Budleigh Salterton B-Level Report

by Julie Horsley at Budleigh [^]
14 Apr 2019 (AC)

This tournament was held a week earlier than normal because of a late Easter weekend, and perhaps this might have reflected in the fact that the weather was not as warm as usual.

Although the weather was fine, there was a very keen easterly wind which did tend to test players as to how many layers could they put on and still be able to hit the ball.

The Tournament was played as a Flexible Swiss with the winner being Jon Ball (Sidmouth CC) with 4/4 wins

In joint second place were John Bowcott ( Hurlingham CC) and Mike Taylor (Sidmouth CC)
with 4/5 wins

The prize for the Fastest Game went to Nigel Amos (Budleigh Salterton CC).

A-Series Golf Croquet

by Kevin Ham at Cheltenham [^]
14 Apr 2019 (GC)

The first round of the A-series golf croquet competition, held at Cheltenham, has been won by Stuart M Smith of Northampton. A full entry of 32 players were split into four blocks of 8. The standard distribution to blocks had to be modified to distribute the four members from Northampton, and to distribute the thirteen Cheltenham members evenly.

Saturday was bright sunny and though cold, it was a pleasant day. There were no time limits, and play finished around half past six. Only two of the top seeds qualified for the eight player knockout. Particular congratulations are due to Wendy Wu, David Magee, and Jeffrey Faulkner, who also qualified but started in the lower half of the blocks. No quarter finalists took up the manager's offer to play their first of the best-of-three that evening.

The threat of frost did not materialise. David Magee arrived early to sweep the lawns of dew. After one sweep it was clear that there was no frost as there was no dew. The quarterfinals were no time limit, but with the possibility of a limit on the third game. They started at nine as requested by the manager. The plate for the next two in each block was a block of eight with the first round carried forward from yesterday. The last sixteen were given the option of four games in a full sixteen player knockout, or six games in two blocks so of eight, with carry down. The later won.

On Saturday I did not think it possible to bring Brexit into this report, but on Sunday we were joined by cameraman and reporter from Swiss television, doing a piece on life in Britain not affected by Brexit. Lots of people were interviewed.

The last of the quarter-finals finished in time for lunch at half past twelve. The semi-finals, still no time limit, started at one o'clock and both went to only two games. The final between Stuart M Smith and Roger Goldring started at half past three. The finalists wanted and received no time limit. Not that it really mattered as the third game finished at half past five. Stuart winning 7-2, 4-7, 7-3. The plate event was won by Ian Norris of Phyllis Court.

The ground staff produced lawns of excellent quality. I would like to express great personal thanks to Pat Seabright who was my chief scribe, Robert Archer who was scribe for the final, and Jenny Clarke for bringing details on croquet scores up to date.

There were Handicap improvements for Wendy Wu 3 to 2, Stephen Leonard 0 to -1, and Stuart M Smith -1 to -2.

Mike O'Brian won the Ripon Rowels

by Ripon Spa Hotel at Ripon Spa [^]
14 Apr 2019 (GC)

Two cold days up in Ripon with 18 players in 2 blocks of 9 people . The field included 4 Swiss and an Australian . Play was timed and only 3 of the matches were timed out .

The blocks were completed by 10.30 on Sunday morning for the knockout and a flexible Swiss to commence . The Swiss was won by Ray Mounfield . The quarter finals were strongly contested with Daniel Studerus of Switzerland , Steve Thornton of Australia , Mike O` Brian and David Widdison of England progressing to the semis . The semis were best of 3 but both only required 2 games . Mike took the first game in the final, Steve grabbed the second the third was a bit jittery with both players making unusual errors at times . Mike however prevailed and won the last 7-6.

AC Inter-County Championship Latest Teams

by Chris Williams at Sussex County and Compton [^]
17th April (AC - Championships)

The following are the latest team lists as notified to the CA Office.

Details of the 2019 AC Inter-County Championship are available on the Tournaments page.

Any corrections please let us know asap.

