Roehampton 125 celebrations -18-19 April

[<<] [>>] by Tim Russell at Roehampton
24th April (Club News)

Roehampton held a two day invitational event to celebrate the Club's 125th anniversary. Croquet is the only sport to have been played continuously since the club's inception and Roehampton was the home of the Croquet Association for over 50 years. After a somewhat fallow period of numbers playing, justifying the club's decision to shrink the number of lawns from 12 at inception to 4 by the time I joined the club in 1986; I am pleased to report that croquet at Roehampton is enjoying a huge renaissance with around 300 registered players and recognised again as one of the top clubs in the country.

The weekend saw 8 players - Reg Bamford, James Death, Samir Patel, Aston Wade, Gabrielle Higgins, Christian Carter, Tom Coles and Mike Town - compete on the Saturday for a Roehampton Rose Bowl in a all play all 14 point advanced AC competition with a prize offered for the most peels. We just about managed to finish the 28 games, although players in the last round of matches decided to watch the final match Reg v James. Reg was already the declared winner as James lost to both Aston and Christian but he was still in with a shout of the peeling prize (although an imposed time limit to make sure everyone could get to a dinner which the Club kindly hosted for the players meant it was always a tall order as he was four peels behind). Reg hit in first and you don't get to the number of world and British Open titles he has without having an unbelievably competitive streak. He peeled James through hoop 1 to stretch his lead to five in the course of pegging out his front ball and leaving James short of time. James managed one peel before Reg hit at the third time of asking and everyone headed off to the bar. An extra extra special player whose only struggle on the day was fitting into an extra extra large fleece jacket which Roehampton kindly gave to all participants.

The Sunday saw James and Aston return for a GC invitational event with the prize of a commemorative Rose Bowl. They were joined by former member Chris Roberts, Simon Carter, Dom Aarvold (who learnt croquet at Roehampton), Guy Scurfield, Ian Burridge and Tim Russell. A slight change in the schedule ensured the final game between James and Chris was the decider with both having lost one game to Aston and Guy respectively. Chris (pictured with his very distinctive posture) played very well throughout the day continuing his good winter form and prevailed 7-5. A prize was offered for the best shot/hoop run of the day as nominated by an opponent. It went to Ian Burridge for a hoop shot threaded through Dom's balls in front of hoop 12 from the side of hoop 11. I had been told he had a new style, (opponents will continue to recognise the Burridge crouch and rise!) and a Solomon grip for his hoop shots certainly seems to have him back at the top of his game.

We were blessed with great weather, Roehampton's usual immaculately prepared lawns which had a stimp reading of 11 (good weather should ensure they are very quick by the time of the Mac) and generous hospitality from the club. Thank you Jacqui Pattison, organiser of the croquet 125 events, and the catering team at the Club for a weekend enjoyed by all the participants and a healthy group of Roehampton spectators.