AC Eights Selections

by James Death [Admin] at Various [^]
22nd 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.

Trustee elections: call for nominations

by Gabrielle Higgins [^]
18th July (CqE Official News)

Nominations are invited of candidates to stand for election to the Board of Trustees of Croquet England in the following constituencies:

• The Central Counties and Wales (the old counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire, and Wales)
• The Northern Counties (the old counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire)
• The South West Counties (the old counties of the Channel Islands, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset)
• The Western Home Counties (the old counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Surrey)

Each constituency will elect one trustee.

Pursuant to rule 1.2 of the Election Rules, the timetable is as follows:

• Opening date for nominations: 22 July 2026
• Closing date for nominations: 11.59 pm on 9 September 2026
• Opening date for voting if an election is required: 10 September 2026
• Closing date for voting: 11.59pm on 2 October 2026

Candidates for election must:

• Be voting members of Croquet England (any subscriber aged 16 or over can register as a voting member by completing a simple form and declaration)
• Be proposed and seconded by voting members of Croquet England registered to vote in the constituency in which they are standing for election
• Be habitually resident in the constituency in which they are standing for election
• Agree to stand

To find out which historic county any postal address is in, use the 'Convert a Post Code' function at Gazetteer of British Place Names.

Further information is available about the elections and the skills sought from trustees. The Board is particularly keen to strengthen its knowledge and experience of Sport England; HR management best practice; design, development and operation of databases, websites and IT systems; performance evaluation, succession planning, and oversight of organisational change; fundraising; and marketing.

Guidance for prospective trustees is also available.

To stand for election, please complete a nomination form and return it to returning.officer#croquetengland.org.uk. You can find a list of the voting members in your constituency who can propose or second you in the Directory.

The 2025 Electoral Commission report explains the constituencies further.

Voting

• Only registered voting members of Croquet England can vote. Any subscriber over the age of 16 can become a member at any time by completing a simple form at Voting Membership of Croquet England. There is no cost, but there is a requirement to complete a declaration (because Croquet England is a charity) to the effect that you will exercise your right to vote in a way that you believe is most likely to further the purposes of Croquet England.
• To vote in an election, a member must also choose a constituency. This can be set at any time at Review Croquet England Voting Constituency. There are no restrictions on which constituency you can choose; choose the one you identify with most.
• To vote in this election, register by 9 September 2026.

James Death Completes the First Ever Recorded Straight Sextuple Peel

Bowdon Croquet Club Has Hosted the Championship of the North of England, Where James Death Completed 4 Sextuple Peels Through the Tournament, Including a Straight Sextuple Peel to Win the Semi-Final Against Debbie Lines

All match results are added to the rankings and these bring James to number 4 in the world. This latest exceptional peeling turn is the first ranked straight sextuple peeling turn ever recorded.

Comparisons with other rare sporting feats could include a 9 dart finish with a double start, or a maximum 147 break in snooker starting with several reds in safe positions.

We look forward to watching James's progress in the 2027 World Championship where he will be competing in a field of 80 players in New Zealand.

GC Eights at Budleigh and Sidmouth

Aston Wade receiving the Ricki Savage trophy from Chris Roberts (Photo: Richard Bilton)

Golf Croquet Eights Winners

Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth Croquet Clubs hosted the three Top Eight 2026 selection tournaments for Golf Croquet

Congratulations to our winners:

Aston Wade (Hurlingham Club) - First Eight Winner: Ricki Savage Memorial
Tim Jolliff (Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club) - Second Eight Winner: Kate Jones Memorial
Martin French (Bude Croquet Club) - Third Eight Winner: Suzanne Roberts Memorial

Clive Goode Won the Tompkinson Shield

by Andrew Gregory at Edgbaston Croquet Club [^]
3rd September (AC)

As many other clubs, Edgbaston's lawns had suffered in the drought, and conditions were tricky.

I'm sure top players would have coped, but they are not allowed in this SuperB event.

Only 7 out of 30 games saw the winner score 26 points.

After two rounds, the undefeated players were the Nottingham trio of Clive Goode, Dave Gunn and Beatrice McGlen.

In round 3, Beatrice beat Dave.

In round 4, Clive beat Beatrice.

In round 5 the game between Clive and Dave went to the golden hoop.

A win for Dave would have seen the three Nottingham players tied; no prizes for guessing what tiebreak the Mangler was intending.

This did not happen: Clive ran 4-back to secure his second Tompkinson Shield.

Enough about croquet, I like the pretty patterns numbers make.

After every round the pattern of scores was symmetric. (With 12 players this is only inevitable for the first two rounds.)

After 4 rounds we had 1 player on 4 wins, 3 on 3, 4 on 2, 3 on 1 and 1 on 0.

One of the 3s had played the 4 and the other 2 3s, so 2 of the 2s had to float up.

The inverse situation applied to the bottom 4, so 2 of the 2s floated down.

This meant that for the final round no pairing featured two players on the same score.

Despite this, the pattern after the last round maintained symmetry.

Winner: Clive Goode 5/5

Runner-up: Beatrice McGlen 4/5

Bowdon beat East Dorset 4-3

by James Death [Admin] at Cheltenham [^]
2nd September (AC - Inter-Club)

Bowdon B lost to Peterborough 5-6

by Adrian Kirby at Bowdon [^]
2nd September (AC - Short Croquet Inter-Club)

Yesterday, at Bowdon, Peterborough ever so narrowly beat Bowdon B in one of the Short Croquet semifinals.

The overall score was 6:5, but the visitors' win in the doubles (one of four Plus One On Time results) was an especially knife-edge affair. Just before time was called, and with a three-hoop lead, Brian decided not to risk a longish shot at Debbie (in Corner 1) and Adrian (deliberately two feet east). In the time turn Debbie played one of her best ever rushes, to put Pink six inches in front of Hoop 4, and she and Adrian (it was alternate-stroke) made the last three hoops and laid a dolly rush for the golden hoop, duly achieved when Philip missed them by a whisker from 20 yards. (Adrian had run the super-tight Hoop 5 very firmly, luckily being slowed up enough by both wires to stop south of White, for the rush to 6.)