(Updated 17 April 2019)

Division 1

Cheshire
Colin Irwin (C), Chris Coull, John Dawson, Nick Harvey, Ian Lines, David Maugham

Dorset
Jonathan Powe (C), Anthony Dix, David Harrison-Wood, David Kendrick, Dave Trimmer, Tom Weston, David Williams

Hertfordshire
Simon Hathrell (C), Gary Bennett, Alan Clark, Daniel Gott, Nick Mounfield, Richard M Smith

Lancashire
James Hawkins (C), Chris Clarke, Lee Hartley, Ailsa Lines, Annabel McDiarmid, Paul Rigge

Middlesex
Nick Parish (C), Eugene Chang, Harry Fisher, Nick Harris, Gabrielle Higgins, Nelson Morrow, Nigel Polhill, Lionel Tibble

Nottinghamshire
Richard White (C), Keith Aiton, Paddy Chapman, Miranda Chapman, James Death, James Hopgood, Patrick Hort

Oxfordshire
Dayal Gunasekera (C), Raouf Allim, Danny Johnston, Martin Lester, Mark van Loon, Chris Roberts, John Wells, Stephen Wright

Somerset
David Goacher (C), Kristian Chambers, Ed Duckworth, Marcus Evans, Jim Field, James Galpin, Roger Tribe

Suffolk
Philip Eardley (C), Mark Avery, Mick Belcham, Chris Farthing, Andrew Gray, Anthony Miller, Simon Mew, Lewis Palmer

Surrey
Samir Patel (C), Jeff Dawson, Andy Dibben, John-Paul Moberly, Sam Murray, George Noble, Duncan Reeve, Tim Wilkins

Sussex
Roger Wood (C), Paul Castell, Alan Cottle, Phil Dunk, Mark Fawcett, Daphne Gaitley, Dominic Nunns, Ian Vincent

Division 2

Berkshire
Joe King (C), Robin Brown, Nick Butler, Alan Edwards, Mark Ormerod, Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli, Paul Wolff

Essex
Michael Heap (C), Andrew Dutton, Jonathan Hills, Cesar Miranda-Reyes, Rich Waterman, Jack Wicks, Craig Winfield

Glamorgan
Chris Williams (C), John Bowcott, Kevin Ham, Tudor Jenkins, Garry McElwain, Sarah Melvin, David Walters

Gloucestershire
David Foulser (C), Paul Smith, Louise Bradforth, Dave Kibble, Dave Mundy, Mark Suter

Hampshire
Brian Fisk (C), Sara Anderson, Graham Gale, Ian Harrison, Nigel Hind, David G Nicholson, Mike Town, James Tuttiett

Kent
Robert Alexander (C), Jolyon Creasey, John Daniels, Jon Diamond, Liz Farrow, Trevor Longman, Phil Mann, Charlie Martin, Tobi Savage

Shropshire
Brian Christmas (C), Simon Cawdell, Robbie Dodds, Omied Hallam, Sanaa Hallam, Rob Minshall, Sean Sheridan, Richard Williamson

Warwickshire
Adrian Morris (C), Cliff Daniel, Martin Granger-Brown, Andrew Gregory, Ken Jones, Ian Slater, Philip Wood

Wiltshire
Andrew Willis (C), John Grimshaw, Richard Dickson, Roger Hayes, Jonathan Lacey, Jonathan Lamb, Beatrice McGlen

Yorkshire
John Davis (C), Rod Ashwell, Robert Essler, Callum Johnson, Peter Thompson, David Warhurst, Paul Watson, Robert Wilkinson

CA Select
Bill Arliss (C), Gavin Carter, Jonathan Isaacs, Chris O'Byrne, Michael Rivette-Carnac, Roger Staples

Roehampton beat Surbiton 5-1

by Peter Siddall at Roehampton [^]
16 Apr 2019 (AC - Mary Rose)

Preliminary round played at Roehampton on Tuesday 17 April: Roehampton beat Surbiton by 5-1 with one match unfinished.

Doubles

1). Peter Siddall and Chris Roberts (R) bt Andy Dibben and Graham Brightwell +22

Singles

2) John Pearson (R) bt Mary Knapp +7
3) Peter Honey (R) bt Edward Dymock +4
4) Chris Roberts (R) bt Andy Dibben +26
5) Peter Siddall (R) bt Graham Brightwell +18

6) Mary Knapp (S) bt Peter Honey + 19

7) John Pearson v Edward Dymock unfinished

Chris Farthing won the Letchworth 14-pt Advanced tournament

by Nick Mounfield at Letchworth [^]
6 Apr 2019 (AC)

Despite losing his first game, Chris Farthing rallied with six straight wins to win the Letchworth 14-pt advanced tournament. This is the second time in three years that Chris has won the event. Alison Maugham finished in second place with five wins from seven, and Nick Steiner came third with four wins from his six games.

