 If you’re sharp eyed, you may have noticed a new ‘dome’ on the front on the green shed (see photo) and wondered what it is… or maybe not! I’ve been looking after the CCTV and security systems at the club since David Warhurst moved away last year. We have had cameras looking over the club house and sheds, and these have been a great deterrent to vandalism or theft. Cutting a long story short, while fixing a problem with one of the original cameras I ended up with a spare camera which Richard decided would do most good looking out towards the lawns, an area not well covered by the original two cameras. I installed it in September, and this is the view it records.  This means we can now see the playing area as well as the clubhouse and sheds giving a more complete coverage of the club. The new lawn view should also pick up any wildlife trying to dig up the courts so that we can take appropriate measures to prevent that.
Last year’s project was to enable remote access to the CCTV recorder. This allows me to quickly check that all’s well if the alarm goes off (which sends me a text message alert each time). All the cameras are visible on an app on my phone or a desktop PC application, with a live view and access to recordings. Richard can also access the system this way. It saves time and allows us to investigate potential security issues quickly. Steve Morton
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 Olly the Owl here, from my nest high in the trees overlooking your croquet club. I have to report some odd goings on last Tuesday (Ed: 4 Oct). The day started very early and strangely with a man in a white hat, and some others, hammering in a number of hoops not in the normal place and far more than normal (I am a wise old owl and know about these things!). When they had finished it looked as though they had made 4 courts out of two, very clever I must admit. However there were only 6 of them (Ed: Jason Carley from Watford, Bridget Goodman from Ealing, Russell Robinson from Phyllis Court, and Catherine Shore, Ian Shore and Chris Webbley from our club) so all their work seemed misplaced - until that is I saw the next peculiar thing. A large group (Ed: They were business people over from Paris), I counted 22 of them, arrived in six very small cars to be greeted on their arrival with what looked like wine (Ed: it was fizzy apple juice!) and tasty nibbles. As you know this is not normal practice for your roll-ups - and anyway this was a Tuesday when normally there is more chance my sleep will not be disturbed. Following the party, well to be fair they only had a few minutes, the man in a white hat started talking. However, here was another strange thing, he only spoke in short phrases and waited until someone else has translated what he said into French (in which I am fluent of course as I am a very wise old bird!). It seems the man in the white hat was not proficient in the visitors' language. Nonetheless with some pointing and gesturing he seemed to achieve what he wanted as suddenly all the visitors flooded out across the lawns, waving mallets and knocking balls about. However the six who were wearing whites soon got the situation under control (some of them obviously fluent in French) and I saw the semblance of some Golf Croquet being played on each court. There was a lot of laughter, which papered over where the skill was missing. The fun had hardly started it seemed before suddenly everyone gathered in front of the club house for a photograph and then equally swiftly the visitors returned to their very small cars and departed (Ed. they were off to lunch at Le Manoir Restaurant!). Once the visitors had left I could hear the people in white congratulating themselves - I am not sure why as they had not played a stroke! Anyway the white hatted chap seemed very pleased - I heard him say they had raised £420 for their new lawns (not more noise I hope?!). Heigh ho, back to some very welcome sleep, Olly    Good 'aye mates - your roving reporter found a lovely welcome at Southport Croquet Club, Gold Coast, Australia.
