Heather Bennett (1.5)
John Smallbone (4.5)
Nick Archer (.5)
Peter Rothwell (1.5)
Robin Tasker (5)
Simon Turner (5)
Stephen Allen (0)
Stephen Mills (2.5)
Tony Elliott (6)

Handicap change: Peter Rothwell 1.5 to 1; Gary Bennett 3 to 3.5

England Victorious at GC Home Internationals 2025

The victorious England team (Photo: Louise Smith)

England emerged as the clear winners at the 2025 Golf Croquet Home Internationals, held at Balgreen Croquet Club in Edinburgh on 19-20 July. Fielding a strong team of Euan Burridge, J.P. Moberly (Captain), Sam Cuthbert, and Stuart M. Smith, England won all three of their test matches, with a decisive 6-0 victory over Scotland and 5-0 victories over Wales and Ireland.

Wales and Ireland each recorded a test match win and drew their encounter against one another, while Scotland secured several hard-fought individual victories over the weekend.

Congratulations to England- and many thanks to Balgreen for hosting a superb event.

A full report will be issued in the Gazette, and all results can be found on Croquet Scores:

https://croquetscores.com/2025/gc/home-internationals-at-balgreen-scotland/summary

David Artingstall wins GC 'C' Level series Tournament at Bury

David Artingstall receives the trophy from David Barrett

David Artingstall (Bury) won the GC 'C' Level trophy for the second year running beating Eddie Wilson (Backworth) in the Final (7-1).

A full complement of 12 players came to a warm and sunny Whitehead Park, and it was good to welcome several new faces from around the country.

Play consisted of two blocks. Block A was dominated by Eddie Wilson who won all 5 of his matches, closely followed by David Artingstall who won 4 of his matches, (losing 1 to Eddie Wilson!), and securing their places in the Semi Final

Block B was closely contested but Karen Bowes and Ray Hodgson (both Crake Valley) won 4 games each to go through to join Eddie and David in the Semi Final.

Both matches were closely fought but Eddie beat Karen (7-6), and David beat Ray (7-5), therefore fellow Crake Valley players Karen and Ray contested the 3^rd/4^th Playoff. In a close match Karen came through to win (7-6)

The 5^th/6^th Playoff between John Bowes (Crake Valley) and Pamela Dawson (Gainsborough) was another closely fought match which John won (7-6). He was awarded the Plate.

Alan Munday (Belsay Hall) beat Kim Dalland (7-5) in the 7^th/8^th Playoff.

Another closely fought match in the 9^th/10^th Playoff between Kate Packham (Nottingham) and Brenda Knight (Crake Valley) saw Kate come through (7-6) to win the Shield.

Sharon De Maine (Pendle and Craven) withdrew from the 11th/12^th Playoff against Barbara Duncan (Bury)

David beat Eddie (7-1) in the Final and took the Trophy for a second year and despite the scoreline we experienced some exciting play and great shots from both men, along with some tense crowd pleasing moments.

Club President, David Barrett, presented the trophies and medals.

Thanks go to the referee, John Crossland; the Tournament Manager and Admin Team, the Grounds Team and the Catering Team, for making the day an enormous success which everyone involved enjoyed.

Full results can be seen on Croquet Scores

Patricia Duke-Cox retires as President of Croquet England

Patricia Duke-Cox wishes to announce her retirement as President of Croquet England with effect from the end of the AGM in October 2025.

Having taken on the role of President of the Croquet Association when Quiller Barrett stood down in October 2022, overseeing AGMs in 2023, two in 2024, and 2025 she feels the time is right for another to provide relevant experience for a national charitable organisation and has much pleasure is proposing Jonathan Isaacs for that role.

Patricia says "I have been pleased to represent Croquet England within the Domain at major events and at club level with an emphasis on attending events that involve younger players such as Cuppers at Cambridge, Students championship at Oxford and the Schools and Juniors at Nottingham. In addition, it was an honour to have been invited and to attend celebrations for clubs' special occasions. Another privilege has been the invitation to attend meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Board to keep abreast of current strategies."

Samir Patel responded "It has been a great pleasure to work with Patricia Duke-Cox during my term as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Croquet England. I have found her advice valuable as we have charted our course. I thank her for this contribution, and wish her a long and happy retirement."

Details of the process for election of a new President will be announced soon.

Phyllis Court 2 beat Bromley 6-1

by Christopher Roberts at Phyllis Court [^]
19 Jul (GC - Federations Shield)

PCC 'B' 6 - 1 Bromley

?Phyllis Court's 'Team B' team scored an excellent 6-1 victory over visitors Bromley to reach the National Final of the Federations Shield Handicap (Advantage) competition today.
In doing so, they avenged the defeat suffered by our 'A' team at the hands of Bromley in the previous round.