Conditions were dry but cold, with the playing surface in excellent condition. Testament indeed to all the hard work put in by Keith Rhodes and the rest of the Letchworth grounds team.

At the end of the day just one question remained: why aren't there more 14-point events in the CA calendar?

Results:

Chris Farthing - 5/6
Alison Maugham - 5/7
Nick Steiner - 4/6
Adrian Kirby - 4/7
Nick Mounfield - 3/6
Rod Ashwell - 2/5
Brian Havill - 2/6
Andrew Gregory - 1/5
Terry Mahoney - 0/4

IPDG development squad weekend

The International Performance Development Squad (Photo: Tim King)

The 2019 International Performance Development Squad included the new intake players Chris Heath, Dr Raouf Allim, Euan Burridge, James Galpin and (all the way from Edinburgh) Scottish International Lorna Dewar. Although both days were cloudy and overcast we were extremely lucky that rain didn't interrupt proceedings however the decidedly chilly Saturday meant that outside sessions were liberally interspersed with indoor activities.

A first for the Development Squad is the participation of two of our up-and-coming younger players soon to compete in the U21 WCF world championships. Good luck Euan and James and let's hope that this will inspire many more younger player to take up croquet. Euan will go on also to compete in the Simon Carter GC World Championships following the U21s.

Sadly the energetic Rachel Rowe has had to relinquish her role as Assistant and the post has been taken up, I'm very pleased to say, by the England team captain J P Moberly.

The weekend including sessions from Stephen Custance-Baker about the Rules changes, a mental approach session from Tim King, Steve Leonard described his experiences in the 2018 Over-50 World Championships in Cairo in which there were five other Development Squad players taking part.

Sunday's itinerary included development of set piece practice routines, jump shots - improving techniques, and a mentored game with Stephen Custance-Baker tasked with floating between lawns and interrupting play by directing the next player to 'play partner ball' and other irregularities asking players to determine the correct resolution to the various infringements.

Another first for the group was the introduction of Atkins Quadway hoops which the group soon came to terms with although, I suspect the soft ground conditions and generous one eighth setting contributed to this a great deal. But watch out next time chaps, because things will get tighter!

The DS will meet again on September 7th and 8th for the annual Mentored Match weekend involving the Elite players.

Thanks to Wrest Park for being terrific hosts, the lawns were splendid, George Collins and co. for sorting the teething problem with the Atkins hoops, to JP and Richard Bilton for their support and participation, to Tim King and Steve Leonard for their contributions and not least of all the ever enthusiastic Steven C-B for a very professional presentation.

Note to self: Download Coach's Eye because it's a great tool.

England won the inaugural GC Test Match vs. Spain

The England Squad back row L to R; Dr Harry Fisher, Tobi Savage, Jonathan Powe. Front row L to R;...

The inaugural GC Test Match between Spain and England was held at the fabulous Real Club Pineda in Seville over the weekend 15-17 March. Blessed with cloudless skies and temperatures into the mid-20s, the top six GC players in Spain hosted the visiting England team for a 21-point Test (12 singles, 9 doubles), which was tightly fought on all three days. The scores at the end of Friday (England 4, Spain 2) and Saturday (9-6) meant the result remained in the balance at the start of the final round of six singles on Sunday morning, but it was England who eventually came through to take the Test 13-8 and lift the splendid trophy. The scoreline does not tell the whole story however, as Spain finished with only 19 hoops fewer than their English counterparts after a total of 55 games!

The croquet was highly competitive throughout and there were some impressive individual performances from both teams, but it was the generosity and kindness of our Spanish hosts that will live longest in the memory. It is difficult to imagine how they could have done more to welcome us and look after us during the weekend. They have set the bar extremely high and it will be a very hard act to follow when England host them for the return fixture in 2020 (12-14 June, venue TBC).