Detailed results, visitor names first were:

Debbie Lines and Adrian Kirby (-3) beat Brian Medley and Philip Thompson (2.5) +1t (11:10)

Ian Lines (-4) beat Nigel Matthews (-5) +1t (9:8)

Stephen Cornelius (1) lost to Robert Cutts-Watson (3.5) -3t (7:10)

Interim game score 2:1

Debbie (-4) beat Nigel +8

Ian beat Brian (-2) +11

Adrian (-2) lost to Robert -14 (and with 1.5 bisques not used)

Stephen lost another nail-biter to Philip -1t (5:6)

Interim game score 4:3

Debbie lost to Philip -3

Ian lost to Robert -1t (10:11)

Adrian beat Brian +10

Stephen beat Nigel +4

Final score 6:5

(In the encounter between the team captains, Brian found himself having to peel Adrian through the last hoop - cancelling Adrian's second mandatory peel - to have any chance of continuing his break. Which then allowed Adrian a proper peg-out finish - hooray!)

The high-bisquers were the best performers on the day: Robert and Philip won all their singles games. Well done to them!

And thank you - Brian and team - for the excellent catering.

James Death won the Northern Championship

by Ian Lines at Bowdon [^]
1st September (AC - Championships)

A full field of 16 gathered at Bowdon for the North of England Championship. It was probably the strongest entry for many years with all the players having a minus handicap, and 10 players having handicaps of -1.5 or lower.

The lawns, unlike last year, were generally easy, with recent rain leading to fully green lawns and fairly soft ground with forgiving hoops, even though set at about 1/32". Last year many games went to time in the challenging conditions, with the final having to be completed on an extra day - but this year all 75 games finished well within time - with many peeling turns being attempted.

In the first round, Alison Maugham played well to beat Ian Lines+26tp, -5, +26tp, with 6^th turn triples in both the first and third games. James Death had a qp and 3 sxps on the first day to beat Dave Kibble and Nigel Matthews without either of them even taking croquet. In the semi-finals, Debbie Lines put up more resistance to James, unfortunately breaking down on a tp in the first game, but completing a 6^th turn triple in the second. In the deciding third game, James made some remarkable croquet history by becoming the first person to complete a straight sextuple peel (ssxp) in a ranking game. Apparently he has done something similar before as part of an octuple, but this is the first time that an ssxp has been achieved. It seemed appropriate that Debbie had her first sxp against James in 2014, and now James had the first ssxp against Debbie.

In the final, James beat Robin Brown +13tpo, +26qp, +17sqp, with neither player making any errors of note, but James hit literally every shot and completed some excellent peeling turns to deservedly win the Faulkner Cup, finishing the best of 5 in under 3 hours, including some breaks.

The Tollemache Plate was contested as an 8 player knockout on Monday by the most successful players not in the main event final. The final of the plate was between Debbie Lines and Jack Good, who both attempted some very adventurous peeling turns, but in the end Jack's ability to hit consistently at over 20 yards, and his skill in playing some excellent croquet shots proved to be decisive in enabling him to win +7.

The club provided an endless stream of fantastic home-made cakes, and there was a well-attended tournament meal on the Sunday evening at the local Thai restaurant. The prizes were presented by Michael Sandler and James Death thanked all the volunteers and emphasised the vital importance of club volunteers in helping to make clubs such as Bowdon so successful. Particular thanks must also go to Charles Harding for his tireless work in steadily improving the lawns at Bowdon, and for preparing the courts for this event.

Full results are on CroquetScores at https://croquetscores.com/2026/ac/the-north-of-england-championship

Andy Sherwood & John Picken Won the National Forest GC Doubles

by Arthur Rowe [^]
1st September (GC)

The 7th year of this popular competition was contested at Ashby over the bank holiday weekend by eight pairs in contrasting weather, with heavy downpours on Saturday and sunshine on Sunday. The block format was double games.

Top seeds Andy Sherwood and John Picken didn't get off to a good start on Saturday, but qualified in 2nd place in their block behind John Tidy and Ki Hulme from Sheffield. In the other block, Arthur & Judith Rowe had a clean sweep and won all their games, which earned them the right to play Andy & John in the first semifinal, by which time the top seeds had regained their expected form and made short work of dispatching Arthur & Judith. In the other seimfinal, John Tidy & Ki beat Mike O'Brian and Penny Manton in straight games.

The final was a closely fought affair, but Andy Sherwood & John Picken emerged victorious with 7-6, 7-6 wins against John Tidy & Ki.

The plate was won by Andrew Grant & John Palframan on hoop difference from Andrew & Lindsay Hobbs.

Full results on croquetscores:
https://croquetscores.com/2026/gc/national-forest-doubles

Photos by Janet Sherwood (players) and Judith Rowe (winners).

Woking C and D Level

by Sara Anderson at Woking [^]
1st September (GC - Tournaments)

Woking held a GC C and D Level tournament alongside each other on Friday 28th August to enable players to obtain D grades.

The forecast was not good with thundery showers due throughout the day. However, we were very lucky with the weather only having to exit the lawns once.

We had 6 players in each of the C and D level so had two all play all tournaments.

It was really encouraging to have a number of juniors (18 and under) competing. The "C" had two juniors and the "D" had three juniors all competing against the more mature players.

Because each player had 5 matches there was no time restriction so each match went to completion, first to seven.

In the D Level Hanna, a junior player from Bath, and Barry Maunders from Woking (who was playing in his first tournament) both went into the final round with 4 wins each. Therefore this match was going to be the decider. Barry eventually won a very close game 7-5 .

The C level was also closely contested with the result being decided on net hoops as both contenders each had 4 wins. Christopher Lavender (Woking) was declared the winner with yet another junior, Mark (Woking) as runner up.

Winners and Runner-ups were presented with trophies and engraved glasses.

The results are on croquetscores.com and pictures available on Woking Croquet's Facebook page.

Bury lost to Crake Valley 2-5

by Chris Williamson at Bury [^]
3 Aug (AC - Longman Cup)

Top Eight Golf Croquet players to compete in Devon

The top eight available Golf Croquet players in the country will compete for the Ricki Savage Memorial at Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club

The annual tournaments of the available top eight selected players will compete for the title this year in Devon based club, Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club. The players have been chosen to play by a selection committee who consider player performance leading up to the selection date.