Heavy overnight rain returned for the first hour or so of play and in enough abundance to cause concern for the completing of the fixture, but its mid-morning easing settled the nerves on that score.

Phyllis Court got off to a terrific start with captain Raghu Iyer and Dee McKibbin winning their morning singes 5-7, 4-4, 7-6 and 7-1, 7-5 against Caroline Burden and Martin Daniels respectively.

Quite a while afterwards, Helen Essa and Rob Eagle won their doubles rubber as well, in a closely fought affair, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 against Adam Newbould and Karen Newbould, to put Phyllis Court in the commanding position of needing just one of the four afternoon singles matches to clinch the team win.

Bromley were not done so soon though, and took all four matches to third and deciding games and kept Phyllis Court honest when they won the first games in two of the rubbers.

Essa had an easy first game win 7-1 but an impressive comeback by Bromley captain Karen Newbould kept her side in the fixture just 7-1, 4-7, 6-7.

However, wins for Iyer (v Daniels), 7-4, 6-7, 7-1, McKibbin (v Adam Newbould) 3-7, 7-4, 7-6 and Eagle (v Burden) 6-7, 7-6, 7-1 sealed Phyllis Court's victory with aplomb and a resounding 6-1 score line.
.

PCC 'B' - Raghu Iyer (3), Dee McKibbin (5), Helen Essa (5), Rob Eagle (6)
Bromley - Martin Daniels (1), Adam Newbould (2), Karen Newbould (3), Caroline Burden (6)
.
Phyllis Court will contest the National Final versus the winner of the other semi-final between Colchester and Crake Valley.

Newport beat Ashby 7-0

by Alex Lake at Newport [^]
27th July (AC - Longman Cup)

High Wycombe beat Sussex County 4-3

by Chris Williams at Unknown - not stated [^]
19 Jul (AC - Longman Cup)

High Wycombe scores first

Kenny Weir (14) and Matt Miles Griffiths (14) beat Simon Fenn-Tye (8) and David Gillett (8) +14t
Alan Clark (3.5) lost to Nigel Billingham (9) -20t
Richard Coward (7) lost to Steve Chapman (6) -5t

Alan Clark (3.5) beat Steve Chapman (6) +6t
Richard Coward (7) beat David Gillet (8) +11t
Kenny Weir (14) beat Nigel Billingham (9) +7t
Matt Miles Griffiths (14) lost to Simon Fenn-Tye (8) -11t

Bowdon lost to Bury 3-4

by Ken Jones at Bowdon [^]
25 Jul (AC - Mary Rose)

Result of Mary Rose quarter final match between Bowdon and Bury, played at Bowdon on Friday 25 July.

Bury won 4-3.

Individual game scores (Bowdon names first):

Charles Harding (0.5) & Brian Medley (1) lost to Paul Kenworthy (0.5) & Ken Jones (3.5) -4(t)
Robert Essler (1) beat Richard Leach (10) +10(t)
Sylvia Steer (7) lost to Tony Phillips (4.5) -6(t)

Charles Harding beat Paul Kenworthy +1(t)
Brian Medley beat Ken Jones +22
Robert Essler lost to Tony Phillips -10(t)
Sylvia Steer lost to Richard Leach -4(t)

Phyllis Court lost to East Dorset 3-4

by Mike Rice at Phyllis Court [^]
26th July (AC - Longman Cup)

Guildford beat Hamptworth 5-0

by Andrea Huxley at Guildford & Godalming [^]
25 Jul (GC - Murphy Shield)

ICS (Murphy Shield) Guildford and Godalming v Hamptworth CC

played at Guildford & Godalming 25 July 2025

Doubles Douglas Shand & Julie Tremble beat Richard Smith & Hugh Risebrow 7-4, 7-3

Singles
1 GOSDEN John beat HAMMOND Bill 7 0
2 GOSDEN John beat HAMMOND Bill 7 5
3 LOCKWOOD Andrew beat EKE Michael 7 3
4 EKE Michael beat LOCKWOOD Andrew 7 5
5 LOCKWOOD Andrew beat EKE Michael 7 5
6 SHAND Douglas beat SMITH Richard 7 4
7 SHAND Douglas beat SMITH Richard 7 5
8 TREMBLE Julie beat RISEBROW Hugh 7 5
9 TREMBLE Julie beat RISEBROW Hugh 7 4
10 EKE Michael beat GOSDEN John 7 5
11 GOSDEN John beat EKE Michael 7 6
12 HAMMOND Bill beat LOCKWOOD Andrew 7 6
13 LOCKWOOD Andrew beat HAMMOND Bill 7 3

Guildford and Godalming beat Hamotworth 5 games to 0

AC Eights Selections

by James Death [Admin] [^]
23rd July (AC)

Note: The President's Cup and Selectors' are in alphabetical order, others (including reserves) are in order of merit.