England boasted much the stronger side on paper, with 4 players in the world's top 30. World no. 7 John-Paul Moberly captained the team while Spain were led by Pepe Riva, the world's 8th best Association Croquet player. England handed a debut to their Singles Champion Richard Bilton, however he was the only first-timer as Stephen Mulliner and Tobi Savage represented England in the GC World Team Championship and Jonathan Powe and Harry Fisher earned caps in recent GC Home Internationals.

This was only the second time the Spanish side had played an international GC team event; the previous time being Tier 2 of the 2016 World Team Championship. Without star player Riva, they narrowly missed out on the title and promotion to Tier 1 by losing in the final to Australia. Returning were the 4 Alvarez-Sala brothers (surely some sort of record for an international team in any sport); Andres, Jose, Manuel and Gonzalo, and Rafael "The Bull" Romero.

The singles rounds were split between Friday and Sunday leaving the doubles rounds for the Saturday and a potential mammoth nine rounds of games to be played in one day!

The first round of singles was only scheduled to start late on the Friday afternoon, so in the morning the English team were treated to a guided tour of the magnificent Alcazar palace. The oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, it was originally a muslim residential fortress until partly destroyed and rebuilt by Castilian Christians. The gardens were particularly beautiful and it is a must see for anyone visiting the city.

When it came time to "tee off", both sides were raring to go. The first round of singles pitted Riva vs Mulliner, JAS against Savage and GAS against Fisher. The tie of the round was Savage vs JAS, where Savage having taken game 1 and being pegged back by JAS winning game 2 and going 6-4 up in game 3, took hoops 11 and 12 before running a boundary hoop 13 to complete the comeback with JAS's next ball only a yard in front. Unfortunately for spectators worldwide, who were watching a livestream of the match courtesy of Moberly holding Savage's phone, the phone's battery died just as they approached hoop 13 in game 3!

In another extremely close contest, Mulliner unluckily peeled Riva through hoop 13 to lose the deciding game 6-7 - another point decided by the closest of margins. Fisher beat GAS in three leaving England 2-1 up after the first singles round. The second round's games were just as tense. Moberly registered a "grande saltaire" (the Spanish translation for "big jump") in game 1 vs AAS from the South boundary in front of hoop 9 to wrestle back a seemingly lost hoop. Moberly carried the 5-4 lead through to win the first game and also won the third to secure the match. Bilton hadn't quite got into his groove yet and went down in two to MAS, and in another brilliant comeback win, Powe beat Romero 7-6 in game 3 after also coming back from a 4-6 deficit - these comeback wins would prove crucial!

The official opening ceremony followed on the Friday, where speeches were held, national anthems were sung and delicious canapes were endlessly thrust under our noses. The evening must have won the prize for latest time to leave a croquet club - after 1am!

Saturday's doubles rounds meant 9 points were up for grabs; a day in which the Test could be won or lost. As the 2018 British Open Doubles champions, Moberly partnered Savage and were the first seeds. Mulliner partnered Bilton after also doing the same at last summer's British Open and Powe partnered Fisher. The Spanish lined up with Riva partnering AAS (so 1st seed partnering 2nd), brothers JAS and MAS playing together and finally GAS partnering Romero.

In the first round of three matches, Moberly and Savage beat JAS and MAS in three games, but very nearly lost in two. In game 2, and a game down, yet another 4-6 deficit was turned into a 7-6 win. Once the game was levelled at 6-6, the Spanish gained control at hoop 13 until an unfortunate missed clearance by MAS and a 20 yard clearance from Moberly gave Savage a chance from the North boundary. He had already missed two from the same distance, but made absolutely no mistake third time round and ran with no wire to level the match at 1 game apiece. The English pairing comfortably won the third to take an unlikely and important point. In perhaps the most impressive doubles performance of the weekend, Mulliner and Bilton beat the top Spanish paring of Riva and AAS in two games, while Powe and Fisher went down 1-2 to GAS and Romero.

The second round saw the top seeds play each other. Moberly and Savage won the first game against Riva and AAS, but couldn't prevent a Spanish fightback and lost the second and third. Mulliner and Bilton continued their good form and won 2-0 against GAS and Romero, but Powe and Fisher lost in two close games to JAS and MAS, giving Spain a 2-1 victory in the round. This left the score at 7-5 to England with one further doubles round to play on the Saturday.
Moberly and Savage needed three games to overcome GAS and Romero, but one of those did include a "grande saltaire" from Savage; nailing a 6 yard jump over Romero's ball in the jaws of hoop 8 (which he had played there from North of hoop 7!) which was captured on film for Savage to add to his growing video collection. Mulliner and Bilton made it 3 doubles wins out of 3 by beating JAS and MAS, although the Spanish pairing did claim a game off them. Riva and AAS outclassed Powe and Fisher to win in two games to leave score at 9-6 to England.

