St Albans Croquet Club
Coffee and Trophy Presentation - 3rd December
This morning's coffee morning doubled as an opportunity to (re-)present the now engraved trophies to Stuart (twice), Andrew and Chris. Well done to all (but we've got to figure out a way to stop Stuart winning every season!).
MacRobertson Shield starts today - 11th November
The 'World Cup' of Association Croquet starts today in Australia. England, USA, Australia and New Zealand are the teams taking part. There's more details on the MacRobertson Shield facebook page here. It will be streamed live (starting at about 10pm each evening!) here.
End of Season - 9th October
Today's Verulam Final marks the end of the season. Look out for news of social events during the off season. We also look forward to seeing everyone next year!
Finals Day: Stuart wins GC and 14 point GC Finals
The club's finals day was held on the 24th September. The morning saw Stuart beat Heather in the Golf Croquet final, and in the afternoon he beat Brian in the 14 point Mahoney Shield final. Congratulations to Stuart who wins two of the club trophies for the third year in succession.
The 26 point Verulam (Brian vs Chris) and 18 point Kitson finals (now determined as Andrew vs Roger) will be played seperately).
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Finals Day
Finals Day will be held on Saturday 24th September, when we hope that we can play the Final of the GC competition (between Stuart and Heather), and the final of the 14 point competition which is as yet undecided.
Competition Update - 8th Sep
Brian has joined Chris in the final of the 26 point Verulam competition without playing a shot. Heather beating Stephen means that Brian goes through. Both he and Heather have 3 wins but the first tie breaker is 'who beat who' and Brian beat Heather. See the table here.
In the 18 point Kitson competition both finalists depend on the final matches in each block, and again its likely that the finalists won't be from the people playing! See the table here.
In the 14 point Mahoney shield there's what is in effect a semi-final between Brian and Julian to decide who plays Stuart in the final. See the table here.
Stuart through to finals - 22th Aug
The block stages of the GC competition have been completed with Stuart making the final from the second block, so the final will be Stuart vs Heather. Stuart has also made it through to the final of the Mahoney Shield. See here for the latest scores.
Chris through to the Verulam Final - 6th Aug
Slightly belatedly the scores have been updated on the Club Competitions pages and Chris is the second person to make it through to the finals in the Verulam 26point competition. See here for the scores.
First Finalist for the club competions - 25th Jul
The first block of the club competition is complete and Heather has made it to the final of the Golf Croquet competition. See here for the scores. 2/3 of the GC matches have been played but only 1/4-1/2 of the AC matches.
CA Survey
The preliminary results from the 2022 Croquet Association survey (see below) are in. Click here to download a file to see them. We didn't win the £150!
Club Sessions
The club sessions are up and running, (see the photos below from last weeks GC session). As a reminder this year's sessions are:
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AC Full lawn: Monday 2.00 p.m.
Tuesday 6.30 p.m
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AC Half lawn: Thursday 6.30 p.m. (Coaching sessions April/May)
Saturday 10.00 a.m. -
GC Thursday 2.00 p.m.
Introductory Course
We will be running a Croquet Introductory Course on Thursday evenings in May (5th, 12th, 19th & 26th) from 6:30-8:00pm. Its designed for people who have no knowledge of the game, and will get you playing a basic game in the first session. We'll then go through the skills required for both golf and association croquet in later sessions. Its lots of fun!
The course will be run by Heather (who is a qualified coach, and was awarded the trophy for most improved player in the year last year).
The cost will be £40 which will include membership of the club for the year. If you'd like to sign-up then contact Heather (01727 822252 or heather.bennett130@btinternet.com), or use facebook messenger here
The lawn is set-up and will open on 6th April
Heather, Keith, Brian and Stephen braved the rain to set-up the lawn this morning. The lines still need to be done, so the lawn will open on Thursday 6th.
Croquet Associations Quinquennial Survey - 3rd April
The croquet association carrys out a survey of all plays (from social player to international) every 5 years. If you complete it there's a chance for you or a club to win £150. You can fill in the survey here. We'd encourage you to put St Albans in the prize box! The letter from the CA explaining the survey is here.
Update from the AGM - 20th March 2022
There was a good turnout at the AGM, and the times for club sessions, courses and competitions were set.
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The following club sessions will be held weekly
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AC Full lawn: Monday 2.00 p.m.
Tuesday 6.30 p.m -
AC Half lawn: Thursday 6.30 p.m. (Coaching sessions April/May)
Saturday 10.00 a.m. -
GC Thursday 2.00 p.m. (with the possibility an evening session if there is sufficient demand)
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Heather will run refresher sessions on Thurs 21st and 28th April (+some sessions to introduce Advanced Level play)
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An intoductory course will be held on Thursday evenings between 5th & 26th May (6:30-8pm).
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As well as the three competitions we have held in previous years we will add a GC full lawn competition (see competitions page for more details)
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We will hold a heat of the charity one-ball competition on 30th April.
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We will hold two speed doubles days
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A GC singles or doubles event will be introduced.
Look out for details of these events and news of when the
Congratulations to Heather Bennett for winning the Steel Memorial Bowl
The Croquet Association has named Heather as the most improved female AC player in the country! Many congratulations to her for winning this prestigious trophy. The article in CA Gazette is below together with a photo of the trophy being awarded by Quiller Barrett the CA President.
Coffee Morning - 19th March 2022
The final coffee morning of the off-season will be held on 19th March. See the mail from Vicki for details.
AGM - 14th March 2022
The AGM will be held on 14th March. See the mail from Heather for details. The website will be updated with details for the 2022 season after the AGM.
Secretary's Shield Report
A report on the 2021 Secretary's Shield Final (which we lost to Sheffield), appeared in the December 2021 issue of the Croquet Gazette. (The report on the website is here)