Event Date: Saturday 29^th August 2026 - Monday 31^th August 2026
Event Location: Westfield Close, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, EX9 6ST
Club Website: https://www.budleighcroquet.org/

The competitors in alphabetical order are:
Dom Aarvold - Bristol Croquet Club
Richard Bilton - Gainsborough Croquet Club
Euan Burridge - Nottingham Croquet Club
Ian Burridge - Nottingham Croquet Club
Chris Roberts - Phyllis Court Club
Tim Russell - Roehampton Club
Stuart M Smith - Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club
Aston Wade - Hurlingham Club

The current holder of the trophy is Tobi Savage who will not be competing this year.

Spectators are welcome at Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club to watch the top players in action.

Tim Russell won the GC Veterans Championship

by John Low at Sussex County [^]
26th August (GC - Championships)

The 2026 GC Veterans Championship was won by top seed Tim Russell, who beat second seed Lionel Tibble 7-4, 7-5. This is the third time Tim has won the event in the last four years, two of those at Sussex where the competition has now come to the end of its three-year cycle.

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 second morning, followed by a knockout and plate stage.

Weather conditions at Southwick were fine, if a little on the hot side. The lawns were fast, dry and challenging; a watering system fault had occurred 3 days before and over the weekend and that, coupled with the exceptionally dry weather and light winds left the lawns rather less controllable than Sussex's superb groundsman Ben would have liked. The combination of hard ground and very firm Quadway hoops punished the slightest error in hoop running and many games were extended as good clearances and positioning were followed by failed hoops.

The format used by this competition since its inception means 11 block games over a day and a half. Quite challenging as nearly half the players were over 75. The first day ended with Steve Leonard and Andy Dochniak both unbeaten with 7/7 wins each surprisingly Tim and Lionel winning 5/7 games, Tim losing to Nelson Morrow and Steve Leonard, and Lionel losing to Rick Lilley and Andy Dochniak.

After the blocks were finished the following day, Steve and Andy topped their respective blocks, Andy with 10 wins from 11 and Steve with 9 wins from 11 they were accompanied into the knockout stages by Tim, Lionel, Andy Loakes, Stephen Custance-Baker, David Wise and Colin Britt (ranked 11 and 12) taking the last two places.

Among the players over 75, only Stephen Custance-Baker survived into the Semi-Final stage, and he was awarded the Richard Brooks Vase for the Best Performing Player in the age group. Andy Dochniak won the 3rd-4th place play-off. The Shield was won by Andy Loakes.

12 of the 16 possible players entered the Plate event which had a trophy this year, thanks to Croquet England who agreed to provide a freshly engraved new plate for this and future events. After some discussion with the players, the Manager ran it in a cross-block format as originally intended, with all participants playing opponents they had not yet met in the competition.

Many games were very long - not because of slow play (though there was some of that) but because every hoop was hard fought: lots of long clearances followed by defeat at the hands of unforgiving hoops. With hindsight it would probably have been wise to put a time limit on the plate matches, as this would have shortened the length of play on the second day and spared players long waits between games.

The Plate was won by Luis de Alarcon (Spain) who quietly won 5 out of 6 games, the best performance in the event. Luis said he had not played with Quadway hoops before and that clearly affected his performance on the crucial first day of the competition. Sadly, he was only able to go home with a photo of the award, rather than the Plate itself, as Croquet England doesn't allow its trophies to travel abroad!

In his speech at the award, winner Tim Russell thanked the groundsman and catering teams for the excellent work making the tournament a great success.

On a personal note, it has been a pleasure managing the GC Veterans Championship at Sussex for the last three years. Tough, competitive play, but always in a good-natured and friendly way. The event is now off to Surbiton.

Thrills at Nottingham's Annual Tournament

by David Brydon at Nottingham [^]
26th August (AC)

The annual tournament on Nottingham's recently relaid lawns attracted 42 players and generated twelve handicap changes, seven TPs, six trophy winners, one fierce downpour, the customary excellent catering, one championship referee sporting a hat resembling a fried egg, and a rare bombard peg-out.

The August Week at Nottingham is now the last remaining six-day AC event in the tournament calendar where all formats run throughout the week: four classes of singles, the main handicap singles, and handicap doubles. All other clubs seem to have divided their own weeks into adjoining but separate two day events.

The Lawns: Though slower than in the recent Worlds (Tiers 2 and 3), the nine lawns were reasonably paced until Thursday's heavy rain. Drainage took longer than usual following weeks of baking hot weather. The new squeegee machine put to work on Lawn 5 needed to pause every 70 yards to discharge a full tank of rainwater into the Tottle Brook. One visiting minus player claimed he wasn't strong enough to rush the length of the lawns before they'd fully dried out some time on Friday.

The Manager: Recent surgery following a case of interference by an outside agency on the public highway caused Alex McIntyre to switch to a one-handed grip on the managerial keyboard, ably assisted by deputies Ian Vincent and Peter Death. Having one arm in a sling means no more croquet or cycling for a month or two.

Sherwood wins the Robin Hood

Andy Sherwood (Nottingham) at AC4 didn't exactly have a forest of bisques but he may now need a bigger mantelpiece. Consistent and careful play led to victory over Tom Dewar in the final of the B class, before an exciting tussle for the Robin Hood Gold Cup against Adam Swinton (Surbiton). Receiving 4.5 bisques, Andy went to 2 back and rover with four still standing, whereupon Adam decided his chance of winning would be marginally less slim if he could go round, peel oppo through rover and peg two balls off. The resulting game of One Ball didn't go Adam's way. Andy carefully used his GC skills to run his next two hoops, evade some long shots from Adam, and use only two bisques to run his last three hoops and peg out.

Andy takes home the handsome and regilded Robin Hood Cup, with a handicap reduction to 3.5. Adam was presented with the Taylor Salver and moves to -1.

Ashes tested but win the Handicap Doubles

Fifteen pairs competed in this knockout over Tues/Weds/Thurs mornings, resulting in two pairs of high-handicappers reaching Saturday's final. Most years this is contested by two teams of expert-plus-rapid-improver.

