World Croquet Federation Treasurer Expression of Interest Request

by Alison Maugham [^]
9th November (CqE Official News)

WCF Treasurer expression of interest request The WCF Management Committee are currently seeking a new member for the role of WCF Treasurer. Please see attached documents for your consideration, please circulate among your members, your help is greatly appreciated.

For more information about the rule please visit the World Croquet Federation website

Updated - Selection availability webpage now open for three events

by Chris Clarke at Various [^]
4th November (CqE Official News)

The selection availability webpage is now open to players to make themselves available for the 2027 GC European Champs, the 2027 European Under 21 Champs and the Women's AC match v Div 2 Inter-County winners.

Please note that the closing date for the GC Europeans is very early - 9th December.

All other selection events will become live on the selection availability webpage on 1st February.

Chris Clarke
Chair of CqE Selectors

2027 GC European Championships

by Aston Wade (Chair of International at Spain [^]
30th October (International)

Players are invited to make themselves available for the 2027 European GC Championship.

The Championship will be held on 13-16 May 2027 at two clubs: Real Club Pineda and Club Zaudin Golf in Seville, Spain.

Please note that the closing date is the 9^th December 2026

Tournament and Handicap Committee Update

by Richard Bilton [^]
27th October (GC)

Due to increasing popularity, Croquet England is expanding the GC Series structure for 2027, creating more croquet opportunities for everyone.

The Tournaments Committee has decided to create a new one-day Series, which will be added above the existing B-Level Series and below the current two-day A-Level Series. The extra series will lead to more events and reduce the range that each Series covers. It is hoped that this will allow more people to participate, and ultimately reduce the number of players competing for places in each series, so fewer people will miss out on allocation.

A review has been established by the Handicap Committee looking in detail at the alignment of handicaps and DGrades, which will make its recommendations before the end of the year. Once completed, the boundaries for each Series will be finalised and the full Series programme for 2027 announced in the New Year, before the Fixtures Calendar goes live.

Separately, the GC All-England handicap competition will be replaced with a new Advantage GC Series, with players able to enter as many events as they want throughout the country, culminating in a National Final.

Appointment of Committee Members to the Newly Formed Croquet England Committee Structure

by Alison Maugham [^]
21st October (CqE Official News)

It is with great pleasure that we can announce the membership appointments to our newly formed committees. Our One Croquet Philosophy will now begin to take shape under our new Executive leadership and its committee chairs and members, working together to align with our shared vision and strategic priorities.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who expressed an interest in becoming part of our organisation. Whether successful at this time or not, we value the commitment shown to our sport and Croquet England. We look forward to working with all our volunteers to achieve great successes in the future.

We are excited to announce that new volunteers will be joining our organisation, who have taken the opportunity provided through the restructure to show their support. Although this means that there will be some committee members who will now be stepping down from our committees, we take this time to appreciate the hard work and support they have provided in the past. We hope that they will continue to support the sport where they can and to enjoy being a part of our wonderful croquet community. Please don't forget we have many opportunities for people to volunteer outside of the Committee structure and would encourage you to get in touch (communications#croquetengland.org.uk) if you would like to support the development of Croquet.

Our committees, chairs and membership are detailed on our website (https://www.croquet.org.uk/CqE/committees).

Executive Team

Croquet Gazette - October 2026

The Croquet Gazette issue 423, October 2026, is now available. Please share away and help us spread the joy of Croquet.

https://online.flippingbook.com/view/640502901/

Hurlingham Handicap One-Ball

by Tony Bingham at Hurlingham [^]
14th October (AC - Handicap)

Close to the end of Hurlingham's main croquet lawns season, a record entry of 25 played for the Bingham Bowl. 7 were home players, 3 each from Blewbury and Compton, 2 each from Chester and Roehampton and 1 each from Bath, East Dorset, Hampstead Heath, Kington Langley, Norwich, South Ockendon, Surbiton and Woking. It was a beautiful autumn day, sunny with clouds, warm enough in the sun but chilly otherwise. One-Ball handicaps ranged from minus 6 to 4 players on 20 (all handicaps calculated using the recommended CE method that takes account of both AC and GC handicaps). As ever success depended on tactical nous, knowing when to attack and when to defend, how best to use bisques as well as the more obvious skills of roqueting the opponent, taking good positions and running hoops reliably. With matches of different duration, most finishing 7, others 8 or even 9, the flexible Swiss format meant that the leaders were judged on percentage of wins to matches played.

At lunch with either 4 or 5 games completed, on the winners plays winners and losers play losers principle, five players in particular vied for supremacy on 3 or 4 wins: Tim Gibbons (Hurlingham, handicap 16), Andy Meikle (East Dorset, 2), Sara Furnas (Hurlingham, 20), Michael George (Compton, 20) and 13-year old Hanna Laganowska Black (Bath, 20) who had just lost her first match but then found her form on the fast lawns. After lunch the manager ensured that they would as far as practicable play each other. Others were close and there was still all to play for. The last few rounds saw twists and turns as ever.

