Don Gaunt becomes Secretary-General of the European Croquet Federation

[<<] [>>] by Don Gaunt
1st October 2001 (International)

At the Federation Europeene de Croquet (FEC) AGM this year Don Gaunt was voted in as the new Secretary-General. He has taken over the reigns from Peter Payne, who has done the job for nearly 10 years since the creation of the FEC. Don paid tribute to the fantastic amount of work that Peter has done, often at his own expense.

Don was asked "What does the FEC stand for? "We have always tried to keep our aims simple and I can do no better than quote from our constitution:

"Simply that - we have no agenda to codify rules or dictate policy, just try and get croquet established where it is not played and developed where it is.

At the moment we run an annual Association Croquet Championship and a Golf Championship (when the WCF do not hold one). This year we also held (organised by Bill Arliss at Southwick), what we hope will be an annual challenge Golf Croquet match between England and the rest of Europe.

We have also produced some friendly Stickers "Croquet the sociable sport" with two happy hedgehogs that we are virtually selling at cost to countries for distribution - please ask.

My stance is evolutionary not revolutionary. I agree with our aim and now that I will no longer have the responsibilities of Chairman of the CA Council, I hope to combine my love of croquet with my love of travel to promote the game in Europe, especially in countries where it is not played.

We do not forget however that England is also a member, and a very important one too, of the FEC. We would like English players to be aware of our aims and support us in them. Remember that the FEC is not the EEC! I know that many players have croquet contacts in Europe and I would love to hear from anyone who has contacts for developing the game further.

We are not in competition with the WCF, indeed we encourage members to join. However, very small, fledgling countries can join us for just £20 a year. With our support they can grow and then be in a position to join the WCF.