The fact so many of the doubles matches went to three games (including all three of Moberly and Savage's) meant it wasn't until after 11pm when the players, players' families and Spanish croquet dignitaries sat down for the weekend's formal meal. The excellent cuisine gave the players enough energy to get back to their feet and hit the dancefloor (some more than others - Mulliner was first up there from the English; his infinite energy never ceasing to amaze). Fisher went head-to-head (drink-to-drink) with Romero before their singles match the following morning (they were still dancing 7 hours before they were due to play) as beer quickly turned into whisky shots!

Sunday morning brought with it the last singles round and the final 6 points of the Test. The Spanish needed to take five of them to stage a big comeback win, while the English only needed two to take the trophy across the Channel and bring croquet home. To Romero's disappointment, it seemed that the alcohol hadn't taken its toll on Fisher as he won a high quality match 2-0 and gave England one of the two points needed. As the other players in the first three singles matches of the morning, Mulliner or Savage looked to be in pole position to score the Test winning point, and so it proved as Mulliner won the third game against AAS to secure the trophy for Blighty! Savage recovered from losing the first game against MAS to win as England won a round 3-0 for the first time - and very timely indeed!

The morning's second round of 3 matches started early at 11am and double banked to allow plenty of time for players to return home in the afternoon, meaning the Test was still needing to be won as Moberly, Bilton and Powe started the final matches of the weekend against Riva, JAS and GAS respectively. Bilton continued his form from the doubles and raced into an early 1-0 lead winning 7-2 in which all the hoops he ran were from 5 yards or more. Although he ran hoop 12 from the North boundary in game 2, he lost it at hoop 13 and also the third to allow JAS to gain revenge for his defeat at the British Open last year.

The two top seeds, Moberly and Riva, played out an absorbing contest on the show lawn. Moberly played well to win the first game however Riva rallied in the second and was ahead throughout. At 5-3 up after Moberly had missed with his hoop attempt, Riva missed the chance to lead 6-3. Moberly levelled at 5-5, and although Riva took hoop 11, Moberly produced his best croquet of the event to take the game and the match. A la Reg Bamford in the 2013 World Championship final, Moberly, with a ball in front of 12, cleared Riva with his other ball to the East boundary sending the clearing ball to the North boundary onside for hoop 13. Riva missed his clearance from the East boundary, and after Moberly had ran hoop 12 and Riva played off the North boundary, Moberly ran hoop 13 from the boundary to take the win.

Powe was the last to finish as he lost to GAS 6-7 6-7 to make the overall Test score 13-8 after three days of passionate, absorbing croquet. The team played with the pressure and expectation of being clear favourites on paper and dealt with a loud and partisan home crowd (some of whom had driven 5 hours from Madrid just to be there!) and a fiercely competitive Spanish side.

The weekend was wrapped up with the trophy presentation and another rendition of the National Anthems.

Thanks to Real Club de Pineda for hosting this magnificent event and for the amazing hospitality of our hosts. We very much look forward to the return fixture in England next year.

Full results can be found on CroquetScores.

Spaces Available in the AC Inter-Counties CA Select Team

by Bill Arliss at Southwick and Compton [^]
3rd April (AC - Championships)

We still require further players to complete the AC Inter Counties CA Select Team. If any player would like to spend one or more days in this second division team, please get in touch with me at bill.arliss#btinternet.com as soon as possible. Familiarity with advanced play laws is essential but handicaps of 5 and below will be very welcome.

Bill Arliss
Tournament Director

Openshaw Shield WCF GC World Team Championship

by Lionel Tibble [^]
3rd April (International)

Players wishing to be considered for the 2020 GC World Team Championship (Tier 1) to be held in New Zealand in January 2020, can register their availability via the CA website fixtures page.