Tim beat Andy, Sara and Michael fell away, Hanna kept winning and crucially beat Tim. Former winners Mark Wellby (Hurlingham, 7.5) and Brian Jamieson (Blewbury, 10) made late runs. Annabel McDiarmid (Woking, - 6) and Richard Platt (Compton, 8) were not far off.

The final result was determined by the match between Hanna and Andy; had Andy won Tim, Hanna and Andy would all have been on 6 wins out of 7 with each having beaten one of the two others - the manager's nightmare because "who beat whom" would not have worked. Thankfully (for the manager at least) Hanna won, showing remarkable skill and maturity for her years. She benefited from 6 bisques but still had to use them wisely and execute her shots, which she did with aplomb.

The winner therefore was young Hanna Laganowska Black playing this event for the first time, with Tim Gibbons second, both on 6 from 7 but Hanna had beaten Tim earlier. Mark Wellby came 3rd (6 from 8), Andy Meikle 4th (5 from 7), Annabel McDiarmid, Brian Jamieson and Richard Platt were 5th equal on 5 from 8. Thanks go to Rod Ashwell for acting as RoT.

Richard Andrews, just finished as Hurlingham's Croquet Chair, presented the Bingham Bowl and Hurlingham whisky (!) tumblers to the winner; the runner-up also received glassware All matches were played in a very good spirit and Tony was thanked for making it a very well run and most enjoyable tournament. The international standard lawns played brilliantly as ever.

A Junior Win at Hurlingam

Congratulations to Hanna (13) from Bath Croquet Club, a Croquet England young player who has won the Bingham Bowl, winning 6 of 7 games at the Hurlingham One-Ball tournament on Saturday 10 October 2026.

Hanna comments "It was great fun and I really enjoyed the experience. I think more Juniors should play One-Ball - it helps improve your skills and introduces you to AC too."

Ian Draper, Head of Growth and Grass roots sends his congratulations: "We are proud of Hanna. She is a valued and committed player who has played with other junior players for the last two years. She has worked hard at developing her skills and knowledge of the game. This is a great achievement and well deserved.

Hanna is one of a number of up-and-coming Juniors Look out for them through 2027."

David Fuller won the ARK

by Martin Burger at Surbiton [^]
13th October (AC)

Although the court speed was only moderately fast , most players found conditions challenging and 20 of 39 games went to time (3 hours) with 9 of these +1(T) . After the first day three players were unbeaten - David Fuller , Martin Burger and Paul Watson.

Paul's match was pegged down along with 3 others and after four rounds, Martin and David , both unbeaten played a fifth round. Meanwhile Paul won his pegged down game and a following one. So if he won his fifth game there would have been two unbeaten players . But David won and Paul lost. David was also notable for achieving the only triple peel and also in the game against Martin , three peels including one after rover and then a pegout , then hitting the peg with his first long shot . His handicap was automatically reduced from -2 to -2.5. Results on Croquet scores.

Thanks to Andy for his Swiss tournament management system and hoop setting.
There were some problems with illness before and during the event among players and helpers, so the cooks' contribution was particularly appreciated.

England Member places for 2027 AC Worlds in Wellington announced

by Chris Clarke at Wellinton, NZ [^]
13th October (World Championship)

The CqE Selection Committee met this evening and selected James Hopgood and Stuart M Smith for England's two Member places - many congratulations to them both. They join James Death, Samir Patel, Stephen Mulliner, David Fuller, Debbie Lines, Ian Lines, Gabrielle Higgins and Annabel McDiarmid who have received Ranking places. We wish our ten players the best of luck and an enjoyable event.

Chris Clarke

Chair CqE Selection Committee

Beatrice McGlen is elected as a Vice-President of Croquet England

We are delighted to announce the election of Beatrice McGlen as a Vice-President of Croquet England. Beatrice received an overwhelmingly positive vote during the Croquet England 2026 AGM, for which she thanked the membership.

Our President, Jonathan Isaacs, provided the following citation:

Beatrice began her croquet playing career in the 1980s. She joined the Nottingham Club in 1990 and became its Chair in 2017. Under her leadership the club completed an ambitious project to re-lay 3 bowling lawns as croquet lawns and renovate its pavilions. This was financed in part by money she raised through numerous grant applications and crowdfunding. She also did much to promote community engagement, such as the "hoops for health" programme, resulting in the club being presented with the Sports and Recreation Alliance national award for inclusivity and diversity. Women's croquet has been another of her passions, representing England abroad in several events in recent years.

She volunteered for election to the Council of the Croquet Association in 2016, serving on several committees before becoming Chair of the Executive Board in 2020. She then oversaw its transformation into the Executive of Croquet England, becoming its first Chief Executive Officer.

In 2024 she was awarded the Croquet England Medal for outstanding services to the work of Croquet England and the development of croquet in our domain.

In 2025 she stepped down as CEO, but continues to do much to support croquet at club level and beyond.

We congratulate Beatrice and thank her for continuing to support croquet.