Eights Week Conditions

Previous winners are in the history section.

Liza Furnival won the Cheltenham C-Level GC event

Liza Furnival wins the Barter Cup

Once again this weekend's Barter Trophy was quickly oversubscribed to the point where next year's allocation will be increased to 24. However, this year's 4 block winners were Liza Furnival, Brenda Duplock, Claire Herring, (all undefeated) and Richard Pinder who went through to the knock out stage with their respective runner ups. The remaining players went into their own consolation knock out plate. This was won by Jill Shaw 7-2 over Andy Brister. The main event saw Liza Furnival continue to dominate, while Graham Brooksbank had to battle his way through his opponents 7-5 and 7-6

The final was of a high standard and saw Graham race to a 5-2 lead, but was pulled back to 6-6, leaving him first up to the 13^th unfortunately he was short, surprisingly so too was Liza giving the advantage back to Graham. Their next two balls were better and Graham did indeed have the first shot which landed on the near wire leaving Liza a wide gate to go in off which she did settling in the jaws. Graham could do little to remove it and Liza promoted herself through to retain the 'Barter trophy' for a second consecutive year!

(All scores are on CS.) It is normal to thank everyone at the club that help to set up and run a tournament for others to enjoy. However, I would like to particularly identify Brian Jamieson for making himself available to referee throughout the day, which allowed me to rest!

Debbie Lines is Super-Advanced champion of England

Roehampton at 11 & 3

Players arrived at Roehampton for its annual gold cup advanced weekend to find the heavy overnight rain had created lakes where there were once croquet courts. Eventually the rain stopped and just as it looked as if they might start drying out, the heavens opened again and the flooding became worse than before. Frustrated by the lack of croquet, some of the players retired to the main clubhouse and invented an icosohedral dice-based croquet board game. With rain still falling, lunch was taken and hopes began to fade of any play on Saturday; one player even chose to go home. However, as forecast, the rain abated shortly after lunch, and a combination of sandy soil and a lot of hard work by players with the rollers and the bowdry (other brands of water soakeruperers are available) the courts became playable by 3.30 pm. The photos show court 2 at 11 am and 3 pm.

This year's edition of the gold cup (so named because of the colour of the trophy) was played as a super advanced flexible swiss. Super advanced was chosen because despite the quadway hoops and Fletcher balls, the lawn conditions at Roehampton are typically very easy and games have a tendancy to be one-sided shooting contests. As the only super advanced tournament in the country this year, the event thus became the de facto super advanced national championship.

After a shortened first day, four players were undefeated overnight and many more had only one loss. Either through good luck or good judgement of the manager, a clear winner emerged by the end of Sunday and Debbie Lines, with four wins out of four, was crowned the gold cup winner and super advanced champion of England for 2025. Three of Debbie's four wins were against the second, third and fourth placed players, which left no doubt that she was a thoroughly deserved winner. Joint second place were Ian Lines and Teddy Wilmot-Sitwell. Teddy continues to improve rapidly --- he defeated David Maugham with a 35 m hit in and fearless finish after being TPO'd, and he rounded off the tournament with his third career TP.

David Maugham won the peeling prize with a QP in his first game and three triples (which turned out to be unnecessary for the prize). The most-games prize went to Robert Wilkinson, whose efficient play allowed him to complete six games in the rain-shortened weekend --- one more than anyone else. Five previous winners of the event contested the weekend, the most noteworthy of which was Dennis Bulloch from New Zealand, who last won the gold cup in 1975 (50 years ago!). This was the first time he had seen his name on the trophy and he was bemused to find it spelled incorrectly.

Overall, in the manager's opinion, the choice of super advanced achieved its aim of increasing interactivity in games and gave players a slightly different challenge from the usual advanced weekend. Thank you to all the players for their good humour and forbearance during the 6-hour rain delay.

Southport beat Bury 6-1

by Gail Moors at Southport [^]
20th July (AC - Longman Cup)

Dulwich lost to Sussex County 3-4

by Vincent L'Estrange at Dulwich [^]
18 Jul (GC - Murphy Shield)

On Friday, 18 July holders Sussex County Croquet Club set off for Dulwich to play a quarter-final match in the Murphy Shield in what proved to be a close encounter.

After an early start, the Sussex team of Ben Harwood (1), Vincent L'Estrange, Paul Green and David King (all 3) arrived in buoyant mood, despite the last 14 miles of the journey through the south London traffic taking about 1 ¼ hours. (same for the return journey).