Report of Special General and Council Meetings

by Dr Ian Vincent at Hurlingham [^]
30 Mar 2019 (CA Official News)

Special General Meeting

The Special General Meeting had been called by the Council to amend the CA's Constitution, to implement changes to its governance. These would considerably reduce the size of the Council, change the basis on which it was elected, and focus its role on strategy and scrutiny of a new Executive Board, which would be charged with implementing it.

After concerns as to whether the meeting would be quorate, not helped by the closure of the District Line, it was pleasing to see that 35 members were at Hurlingham on a glorious spring day: thank you for your support. However, there was one notable absentee, Quiller Barrett, the President, who had phoned to say that he was stuck in what turned out to be a two-hour closure of the M25. Patricia Duke-Cox, one of our Vice-Presidents, was landed with the task of chairing the meeting.

George Noble prevented it being purely a formality, by raising a number of concerns about the proposed amendments to the Constitution and their implementation, which he asked the Council to consider. He wanted, and was given, assurance that the requirements of Sport England and recommendations of the Sport and Recreation Alliance had been considered. He felt that each Federation should have at least one representative, but was told that was incompatible with the objectives of restricting the Council to 12 voting members and ensuring equality of representation for the electorate of CA members. He asked that the Electoral Commission should be transparent in its operation and finally raised concerns about the procedure for general meetings, which currently prevented amendments being put to the motions proposed at them. In reply, he was told that a working party chaired by the President had made some recommendations to address those, but it had been decided to take one step at a time.

Hugh Carlisle commended the provisions in the Hurlingham club rules and he and John Reddish pointed out other defects with the current constitution, which were noted.

The motion to amend the constitution was then put. The votes of those who had voted by post or on the website were added to those present who had not, giving a total of 489 in favour and 18 against, so it was overwhelmingly carried, with a turnout of about 10% of those eligible to vote.

John Bowcott, the Chairman of Council, has asked that alongside this report of the SGM we should record our thanks to those who have worked over nearly 3 years to research and develop the proposals that have now been endorsed by the membership. Such reforms had long been a gleam in the President's eye, but work to implement them began with a working party led by Strat Liddiard. They did all of the early interviewing and established the importance of separating the roles of Council and Management. This was followed by another working party chaired by Jonathan Isaacs. This group built on the earlier work and is responsible for the constitutional changes and the election process that will support the delivery of the new model of governance. We should be grateful to all those involved in this lengthy process.

Council Meeting

Council met in the afternoon and decided that elections for the 12 voting members of the new Council should take place over the summer, with a view to it taking over after the AGM in October. Its success will depend critically on the quality of people elected to serve on it: the attributes expected of them are to be listed in the next edition of the Croquet Gazette. Equally important will be the ability of those appointed to the Executive Board and the working committees. Those willing to contribute to the administration of the sport need to decide where they can most usefully do so.

The points raised at the SGM were considered and it was agreed that further amendments to the Constitution should be proposed at the AGM to improve the procedures for general meetings.

Peter Death presented the accounts for 2018, which were duly adopted with thanks to him and David Boxell, the Independent Examiner. They showed that our funds had decreased by some £50,000 over the year, mainly due to the costs of employing a National Development Office and transitional costs associated with the expansion of our membership. A similar deficit is budgeted for this year and this is clearly not sustainable going forward.

More positively, some significant savings in printing and distribution costs have been made by Mark Suter, the CA Manager, and we received a legacy of £2846 from Alec Coleman.

It was agreed that the per-capita rate for club membership subscriptions should rise to £9 for small clubs and £14 for larger ones in 2020, which will be the last of the above inflation increases authorised by the 2015 SGM. Individual membership subscriptions will remain unchanged, but paper copies of the fixtures book will only be sent to members who pre-order one, at a cost of £5. Clubs will continue to receive a copy. Sending paper copies of the Croquet Gazette to Standard members was agreed to be unaffordable, so will cease at the end of this year, except as an introductory offer for new Standard members. Existing ones will be able to subscribe for paper copies at a cost of £10 a year.

The updated risk assessment presented by the Treasurer was generally accepted, with the rider that a business continuity plan was needed to mitigate some of the risks, particularly those associated with Information Technology. However, the main focus of the discussion was to formulate our reserves policy. It was generally accepted that current expenditure should be covered by current income, but it was reported that members held differing views as to whether it was appropriate to continue holding our current assets, or invest them to promote the future of the sport. It was agreed that this should be a matter for the new Council, after it had set strategic objectives against which to assess any proposals.

