2008 NEWS
Note: click on pictures to see a larger image.
The 2008 Picture Gallery is here
All individual game results from matches will be found here.
This event is run by the Croquet Association and is the second eight players who haven't been selected for the premier Golf selection event - the Musk Cup, this year being held in Pendle. Due to a late injury one of the players withdrew and Mick Greagsby nobly volunteered to play and, despite being the weakest player in the field, performed very creditably with almost all his losses being by the closest of margins 6-7.
There were several 1 handicap players, including Bill Arliss from Southwick, and several from the North and South West England all demonstrating to our local spectators how good players play the game. The eventual winner, and also the event manager, was Nick Butler who didn't lose a match. The results are on the CA website.
All the players were very complimentary about our lawns (although they'd like them to be faster), facilities and hospitality! Note to RTWCC members: in addition to profits from the catering we also get green fees from the CA for providing the lawns.
This three day advanced tournament was completed in bright sunshine, despite some filthy weather the previous day. Jonathan Hills of Colchester was the easy winner of the final, beating Dick Knapp in two straight games. Our two entrants, Alex Jardine and Jon Diamond, were the weakest players in the field but both ended with creditable results of 3 wins from 9 games.
Our first team came 3rd out of 18 in the Singles event, which was won by Reigate, with Sussex County second.
First team results:
Doubles: 1:3
Lost v Reigate 3-7, lost v Ramsgate 4-7 , win v Preston 7-3, lost v Worthing 4-6
Singles: 9:3
John Hobbs vs Rottingdean won 7-6,
vs Ramsgate lost 6-7,
vs Crawley won 7-3,
Mick Greagsby vs Rottingdean won 7-1,
vs Ramsgate won 7-4, vs Crawley won 7-4,
Frank Gunstone vs Sydenham won 7-3,
vs Rother Valley won 7-4,
vs Littlehampton won 7-5,
Val Rocca vs Sydenham won 7-4,
vs Rother Valley lost 5-7, vs Littlehampton lost 6-7
Second team results:
Doubles: 1.5:2.5
lost v Ramsgate 5-7 (Richard Clark & Carolyn Gunstone),
Won v Rother Valley 6-2 (Derek Heath & Joyce Rocca),
drew v Reigate Priory 5-5 (Richard & Carolyn),
lost v Worthing 4-6 (Derek & Joyce)
Singles: 8:3?
Richard won 7-5 v Worthing A,
lost 2-7 v Merton A,
won 7-3 v Preston A,
Derek won 7-4 v Worthing B,
won 7-5 v Merton B,
won 7-6 v Preston B,
Carolyn won 7-6 v Rother Valley C,
lost 4-7 v Sussex 1C,
lost 6-7 v Rottingdean C,
Joyce won 7-5 v Rother Valley D,
lost 2-7 v Sussex 1C,
? v Rottingdean D
More than 30 members and their partners attended the, by now, annual summer barbeque at the Houslop's house. Unlike last year we didn't have to rush inside to avoid the torrential rain, so were able to enjoy the extensive gardens. Many thanks to Mark and Elaine for providing the food and drink, as well as hosting the occasion, and also to Frank and Carolyn Gunstone for organising the raffle. A considerable sum was raised for the club funds.
Rutger Beijderwellen won the COWhorn event at Compton over the weekend, essentially untroubled by the opposition. Mick Belcham was our only participant and runner-up for the COWbell, with 4 wins out of 6 games. A fuller report is on the CA website.
The lawns were looking in superb condition, with Mick having just redrilled the holes and eliminated the rabbit runs. The weather unfortunately was not so clement in the morning, despite the forecast - it was almost cold and several felt drops of rain. We must, however, like this since we won all three of the morning games!
A splendid lunch created by John Hobbs followed, the weather improved and we obviously ate too much... Jon lost his game quickly, still having a bisque standing after being TP'ed (in a handicap game you ask?). We still only needed one result in our favour to win the match, but there seemed to be Compton players on the lawns all the time, so it was looking a bit dicey as our players seemed to be enjoying giving the innings away. Nevertheless, Mick finally turned up trumps in the last game to finish. Phew...
