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Andy Dalby-Welsh Shares his Experiences of his Northern Croquet Club Tour

Let Them Eat Cake!

Day 1 of our northern tour was brilliant and day 2 was just as good. One of our strategic priorities this year is to support the development of the well-being special project at Pendle and Craven Croquet Club with the aim of replicating it nationally from next year.

The project has been developed by Ian Longstaff, having connected with the local social prescribing team. It was a pleasure to meet James Smith, the social prescriber who took a leap of faith into the world of croquet. James couldn't speak highly enough of the positive impact the well-being project is having. A new community has been formed in Pendle and the surrounding area. The community had been created for people facing challenges including Parkinson's, cancer and Alzheimer's. It was an emotional experience to witness couples loving a game of croquet together, socialising with others and revelling in the cake that had been baked for eating at the end of the session.

Croquet can provide people with the opportunity to compete on the world stage, but it can also give those at risk of becoming isolated, lonely and withdrawn, the opportunity to make friends, be active with loved ones and take pride in their community. Seeing the project in action and meeting some amazing individuals has only increased my commitment to developing this exceptional project in other parts of the country.

Bury Croquet Club provided the destination for Wednesday. A great game was had with club legend Roy Spencer, as well as DB Mallets' Chris Alvey and Anne Alvey. All three volunteer at their clubs and it is these volunteers who ensure that people can have brilliant experiences, have fun, build friendships and compete both locally and internationally. A truly great day reinforcing the power of croquet!

A World-Class Venue for a World-Class Event

Across the weekend just gone, Bowdon Croquet Club hosted the England vs Spain Golf Croquet Test Match. The venue was simply superb, with volunteers putting in an enormous amount of work to provide outstanding playing surfaces and a wonderful setting for what proved to be a highly competitive international contest.

The series took place over three days, with Spain arriving as defending champions after their victory last year on home soil. The England team showed huge determination, courage and competitive spirit to win what was an incredibly tight event.

Getting off to a great start on Friday it looked like it may be plain sailing for the English but Spain fought back hard on Saturday and ensured it was going to go down to the wire on Sunday.

What followed was an incredible exhibition of golf croquet. The standard of play was among the highest I have witnessed. Equally impressive was the number of younger players representing England at this level. Captained by John-Paul Moberly, with Euan Burridge, Callum Johnson, Stephen Mulliner, Tobi Savage and Aston Wade, the England team showed tremendous determination, courage and competitive spirit throughout the weekend. Their outstanding performance on the final day secured a memorable 15-11 victory in what was a very close contest.

This was a fantastic advert for croquet. It demonstrated that our sport can be enjoyed for fun, friendship and for high level competition. Hats off to Spain captain Jose Riva Gomez-Jordana and his team who competed with great skill and a brilliant sporting spirit.

My huge thanks to everyone at Bowdon Croquet Club for such a warm welcome, especially club President Lorna Frost and all the volunteers .
I look forward to seeing many more fantastic competitive battles in the months ahead.

This was a fabulous spectacle and reinforced the excitement that Croquet can offer.

Wrapping up the northern croquet tour with Mr GB and the future of the sport&hellip

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to play croquet against two croquet legends in Derek and Elaine from Southwell Croquet Club. They are two volunteers who are making a big difference at their clubs.

Derek and Elaine introduced me to their members and gave us the opportunity to gather hugely helpful feedback on our sport and how we can support our clubs most effectively. People like Derek and Elaine are the heartbeat of the clubs that make croquet what it is.

Trips can always be full of surprises, and this one didn't disappoint when we found out that Derek had previously been Mr GB in his body building days. A man not to be messed with even in his 90th year!

Alison and I then moved on to Nottingham Croquet Club to take in the National Junior Championships. It was brilliant to see the young people competing against one another, working as a team when playing doubles and, most importantly, playing with great spirit throughout the day.

Seeing the National Junior Championships in action reinforced why developing young people has to remain a priority for our sport. Alongside the competition, it is exciting to bring together parents and teachers to form a steering group that will help shape the future of Croquet England's development of young players. Their insight, commitment and willingness to get involved will be invaluable as we build for the future. As always, volunteers are crucial to the development of our sport.

My thanks to Alison Maugham our Marketing, Communications and Partnerships Lead for organising such a great trip to meet great people at great clubs and for all those who gave very warm welcomes along the way. The future's bright the future's croquet!