Tim Ash (7) & Brenda Ash (20) used their bisques effectively on their way to the final, as did Damian Brownbill (18) & Christine Preston (20). The Ashes now had no bisques, whilst their oppos had just 5.5. Finalists' nerves would likely play a part.

Both sides played ASD. The fun started early on with spectators very properly suppressing their oohs and ahs whenever play constituting an error occurred. Brownbill & Preston picked up their clip after "running" Hoop 1 but Tim forestalled pointing out that it was a half-bisque turn. The strikers then played a full bisque - but set off northwards and "ran" Hoop 2; none of that "going back to score Hoop 1 first" nonsense. This second error however went unnoticed, as did a much later break containing an extra roquet/croquet/continuation. Ok, don't pretend you haven't at some point done this sort of thing.

When time was called the score was 10-10. No points were scored in either extra turn. So on to the golden hoop! Balls that some days might have run hoops either bounced off or blobbed or got cleared. And on (and on) it went for the longest extension period anyone could recall: 25 minutes of who-knows-how-many turns. Eventually Tim managed to jaws the red ball (again) some three millimetres short; oppo shot at it but missed; and on sprinted the fried egg ref. Brenda carefully nudged red a good four millimetres, the hoop was judged scored, arms were flung heavenwards, and every spectator could at last breathe out.

"A thrilling ending" said tournament referee Ian Vincent. Keith Aiton (England coach and commentator in the recent MacRobertson games) said: "That was more exciting than the Mac." And he should know.

Bombardastic

Your reporter's bombarded peg-out came after peeling partner not far enough through rover and failing to avoid it. He croqueted the peelee to 18" or so West of the peg, rushed a side ball pretty adjacent, and aimed the croquet stroke to canon the angled peelee onto the peg and score its final point. Frabjous joy. It was pointed out that a more competent player would have won without the need for any complicated line of play.

The Winners:

A class final: Omied Hallam beat Phil Eardley 26-0

B class final: Andy Sherwood beat Tom Dewar 26-14

C class: Mick Owens was undefeated in each of the two blocks.

D class final (base 10): Damian Brownbill beat Brenda Ash 24-15 (t)

Handicap Doubles: Tim & Brenda beat Christine Preston and Damian 11-10 (t)

Robin Hood Gold Cup: Andy Sherwood beat Adam Swinton 26-14

All results and scores on Croquet Scores.

Bury beat Ashby 5-1

by James Death [Admin] at Bury [^]
26th August (GC - Tier 3 Bowl)

Roehampton beat Hurlingham 5-2

by Diana Wilson at Roehampton [^]
24th August (AC - Mary Rose)

Advance notice of AGM: 10 October 2026

by Gabrielle Higgins [^]
23rd August (CqE Official News)

The Annual General Meeting of Croquet England will be taking place online at 10am on Saturday 10 October.

Any individual voting member who seeks to propose that a resolution be placed before the members for a decision, pursuant to clause 10(2) of the Constitution, shall send to the Secretary, either by email to gabrielle.higgins#croquetengland.org.uk or by post to Croquet England Old Bath Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7DF, to arrive no later than 4 September 2026:

1. the text of the proposed resolution and copies of any document(s) referred to in that text;
2. the name, email address and membership number of the proposer; and
3. the name, email address and membership number of the member who has seconded the proposed resolution.

Any subscriber who is not a member can register as a member at Voting Membership of Croquet England.

GC European Clubs League

by Alison Maugham [^]
20th August (GC)

Good Luck to Cheltenham and Ealing in the final!

Phyllis Court beat Backworth 4-3

by Christopher Roberts [^]
9 Aug (GC - Federations' Shield)

Phyllis Court's Federations Shield (Advantage) team scored a memorable semi-final victory at Backworth on Sunday to qualify for the handicap competition's National Final.
Backworth is a former mining town, 5 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and, at 301 miles away from Phyllis Court's Henley Oxfordshire) home, and the team set a new distance record for the furthest away team match played in England by the Club.
Phyllis Court set their stall out early, when doubles pair Chris Roberts (handicap -2) and Frances Colman (3) opened with a succession of firm clearance strokes and deft positional play that blew away their game opponents Lindsay Bramble (6) and David Whaling (9) in quick time 7-1, 7-2.
On the adjoining court of two excellently presented former bowls greens, that sported pleasingly true and fast playing conditions, visitors Carol Huntington and Martin Sloots were in singles action.
The pair made the five hours plus car journey specifically for this match, which was terrific effort to join Roberts and Colman, who happened to be in Newcastle with a family commitment.
Huntington (3) was untroubled by the hosts' Julie Scott (10) and won comfortably 8-4, 8-4, whilst Sloots (8), debuting for Phyllis Court at this level, drew the short straw against Backworth's number 1 player Jim Forster (3), and the Henley player was always chasing the match and lost 3-9, 4-9.
Phyllis Court took an encouraging 2-1 team match lead into the lunch break with four head-to-head singles matches to come in the afternoon session.
Huntington was unable to defend Bramble's small target score and theirs was the first match finish, 3-5, 1-5 to the Backworth player and it was a similar tale soon after when Colman lost to Whaling 4-7, 4-7.
Backworth's lead was short lived however, when Sloots bossed Scott out of their match 8-4, 8-6, which tied the team match at 3-3 with only the match between the two number ones still in progress.
By this time, Roberts had disastrously peeled is opponent (croquet's equivalent of an own goal) and blocked himself on a second occasion, to gift Forster the first game 5-4.
The team match now resting on this final rubber, Roberts smashed his opponent 8-1 in the second game and soon had a lead to defend in the third.
Forster then repaid the peeling compliment mid-way through that deciding match and, with that decisive error, Roberts romped home 8-3.
Phyllis Court will play the winner of Brodsworth Hall (Doncaster) v Swanage (Dorset) in the National Final next month.

East Dorset beat Sussex County 4-1

by Keith Southern at East Dorset [^]
18th August (GC - Murphy Shield)

On August 16 East Dorset hosted Sussex County in a semi-final of this year's competition. These teams had last met in 2023 at Southwick in atrocious weather conditions - quite the reverse in 2026.