Returning from France after several years absence Alex is a long-time member of the club and a low handicap Association player. Rejoining the club this year he has now been co-opted to the Committee.
"Barbara and I had already decided to visit Sweden in our motor home this year starting at the end of June and arriving back on 21st July when I saw the announcement of the Germany Open Golf Croquet Championship - to be held in Hamburg on 20th/21st July. This seemed such a good opportunity as Hamburg is on the way back and we'd only need to extend our holiday by two days!
Having been accepted this meant we'd need to add the croquet stuff to our load, but then since it was going to be with us why not try and play some croquet in Sweden too? After some emails this came down to an afternoon in Borås which is a town about 80 kilometers east of Gothenburg.
They are a small club, with only ten members playing both Golf and Association and a single lawn in a public park, but very enthusiastic. Unfortunately the weather conditions had not been favourable so the lawn was bumpy, with a number of sandy spots, but fairly flat nevertheless. I played two of their members, but was badly beaten by the Swedish champion Jonatan Andersson at both Association and Golf - I'd like to blame the lawn, but that wasn't the whole story.... Interestingly they have two sets of balls, but they are both secondaries, and the only complaint about the club is the colour of the equipment storage - a blue container provided by the council!
They have a problem in common with the other Swedish clubs with gaining new members in that there is an extremely popular Swedish game of croquet played with different hoops and rules, so their adoption of the international games has been relatively recent. The picture shows a Croquet hut, elsewhere in Sweden.
The German Golf Open is held bi-annually at the Rissen sports club just to the west of Hamburg. We arrived early on the Friday, so Barbara and I were entertained to tea by Joern Vinnen, President of the German Croquet Association and manager of the event and his wife. Following this we adjourned to the club for a little practice and examination of the lawns. There are two slightly sloping ones, made from an old hockey pitch, and are in reasonable condition, although clearly not as good as TW. They are better than last year apparently, although the weather recently had been a hindrance. Following this, we all adjourned to a pub in the middle of a forest for a typical German meal with most of the other players and some local club members. [Recent road closures not being communicated to the satnav system in the Czech car we were in caused many interesting detours around the local housing.]
Saturday dawned English style - grey and raining on and off, sometime quite hard, throughout the day. Nevertheless 14 intrepid players from 5 countries started play in the two blocks, supported by a number of spectators from the local club and plentiful supplies of food and drink continuously throughout the day under a few gazebos. [It's the only tournament I've seen that brings a fridge to the court-side to make sure the beer is cold enough; although maybe they also do so in Australia?]
At English tournaments you normally see the handicap of players next to their names. Since they don't have handicaps over most of the rest of Europe here we had the positions in the International Golf Croquet rankings. The range was between 110 and 1280, with a couple of the Czechs unrated. Mine was 443, so about in the middle and at the end of the first day I'd come second in my block, having won 5 out of 6 games - a good result I thought after losing the first game. The wind was so strong at one point that we thought it was going to take the gazebos away, so everybody was holding them all down, rather than playing (in the rain it had to be said).
The evening was reserved for a Gala Dinner at a fancy restaurant. Excellent food and drink, of course, was supplemented by the view from the tower over the suburb, the Elbe river and into Hamburg itself - almost the only time in Hamburg that we saw the sun properly!
Sunday dawned grey again, but less windy, less rain and even the odd spot (very odd) of sun. The top eight players were in a knock-out to determine the champion. I started well in my quarter-final, winning the first game against Jean-Yves Gueremont from Paris, but failed to run hoop 13 in the second game when I had a good chance, and then lost this and the final game. So I was knocked out, but winning my last two games managed to come fifth with 8 wins and 3 losses. The final turned out to be an all-German one, with Alexander Kirsten winning at the very final hoop (pictured).
A fuller report on the German Open by Joern Vinnen is available here.
A report on the German Croquet scene is available here.
A well worthwhile trip, great hospitality and fun at the tournament. It's considerably more expensive than UK tournaments, but includes so much else in the food and drink line that it's definitely good value for money. I recommend it to anyone."