In the morning doubles, Ben & David lost by 5-7, 6-7 in a very tight match with some amazing hoops run (some fortuitously), while Vincent scored a good 7-6, 7-4 win. A morning lead then depended on Paul Green, who was level at 1 game all and about to start his 3^rd game. All went well and Paul won that 7-2 to give SCCC a lunchtime lead of 2-1.

We all enjoyed a very good buffet lunch, knowing that 2 wins in the 4 singles would give us the match . The first result in the afternoon was a 0-2 defeat for Vincent, reversing his good morning win. Next to finish was David, who was well beaten 0-2. Ben meanwhile had won his first game 7-4, but was 5-1 down in the second - but showing amazing resilience he clawed his way back to pull off a fine win by 7-5! So the match score was now level at 3 all, when we all went off to find out how Paul was getting on.

Paul had won his first game 7-4, but his opponent was fighting back hard, and went on to win the second game to level it up. All now depended on the final game. After a good start, Paul was 5-2 up, but it was not over yet - his wily opponent would not let up and was inching back, and only at the 12^th did Paul manage to clinch the hoop and give us a Semi Final place with an overall 4-3 victory.

Well done team, and our thanks to Dulwich for their hospitality, and a very tough but enjoyable match.

Croquet England AC Open Championships

(Photo: Samir Patel)

Singles Championship: Robert Fulford
Singles Runner-Up: Jenny Clarke

Doubles Championship: James Death & Samir Patel
Doubles Runeer-Up: Jenny Clarke & Stephen Mulliner

Solomon Peeling Trophy: Robert Fulford

Association Plate: Omied Hallam

Doubles Plate: Alison Maugham & Nigel Polhill

Consolation Z: Jack Good

More complete report to follow in the Croquet Gazette.

Pendle lost to Southport 2-5

by Sue Wilkie at Pendle [^]
19th July (GC - Murphy Shield)

Sussex County beat Caversham 4-3

by David Gillett at Sussex County [^]
18th July (AC - Secretary's Shield)

David Gillett and Robyn Clark lost to Neil George and Charles Briggs -1

Steve Chapman lost to Chris Barnard -9

Simon Fenn-Tye beat Brian Jameson +3

Steve Chapman beat Brian Jameson +1

David Gillett lost to Neil George -7

Simon Fenn-Tye beat Charles Briggs +4

Robyn Clark beat Chris Barnard +15

Sussex County beat Bristol 4-3

by Gabrielle Higgins at High Wycombe [^]
17th July (AC - Inter-Club)

Sussex County secured another tight win, this time over Bristol, in the AC Inter-Club Championship to earn a place in the semi-finals for only the third time this century, and the first time since 2008.

The match went to the wire. With the game scores standing at 3-2 to Southwick, Bristol's David Goacher embarked on a triple peel against Southwick's Dom Nunns, always looking under control. Meanwhile on the adjacent lawn, the innings was exchanging hands multiple times between Southwick's Paul Castell and Bristol's Dom Aarvold. As David was lining up his short range peg out, Paul clattered into partner while trying to get his own rush to the peg. Moments after David levelled the match at 3-3, Paul played his 5 yard peg out … and missed. But Dom narrowly missed his hit in, and Paul clinched the fourth point for Sussex.

Congratulations to the Sussex team of Dom Nunns, Gabrielle Higgins, Tudor Jenkins and Paul Castell. Commiserations to the Bristol team of David Goacher, Dave Kibble, Dom Aarvold and especially Richard M Smith who didn't take croquet all day. And huge thanks to High Wycombe Croquet Club for sacrificing a weekly roll-up session to host us, offering lawns that were a delight to play on, exemplary hospitality, and perfect weather to boot.

Match results:

Dominic Nunns & Gabrielle Higgins beat David Goacher & Richard M Smith +26

Tudor Jenkins beat Dominic Aarvold + 13

Paul Castell lost to Dave Kibble -26tp

Dominic Nunns lost to David Goacher -16tp

Gabrielle Higgins beat Richard M Smith +26tp

Tudor Jenkins lost to Dave Kibble -25tp

Paul Castell beat Dominic Aarvold +14

Roehampton beat Compton 4-2

by Mark Green at Roehampton [^]
17th July (GC - Tier 3 Bowl)

The Quarter Final of the GC Inter-Club Bowl was played on 16 July 2025 between Roehampton and Compton at The Roehampton Club. Roehampton won a very tight test 4-2, with an agreement not to complete the third game of the doubles, which had been left at 1-1 due to morning time constraints.

Phyllis Court beat Caversham 4-3

by Alastair Broom at Phyllis Court [^]
15th July (GC - Tier 3 Bowl)

Phyllis Court 1 lost to Bromley 3-4

by Steve Leonard at Surbiton [^]
15th July (GC - Federations Shield)