East Dorset led 2-1 at a late lunch break, losing the doubles in 3 close games and winning the match-up of the captains in 2 games. The other singles was a prolonged affair eventually going in favour of East Dorset in 3 very close games. While this rubber was concluding the top two singles completed some of their afternoon games. After lunch the East Dorset players each needed only one further game to wrap up victories in these rubbers, taking the match score to a decisive 4-1. With the likelihood of Sunday evening tourist traffic making for a problematic return journey through the New Forest with the major road still closed following the recent wildfire, the remaining two singles rubbers were abandoned, each after just one game, to allow the visitors an early departure.

Teams and handicaps :

East Dorset : Greg Vaughn (2), Mark Hamann (2), Tim Hughes (3), Keith Southern (3).

Sussex County : Martin Daniels (1), Tony Jolly (2), Vincent L'Estrange (3). Joanne Crosby (4).

The full results are on Croquet Scores. East Dorset will play Southport in the final at Cheltenham in late September.

Swanage beat Brodsworth 6-0

by Keith Southern at Cheltenham [^]
18th August (GC - Federations' Shield)

Played at Cheltenham on August 17, Swanage (South West Federation) defeated Brodsworth (Yorkshire Federation) 6-0 with one singles left unfinished at 1-1. Despite the handicaps of the two teams being very similar this was a convincing display by Swanage who lost only one game during the whole day.

Garway lost to Old Brentwoods 3-4

by Alison Maugham at Garway [^]
17th August (AC - Secretary's Shield)

Simon Collinson (6) and Andrew Bailey (9) beat Alison Maugham (-1.5) and Paul Hetherington (2) +20

Mark Oldale (2) beat Simon McKinnon (10) +6 (t) (22-16)

Bryan Gidley (8) beat Derek Code (20) +3 (t) (8-5)

Mark Oldale lost to Alison Maugham -12

Simon Collinson lost to Paul Hetherington -1 (t) (19-20)

Andrew Bailey lost to Derek Code -13 (t) (4-17)

Bryan Gidley lost to Simon McKinnon -2 (t) (16-18)

MacRobertson Shield Memorabilia

by Mandy Rastelli [Admin] [^]
17th August (The MacRobertson Shield)

MacRobertson Shield memorabilia now available from the Croquet England shop

Limited stock

Roehampton beat Guildford 5-1

by Mark Green at Roehampton [^]
15 Aug (GC - Tier 3 Bowl)

Sidmouth's GC B-Level and Sister Weekend

(Photo: Ed Dolpin)

Sussex County beat Hurlingham 7-0

by Chrissie Merrington at Sussex County [^]
12th August (AC - Longman Cup)

Roehampton lost to Hurlingham 3-4

by Croquet Scores at Roehampton [^]
11 Aug (GC - Inter-Club)

Nottingham beat Wrest Park 6-1

by Beatrice McGlen at Nottingham [^]
6 Aug (AC - Mary Rose)

Wrest Park versus Nottingham.

Mary Rose semi-final played at Nottingham on Thursday 6th August 2026.

Results (Nottingham players first):
Beatrice McGlen (0) & Matt Tapp(1) 26 John Bevington(1) & George Collin(1) 9
Roger Watson (1.5) 26 Tim Nurse (5) 0
Michael Finnigan (3.5) 9 Eric Audsley (1.5) 26

Beatrice McGlen 26 John Bevington 7
Matt Tapp 26 George Collin 16
Roger Watson 26 Eric Audsley 11
Michael Finnigan 26 Tim Nurse 21

Nottingham beat Wrest Park 6-1

Thankfully the searing heat of the last few weeks had abated somewhat and this fixture was played in a comfortable temperature, albeit with a fairly strong breeze. The club's own water supply has been put to good use this summer and the Wrest Park contingent was surprised to see lawns that were not entirely straw coloured. Play started at 10am and all the morning games were completed in time for lunch at the civilised time of 1pm. The top two afternoon games were completed fairly swiftly but a closely fought match between Michael and Tim extended the entertainment until after tea.

Ashby beat Fylde 4-3

by Arthur Rowe at Fylde [^]
9 Aug (AC - Secretary's Shield)

Fylde travelled to Ashby to play this semi-final match. It was hot and dry, and the lawns were extremely fast, providing challenging conditions and some randomness for both teams, with only one game of the seven being completed.

The morning doubles finished in typical fashion as +1T to Fylde, with Ashby winning the two singles games.

After a break for lunch. the afternoon saw the honours shared with two wins each. So Ashby emerged as the 4-3 victors in a close match.

Arthur Rowe
Ashby CC

Ashby
Arthur Rowe 2.5
Andy Sherwood 4
Richard Sanville 11
Judith Rowe 20

Fylde
Peter Wilson 3
Liz Wilson 3.5
Betty Bates 8
Barry Broughton 14

Results (Ashby names first)
Arthur Rowe & Judith Rowe lost to Liz Wilson and Betty Bates -1T
Andy Sherwood beat Peter Wilson +14T
Richard Sanville beat Barry Broughton +2T

Arthur Rowe lost to Peter Wilson -3T
Andy Sherwood beat Liz Wilson +10T
Richard Sanville beat Betty Bates +7T
Judith Rowe lost to Barry Broughton -18

Southport beat Watford 4-3

by Susan Wilkie at Southport [^]
9 Aug (GC - Murphy Shield)

Scores (completed singles games only):
14 games

1 WILKIE Sue beat SKINNER George 7 4
2 SKINNER George beat WILKIE Sue 7 6
3 WILKIE Sue beat SKINNER George 7 4
4 SMALLBONE John beat GREENWOOD Paul 7 2
5 SMALLBONE John beat GREENWOOD Paul 7 6
6 GREEN Eddie beat HATHRELL Simon 7 4
7 GREEN Eddie beat HATHRELL Simon 7 3
8 VENABLES Dave beat JOHNSON Geoff 7 6
9 VENABLES Dave beat JOHNSON Geoff 7 5
10 SKINNER George beat GREENWOOD Paul 7 2
11 SKINNER George beat GREENWOOD Paul 7 5
12 SMALLBONE John beat WILKIE Sue 7 6
13 WILKIE Sue beat SMALLBONE John 7 4
14 SMALLBONE John beat WILKIE Sue 7 5
End

Teams & handicaps:
Southport:
GREEN Eddie 1
VENABLES Dave 2
GREENWOOD Paul 2
WILKIE Sue 3

Watford:
HATHRELL Simon 2
JOHNSON Geoff 2
SKINNER George 2
SMALLBONE John 3

Wrest Park lost to Peterborough 4-7

by David Marsh at Wrest Park [^]
10th August (AC - Short Croquet Inter-Club)

Peterborough beat Wrest Park 7-4 at Wrest Park on 10 August 2026.