At the invitation of Penshurst Place we had a very successful visit, demonstrating croquet to many people on the lawn in front of the main house as part of their 2008 programme of events. One slight fear was hitting a ball over the edge and hitting someone below, but this eventuality didn't happen thank goodness.
Note the childrens' hoops bought for the occasion and well used!
Penshurst have sent a very complimentary letter which has been put on the Notice Board inviting us back next year and also contributing £150 to club funds.
Many thanks to Mick and Sandra Greagsby, Derek Heath and Miriam Reader for manning the lawns.
The third year of this event, inaugurated as part of Royal Tunbridge Wells 400 in 2006, was a great success with another doubling in the number of teams taking part to 20. Taking place on the evening of 20th June the weather sadly didn't recognised the importance of the event and drizzle greeting the start. However, it cleared by the end of the second game, just leaving a slightly cold and gloomy outlook. Nevertheless, all the
teams
played with gusto throughout.
The previous winners (Blockley Partnership and Lovat Insurance Brokers) entered again, and were clearly trying to repeat their previous success. In the end the winners were
Chris Moon and Juliet Garret from Lovat Insurance Brokers,
who won all four of their games.
New for this year was the Churchill Retirement Living Salver, and was presented to the Community team winners
Charles Armstrong-Wilson and John Tysoe of the Dad Rock Disasters team
(with 3 wins) by Dave Roe, Land Director of Churchill Retirement Living.
Prizes were awarded to the winners and commiserations to the losers and we hope they'll all be back next year, if not before.
The full list of teams is:
Our first Open tournament of the year was on quite a nice day, despite initial fears earlier in the week. A full complement of 16 players, with sadly only 3 non-TW players, used all four of our lawns for a full days play of 7 rounds of 13-point games. The main lawns are getting faster, now up to about 10 Plummers for those technically minded amongst you, and the Bowling Green not too bad, having been cut recently, but a little bumpy.
The event was organised as a seven-round Swiss by the Manager (Jon Diamond), with the final being the top two players after the sixth round. The competition was intense, with many very close games, and occasionally the extra turns even being used properly! However, the Webb's from Southwick proved just too much for our local players - they've been playing against some very good players according to their handicap cards. Maggie turned out the winner at the 13th hoop in the final against Keith and came up with an unblemished record of 7 wins to take the first prize, with Keith being the runner up.
We obviously need some coaching in how and when to take the extra turns and also in some of the more detailed rules of the game, e.g. when to call a referee (especially when you've got a shot close to a hoop).
The Manager took a little executive action in changing Maggie Webb's handicap from 7 to 5 (the handicap card index indicated 6, but was very close to 5) and Michael Gentry from 10 to 8.
The final places were:
| Position | Player | Handicap | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maggie Webb | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | Keith Webb | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | Richard Clark | 3 | 5 |
| 4= | Frank Gunstone | 6 | 4.5 |
| 4= | John Moore | 9 | 4.5 |
| 6= | Mick Greagsby | 7 | 4 |
| 6= | Derek Heath | 7 | 4 |
| 6= | Valerie Harding | 6 | 4 |
| 9= | Val Rocca | 8 | 3 |
| 9= | Joyce Rocca | 9 | 3 |
| 9= | Michael Gentry | 10 | 3 from 6 games |
| 9= | Carolyn Gunstone | 10 | 3 |
| 13= | Miriam Reader | 8 | 2 |
| 13= | Pam Clark | 9 | 2 from 6 |
| 15 | Gerald White | 9 | 1 |
| 16 | Valerie Jackson | 10 | 0 from 6 |
Our first league match of the season was an almost pleasant, but dry day on fairly quick lawns at Ramsgate and saw our intrepid team up by 2 game to 1 after the morning session in three close games. However, the afternoon was too much (too much lunch perhaps?) and losing 3 out of 4 consigned us to a loss. Not too bad though, considering our team was on average one handicap weaker than Ramsgate's. Better luck next time...
This annual event was held at Medway this year, with a slightly disappointing entry of only 9, with no entries from Canterbury or Ramsgate. Their main lawn was in not very good condition, so it was not totally surprising that a local player won - just that it was the highest handicap entry - Philip Mann. Mick Belcham managed superbly as usual, but neither he, nor Chris Sturdy nor Jon Diamond got into the semi-finals. So a disappointing tournament for the TW players also.