It was agreed to award the Council medal to Dave Kibble, primarily for his work on the website over many years, with the online fixtures book and tournament entry system as a notable achievement of considerable benefit to members.

At the end of the meeting, the President expressed his pleasure that his long term ambition of reforming the Council had been achieved, thanked those who had served the current one so loyally and looked forward to attending the first meeting of its successor.

Special General Meeting - Motion Approved

by Dr Ian Vincent at Hurlingham [^]
30th March (CA Official News)

A fuller report will follow, but the headline news is that the motion to amend the CA's Constitution was passed with 489 votes in favour and 18 against. The subsequent Council meeting agreed that elections for its replacement should take place this summer, with the new Council taking over after the AGM on 19th October.

Special General Meeting - District Line Closure

by Dr Ian Vincent at Hurlingham [^]
30 Mar 2019 (CA Official News)

Members coming to Hurlingham for the Special General Meeting on Saturday 30th March at 11.15 may be affected by planned engineering works, which are closing the Underground between Earls Court and Wimbledon, the line that passes Putney Bridge. According to Transport for London, two replacement bus services operate: Service A: Wimbledon - Wimbledon Park - Southfields - East Putney - Putney Bridge - Hammersmith; Service B: Wimbledon - Putney, National Rail station - Putney Bridge - Parsons Green - Fulham Broadway - West Brompton - Earls Court.

European GC Championships England selections

by Lionel Tibble [^]
20th March (GC - Championships)

Five players in total have been selected to play in the 2019 European GC Championships to be held at Budleigh Salterton from 23rd May to the 26th.

Awarded Membership places;

Stephen Mulliner, Richard Bilton, Lionel Tibble

Awarded Ranking places; Pete Dowd, Dr Tim King

Congratulations and good luck.

This years Championship will be hotly contested following the recent victory of the England test team against Spain with the Spanish sending 5 of their top players, namely all of the Alvarez-Sala brothers and the redoubtable Jose Riva.

Womens Coaching Day 15th May - Event full

by Sarah Burrow at Cheltenham [^]
19th March (CA Official News)

This event is now full with 20 women booked in.

If you want to be on a reserve list please send me an email - list will be in order of receipt.

caccommchair#googlemail.com

Thanks everyone

Sarah

Women's Croquet Coaching Day - 15th May

by Sarah Hayes at Cheltenham [^]
16th March (CA Official News)

I am delighted to announce the CA Coaching Committee, together with Jenny Clarke, have been able to arrange the promised coaching day as follows:-

Date: 15th MAY, 2019 (Wednesday).

Venue: Cheltenham CC

Time: 10am start through late afternoon.

Lunch: Bring your own.

Attire: Whites not required.

Cost: Free of charge.

The target audience? Well, female players who are considering entering their first CA Calendar Event or perhaps considering moving up to their first advanced or level event, and female players who are looking to step up to more challenging events and need a change in mental approach to make it happen.

Beginners are not being targeted in this instance.

It is hoped to cover a wide range of topics including confidence building together with coaching elements for both AC and GC - the final details of these will be agreed upon when a list of attendees is known. If there is anything you would specifically like to be discussed please make sure to let me know when applying for a place.

The sooner you let me know the better - presently no limit on numbers but this could change!!

You may enter through the CA Website event listing for which a link follows:-

croquet.org.uk/?p=tournament/caCalendar&TwOpen=y&CalendarEntryID=3252&pup=y

Alternatively, please send me an email:

Sarah Hayes - caccommchair#googlemail.com

However you enter please do send me a message (email above) detailing anything you would like to be included in the timetable for the day.

Finally - if you are not able to attend for any reason please send me an email giving me your contact details and a preferred venue. I will collate this information and am hoping the Federations will be able to fill the gap at some time this season - no promises but I will do my best.

Thanks and look forward to seeing you.

Sarah Hayes

Chairman - CA Coaching Committee

Welcome New Members

by Alison Jones [^]
23rd February 2018 (CA Official News)

The Croquet Association extends a special welcome to our new Standard Members.

The welcome page tells you about logging into the members' area.