Detailed results, with Wrest Park names first:

Peter Rothwell and Tim Nurse (0) beat Adrian Kirby and Stephen Cornelius (0) 6-4
George Collin (1P) lost to Ian Lines (4P) 7-8
David Woolley (3.5) beat Debbie Lines (4P) 7-6

Peter Rothwell (2P) beat Ian Lines (4P) 6-5
George Collin (1P) lost to Debbie Lines (4P) 6-10
Tim Nurse (1.5) lost to Adrian Kirby (2P) 5-8

David Woolley (3.5) lost to Stephen Cornelius (1) 2-7

Peter Rothwell lost to Stephen Cornelius 2-14
George Collin beat Adrian Kirby 9-1

Tim Nurse lost to Debbie Lines 6-11
David Woolley lost to Ian Lines 3-7

MacRobertson Shield Day 17 - The Final Day

Jack Good, Mark Avery, Samir Patel, James Death, Robert Fulford and Jamie Burch (Photo: Junko Hill)

The final day started with us 7-6 ahead needing 4 wins to clinch the event. If all went to plan, we could win 4 or more of the day's starting 6 singles matches, but if not there was potential to have Jack's unfinished singles from day 15 still going on Monday morning!

With finishing the event in mind Mike Town, the manager, gave us an early 9am start. Things got off to a fantastic start with Rob and Samir both winning their first games +26TP and +26 respectively with James soon following with a +17QP. Rob carried on in good form to finish his match with Paddy Chapman and get the first point of day on the board. The 3 other matches had very tight first games with Mark and Jamie coming out on top, Jenny Clarke nicking the game against Jack. Logan McCorkingdale equalised against James to leave the position at lunch 8-6 to England and with good potential.

The afternoon was blistering hot, 34 degrees in the shade, where the players were not! Playing on the last day of the Mac is enough to fry player's brains on it's own without those conditions.

First to finish was Jamie with a fantastic TP given the conditions to clinch his match against Felix Webby . This was soon followed by Jack losing to Jenny though. 9-7, two more matches needed!

Samir had some chances to win his match against Edmund Fordyce but wasn't quite getting there. James's game was looking close.

Mark was facing taking a lift shot against 4b and peg against Aaron Westerby who was looking in great form. Mark hit and soon had all the balls under control for a triple to begin, but knowing any error would likely cost the game.

While Mark was on his triple, James now had his own crucial last lift against 4-back and peg to stop Logan. He centre balled his 19 yard shot rushing it to corner 4. James was for 1-back with partner ball on penult. He made 1-back and had a break. James peeled penult going to his pioneer at 3-back. The peel went through but the striker's ball was a little short and a resulted in a long approach with landed at 45 degrees to the hoop. James was on court 2 in front on the crowd and you could feel the tension. James smashed a hard jump shot through to terrific applause and now looked in great position to win.

Mark's turn was still going well and with great control he was able to finished without any scares. 10-7. Around the same time Edmund Fordyce clinched game 2 against Samir to make that match 1 game all.

James paused briefly seeing Mark peg out 4 lawns away knowing now he was playing to claim the Shield. The rush on his penultimate pioneer bobbled and after a take off James had a much longer hoop shot than he would have liked. He stuck.

Logan now had a straight forward looking finish for New Zealand, but in the tense atmosphere you never know. He made all the hoops, but had left partner 10 yards from the peg. He got a poor rush on it he needed to cut and only rushed to 4 yards away from the peg. Logan opted to go for a medium paced peg out and the front ball missed! James was in the game again. Logan pegged out his other ball with his last stroke.

James was now rover and rover with a shortish roquet on partner but not great prospects of making rover that turn. James layed up leaving the longest shot at the peg he could, but just having to cross his fingers Logan would miss this and another shot even if he played well. Logan's shot looked close but missed. James made rover with one ball and layed up again. Logan's next shot was under maximum pressure and missed again. James played a sweaty take off flirting with the boundary to get a rush to rover. Rover wasn't controlled and James had a long tonk back towards the peg that landed a couple of feet closer to peg than Logan's rush had. James made no mistake clinching fist as the front ball hit and then having the shortest tap to finish off to his enormous relief and huge applause.

The 4 country's players all came out to join James and congratulations and commiserations were exchanged all round.

Thanks from us to everyone involved in the great undertaking of running the event, particularly the 4 host clubs.

Roll on 2030 in New Zealand.

MacRobertson Shield Day 16 - The longeriest day

Jack Good and Robert Fulford in play against New Zealand (Photo: Samir Patel)

We held a slim 6-5 lead overnight (with one match unfinished) as we started day 4, and the final round of doubles.

James and Samir got off to a flying start against the NZ pair of Felix and Jenny, only for it to come to a crashing end at 4-back part way through a TPO, which gave Jenny a single peel finish. We levelled in a tight second game, before an aggressive break to 4-back from Samir and a TP from James sealed the win. 7-5.

Robert and Jack got embroiled in a long first game which went the way of the Kiwi pair of Aaron and Logan after Jack was pegged out. The second game followed a similar pattern, this time with Aaron pegged out, but he hit a final do-or-die shot to win. 7-6

Mark and Jamie had a very interactive match against Paddy and Edmund characterised by a lot of hitting from the latter which allowed them to regain the innings on a regular basis. Despite this we won the first narrowly, but the New Zealand pair equalised in the second. The third game looked set to close with an NZ lead, but Jamie played a great turn in fading light to level proceedings. The match is pegged down in game 3 with us for 4-back and peg against penult alone.