Opening Day dawned beautifully and it continued to be lovely and warm throughout. The morning event was the (traditional?) One Ball, being run for the second time with ten players and a novice turned out to be the winner again - this time Derek Heath.
The soup for lunch unfortunately turned out to be a victim of a sudden family emergency, but there was plenty of bread, cheese, tomatoes and fruit, together with some liquid refreshment to make up for that and the 25 members enjoyed it thoroughly.
The lawns were fully crowded in the afternoon, and we entertained a few people who'd come in for the Open Afternoon. Sadly in the morning we had to turn away a group of walkers who's leader wanted to have a play. We hope they come back again.
Due to the warmth there has been a sudden spurt of growth on the lawns, which made them rather slow, and some damage was observed, so we're playing on the Bowling Green, now beautifully cut short, for the next week.
We've decided to introduce another Club Session, this time for AC primarily, on Saturday afternoons starting 10th May. Members are welcome to attend and play GC, but if we fill the lawns with people playing AC then you may be asked to move. However, we will reserve one of the two Bowling Green Lawns for GC in this event. The primary version of Association we'll be encouraging you to play is the 10-point Handicap Game (see more information on the wall in the Club House). Each of these games should take no more than 1.25 hours, allowing for several games in an afternoon. Other clubs do something similar, matching players on a first come first served basis. So why don't you come along and play someone new? We're planning to run some AC Coaching during the season on Saturday afternoons. Watch this space and the website for more details.
The awnings damaged by vandals have been put back, but please be gentle with them, especially the one on the right as you face the Club House.
There are a number of other minor improvements around the Club House that we hope you'll notice and approve of. We've got some new boundary boards intended for the end of lawn 3 (they're the light coloured ones), new hoops and competition balls so that we've got a good set for all our 4 fill-size lawns and a super new tool for digging out hoops during the season to remove rabbit runs etc. Mick is terribly pleased, as it will make this part of his job much easier!
The last Pub Lunch of the Winter Season at the Beacon proved the most successful with 24 members and partners attending - more than 1/3 of the club. This was the first time that a significant number of people managed to walk to the lunch, so an improvement in our green credentials too!
Unless there's someone prepared to organise summer lunches (please contact Jon Diamond if you'd like to volunteer) this will be the last lunch until the next Winter season.
The full Newsletter is here. The main points are:
Aaron, representing New Zealand and coaching Advanced players here in Tunbridge Wells last year, reached the semi-finals in the World Croquet Championship yesterday. Sadly he lost to Stephen Mulliner from England in three straight games -10, -7, -17. A picture of him playing can be seen here (#44)
This is his best ever result, having lost in the previous World Championship held in Cheltenham in 2005 in the quarter-finals.
The new World Champion is Chris Clarke, also from England, who beat Stephen Mulliner in the final by three games to one. More details of the event can be seen here
The filming at the club last year has realised something: ITV will be showing the programme...
Programme Three:
Still subject to possible changes:
ITV London: Friday 11th July @ 20:00hrs
ITV Meridian: Thursday 17th July @ 19:30hrs
Aaron Westerby
will be representing New Zealand at the World Croquet Championship being held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 2nd to 10th February 2008. He is one of the 80 competitors taking part from 24 countries around the world.
He is aged 33, has played Croquet since the age of 13, and is currently ranked number 9 in the world and hopes to win the Wimbledon Cup for the first time. This trophy was presented to the World Croquet Federation by the All England Lawn Tennis Club in recognition of the part Croquet played in the club's long history.
Aaron lost to James Death of England in the quarter-finals of the previous World Croquet Championship, held in Cheltenham in August 2005.
Dan Long
has been co-opted on to the Committee and is taking over from Mick Belcham as Membership Secretary. Exactly when this happens will be determined between the two of them.
We're currently planning on installing some drainage under the banking of lawns 2 and 3. With a following wind and a suitably long dry period we're looking at doing this in April, so the Main Lawns Opening Day is likely to be in the first half of May - we're hoping/planning for 4th May.
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