That leaves the test 7-6 overnight, with two matches pegged down (one singles and one doubles). Tomorrow sees the final round of singles, followed (subject to curfew for the post-event final celebration) by the pegged down games.

If you are in the Surbiton area, come along and watch a thrilling conclusion over the weekend.

[There is a further reserve day should it be required.]

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores

MacRobertson Shield Day 15 - The longest day

by England Team at Surbiton Croquet Club [^]
7th August (The MacRobertson Shield)

Today was the first round of singles in the deciding test. James v Paddy, Rob v Logan, Samir v Felix, Jamie v Edmund, Mark v Jenny and Jack v Aaron.

Jenny started well against Mark and wrapped up a quick +26 to put England on the back foot. James and Paddy were doublebanking Mark and Jenny and James was on for a tp to put a game on the board early for England but found an unlucky way of not finishing after rover. Paddy didn't complete his triple but finished under control and after a missed shot put another game up for New Zealand.

Jamie was in a close battle and prevailed +2 to put England on the board for the day. Only 3 games out of the 6 matches were finished by lunch and it felt like this was going to be a long drawn out day.

After lunch James had a quick triple to equalise against Paddy, Samir was pegged out by Felix and eventually dropped the first by just 3. Rob pegged out Logan and took the first by 4 just before Mark equalised against Jenny and the tide was slowly starting to turn.

Just as it started looking better, Paddy with a triple of his own to beat James and Edmund equalising against Jamie kept the day feeling very tense..

A little after 6pm Aaron finally finished game 1 against Jack by the ultimate margin of +1, a lot of that game at the end needs to be seen to be believed. Watch the livestream back if you want to see what happened. Rob then closed out his match to tie the test again.

Edmund won the third comfortably against Jamie to put New Zealand ahead again before Samir equalised against Felix.

Mark won a pegged out third game against Jenny and tied the test at 5-5. As the light faded, Jack was still battling against Aaron in the second game and Samir had another heroic captain's knock to beat Felix and give England the overnight lead 6-5.

England won the day 3-2 with just one unfinished today and were happy with their concentration levels throughout a long hot day. Final round of doubles tomorrow before the other singles on Sunday to see who lifts the Shield at the end.

If you are in the Surbiton area, come along and watch a thrilling conclusion over the weekend.

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores

MacRobertson Shield Day 14 - In the balance

Robert Fulford with all of his MacRobertson Sheild doubles partners

Doubles day saw Robert Fulford's 100th match win which is some acheivement! not only were we present for this milestone but witnessing a great turn from Skip to clinch his match v Paddy and Edmund.

Burch and Avery lost a very tight first game and couldn't regain control game 2 going on to lose 2-0. This put pressure on the other pairings but you wouldn't know it. Fulford and Good won 2-0 with Rob pegging out after a very calm finishing turn. There was still more excitement to come. at 1 game a piece, Paddy Chapman went round and pegged out James Death leaving the captain in the unenviable position of being the single ball player on a very tricky lawn. He went on to run a magnificent 6 hoop break to win the match 2-1

A good day with a 2/1 margin, levelling the test at 3-3

Pictured is Rob (centre) with all of his MacRobertson Shield doubles partners (L-R William Prichard, Stephen Mulliner, Chris Clarke, Samir Patel, Ian Lines and Jack Good).

Additional reporting from Chris Clarke:

Today, James and Samir won game 1 quickly +26 against Paddy and Edmund. Jack and Robert went two breaks down to Felix and Jenny before Felix failed to finish and Jack picked up a break and pegged Jenny out giving contact. Robert soon gained control in the pegged out endgame and produced an excellent finishing turn from hoop 6 with the balls starting near corner 3. The third doubles also had a close ending which went the way of Aaron and Logan +3.

In the afternoon, Paddy and Edmund levelled +14 in a game where Edmund finished off the contact with a brilliant turn. Aaron and Logan took NZ into a 3-1 lead +17. Robert and Jack clawed England back to 2-3 with a comfortable +21 win that was Robert's 100th match win in the Mac - an extraordinary achievement.

The final match to finish was a thriller. The deciding game saw James round to 4-b first and Samir looking in control of a tp until a disastrous approach to h5 left the croqueted ball blocking the hoop shot. After some interplay, Paddy hit and completed a double peel to peg out James. Samir approached h5 off the contact and ran an angled hoop into his h6 pioneer. After making h6, he shot at Paddy's ball in C3, but missed. Edmund mis-approached h5 and retreated to a wired position. Samir hit a 10 yarder and played a superb finishing turn under great pressure to leave the Test tantalisingly poised at 3-3 with six singles to be played tomorrow.

USA lead Aus 6-3. Many congratulation to James Carlisle on winning his first Mac match.

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores

England Member places for the GC World Championship announced

by Chris Clarke at Cairo [^]
5th August (CqE Official News)

Many congratulations to Sam Cuthbert and Stuart M Smith who have been selected to represent England in the GC Worlds later this year in Cairo. They join Jack Good, Jamie Burch, Euan Burridge and Stephen Mulliner who have received rankinng places.We wish them all the best of luck.

Chris Clarke

Chair of CqE GCSC

Blewbury Advanced Weekend

by Peter Allan at Blewbury [^]
5th August (AC)

Cheltenham High Bisquers

by Adam Moliver at Cheltenham [^]
5th August (AC - Handicap)

16 entrants (a full house) became fourteen at the last minute leading to a hasty reorganisation of the draw by manager Adam Moliver.

Day One was three timed 18-point games full bisque with bisques reduced and then off a base of five.

Despite the dry weather leading to fast lawns a few players managed to peg out. .Other struggled with rather low scores .

The winners of the two blocks of four went into the semi finals on Day Two, as did the first and second in the Swiss-ish block of six. The first finalist was Bristol's Toto To who beat Fred Williams in the semi. The other finalist was Cheltenhams Peter Rowland having beaten John Rowley of Camerton (and Cheltenham).

The final, watched by many of the competitors, was won by Toto To 15-8.

Three players won the Bronze Award - (a ten hoop break with bisques and win the game.)

They were Toto To, Peter Rowland and Jane Turner of Llanfairfechan. Fred Williams, also of Llanfairfechan, will rue not taking a bisque to run what would have been his tenth hoop!

Those who had struggled on Day one had a coaching session with Darryl Whitehead and/or games with Adam intervening occasionally in the games.

Lessons learnt along the way included, don't run a hoop in the wrong direction, know the peg-out laws for handicap games and think about what to do if "golden hoop" is required.

MacRobertson Shield Day 13 - The final begins

Final Court Preparations at Surbiton Croquet Club (Photo: Samir Patel)

Croquet England Executive Role Applications

by Alison Maugham [^]
4th August (CqE Official News)

Following our announcement of the evolution of our structure, we are seeking applications for the following Executive roles to lead the organisation towards our 'One Croquet' philosophy.

• Head of Growth and Grass Roots
• Head of Play
• Head of Performance
• Head of Marketing
• Head of IT
• Secretary to the Executive

These roles and the revised structure will encourage greater connectivity between the Executive and their committees.

The evolution of the Executive and how it operates is phase one in Croquet England's restructure. This will be followed by the appointment of our committees to sit within specific areas and aligned to our overarching 'More Croquet' strategy.

If you believe in our values of Fun, Passionate, Collaborative, Accessible, and Progressive and are excited to take part in supporting Croquet England and to drive the development of our sport, we invite you to put yourself forward to fulfil one of the outlined roles.

How to apply

If you would like to apply for one the roles, please can you submit a one-page letter detailing your suitability for the role to Secretary to the Executive - Paul Brown at paul.brown#croquetengland.org.uk

If you would like to discuss a role then please let Paul know and he will support in arranging a call with Croquet England CEO Andy Dalby-Welsh.

Applications for these roles go live on Tuesday 29th July with applications needing to be submitted by 5pm on 16th August. Online interviews will take place week commencing 17th August by Microsoft Teams.

MacRobertson Shield Day 12 - England on the move

by England Team at Surbiton Croquet Club [^]
4th August (The MacRobertson Shield)

Chris Roberts wins the Budleigh Salterton GC Open SERIES 1/2 August

Chris Roberts and Adrian Coward

MacRobertson Shield Day 11 - Groundhog Day

by England Team at Sussex County Croquet Club [^]
3rd August (The MacRobertson Shield)

Team England had another fantastic winning day. Despite England having already won the test, there were some great performances.

Tom Balding quickly dispatched Jamie Burch with an excellent display of shooting and controlled break play. James Death was next to win beating Zack Watson 2-0. He even tried an ambitious sextuple peel which came to grief after 3 peels. Mark Avery beat Kyle in 3 games and Jack Good beat Stephen Morgan, also in 3. Jack showing great control to complete 2 triple peels

Match of the day was certainly Robert Fulford vs Matthew Essick. They shared the first 2 very tight games with -2 and +1. Robert finishing a lovely all round 3-ball break to win the second plus 1. Robert went round first in game 3. Matthew hit, something we've all been getting used to, and completed a tpo, an impressive feat given the conditions. A cat and mouse 3 ball ending resulting in a victory for Matthew. Last to finish was Samir Patel vs Ben Rothman. Samir completing an excellent all round 3 ball break to take victory 2-1.

A special mention should go to Stephen Forster who played his 100 MacRobertson Shield match.

MacRobertson Shield Day 10 - The Brave and the Bold

Mark Avery and Jack Good celebrating England's victory over USA (Photo: Samir Patel)

Going into the penultimate day of the second test, we knew a 3-0 win would seal the test a day early. We kept expectations realistic with our 'win the day' mantra.

Final round of doubles gave us James & Samir against Tom & Zack, Mark & Jamie against Matt & Ben, and Rob & Jack against Stephen & Kyle.

A quick +26 win by James & Samir put the early pressure onto the Americans, but Mark and Jamie weren't far behind winning their first game as well.

Tom & Zack fought back in game 2 but an error at 2 back allowed Samir to play a captain's knock and finish with a bold triple (one of only three today) to put our first point on the board before lunch.

After lunch Rob & Jack took their first game as well putting us ahead across the board.

The USA continued fighting back with Matt and Ben pressuring Mark & Jamie by first equalising and then taking the first ball round in the decider until an error allowed Jamie round and a missed lift gave Mark a chance at a triple of his own. The straight rover peel was jawsed, jumped over and later cannoned through but he couldn't quite complete the pegout. One pegged out and a few turns later, a missed shot from the USA gave Jamie the easiest of finishes.

Stephen & Kyle kept Rob & Jack at bay for several hours winning the second game and having control early in the third before Rob had a chance to go round and Jack followed with a brave 40-yard roquet into corner 4 followed by a break to the peg. Eventually another missed shot gave Rob a finishing break to seal the test late in the evening.

Six singles tomorrow before we move onto Surbiton starting on Wednesday for the deciding test against New Zealand.

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores

Wales, Sweden and Germany take the honours in Tiers 2 and 3 of the AC World Teams Championship

Wales: Rick Harding, Chris Williams (capt), Angharrad Walters, Rich Waterman

Tiers 2 and 3 of the AC World Team Championship were competed for at Nottingham from 22 to 27 July, with a formal opening ceremony on 21 July, where the Sheriff of Nottingham welcomed the teams and also opened the newly relaid East lawns. Some of the club's junior members demonstrated their skills during the ceremony.

Nine teams entered: Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Canada in Tier 2.1, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland and Latvia in the Tiers 2.2 and 3, 36 players in all. After 6 days of competition, Wales won Tier 2.1, Sweden Tier 2.2 and Germany Tier 3. Trophies and medals were presented on behalf of the World Croquet Federation by Graeme Roberts (New Zealand).

All of this required lots of support from Nottingham members. At the prizegiving it was announced that no fewer than 56 members of the club had been involved as volunteers, refereeing, catering, setting up in the morning, clearing away at night, ensuring overnight security, and generally looking after our visitors. A particular mention goes to Charlie Paget, the groundsman, who came in at 5am each morning to mow the lawns and help set the hoops. A big thank you to all those who gave up their time to do all this.

MacRobertson Shield Day 9 - Battle of Midway

by England Team at Sussex County Croquet Club [^]
1st August (The MacRobertson Shield)