About an hour south of Brisbane and maybe half a mile back from the Pacific, the Club has about 120 members and three lawns - all good, flat and true; the grass is not as fine as ours, but the climate challenges are almost completely the opposite! I was invited to turn up and take pot luck, which I did; and it was an interesting experience! Two gentlemen were playing and one kindly suggested I have a game with his wife, Gabi, who was sitting out. Perfect. Gabi was lovely, I selected a mallet (equipment store just like ours!) and off we went! I was playing well and delighted with my game, even 0 - 4 down. At this point, Gabi's husband quietly walked over and whispered in my ear that he had omitted to mention that his wife was rated No2 ladies player in Queensland and No3 in Australia! Thank you, sir! Well, that was an incentive to at least hold my own! A 4 - 7 loss with hardly a bad stroke on my part was an honourable escape in my book! Gabi had the best hoop running shot I have ever seen - three successful boundary to hoop runs, not one hoop attempt missed all game. I simply had to leave nothing on at any distance - so impressed! The Club has evolved like ours - once the land was secured, the funds were generated over the years to build a Clubhouse, equipment store, viewing benches, etc, etc. One idea I noticed was their approach to eliminating rabbit runs - they'd create three hoop hole sets at the beginning of the season (aligned right next to each other); then they insert flat topped plugs (rather like wine bottle plugs) to maintain the two sets not being used at any one time. These are rotated regularly and the result is a lack of evidence of any rabbit runs at all. Wildlife issues are a little different - no squirrels to worry about, but they do find the occasional egg laid from ground nesting birds who take a fancy to the odd divot and centre peg hole! Apologies go to Raouf and Ian - yes, I resorted to my quirky pose! I might try playing Gabi's husband next time! Cheers, Mark Higgins I don't know whether Joni Mitchell ever played croquet, but her lovely song, 'Both Sides Now', points very well to the new arrangements starting on 1 October. Yes, we lose the chance to apply (or practise!) our jump shots. The lawns need a bit of tender loving care to get through the winter months. But a combination of good drainage and a willing event management team means we can offer a set of three different winter GC tournaments right through from October to the end of March. At present, there are still some places available to enter:
Please contact me on chris.webbley@icloud.com / 07850 899 447 if you want to ask for a place or are willing to act as a reserve. Thank you in advance to the team of Sharon Clark, Geoff Brook, Martin Dock and Nigel Moore. (And recognition to the great Joni Mitchell for a wonderful song.) Chris Webbley  To enable payment of small amounts such as lawn fees and bar purchases, there is now a card reader in the Clubhouse. Using the card reader rather than the kitty is also more secure and avoids the task of cash handling. (Please don't use this for Membership fees because the system provider (SumUp) would charge us a small %.) It is dead easy to use – just tap your card following the instructions. Thank you, Ed and Duncan, for getting this up and running for the club. Richard Peperell   A wet September day. With thanks to John Maguire  With the Phyllis Court Club’s flags at half mast it was a somewhat subdued team from High Wycombe (Richard Peperell, Alan Clark, Michael Bowker and Ian Shore) that met with Phyllis Court’s A team (Ian Norris, Chris Roberts, Helena Jansson and River Goldring) for the rescheduled SCF Level League match on 14 September. The photograph was taken as the teams marked the passing of HM The Queen with a minute’s silence and by wearing black ribbons. The match itself included some excellent play, but, in the end, the match followed the 'D grades' and the result was 6.5 to PCC 1.5 to HWCC. Our Man of the Match was Michael Bowker, the only HWCC player to beat his PCC opponent. Ian Shore Richard Coward joined our club this summer and entered our annual High-Handicap AC Tournament held on 13 Sept. The Tournament was fought between 4 players, Ian Shore (a previous winner), Nick Jones, Roger Goldring (fresh from his win in the GC National All-England final yesterday…. check out ‘News’ on CA website) and Richard C. With handicaps ranging from 20 to 14, the winner was not clear at the start but Richard, with his smart brand-new mallet, soon showed how the game should be played as he pegged out both his balls for the majority of his games. In fact, he won all his games and in the process reduced his handicap – so well done Richard. Nick also reduced his handicap – and so well done to Nick as well. The overall standard of play was good with half the games going to peg – well done guys. …and a mention and thank you to Kay and Mike Vickery who popped along to the club to deliver the trophy – thank you both. The pictures below also show three American visitors, relations of Mark Higgins, who popped into the club and got themselves hijacked into a photo-opportunity by those pesky Brits! Richard Peperell
I am delighted to welcome two new committee members for our Club, Keith Harker and Chris Webbley. They will act as co-opted members until the next AGM. Great to have you both aboard! Richard Peperell  Another fun and challenging day for eight members of the Club. Handicaps ranged from 8 to 12 and there were some super long hoops and great tactics. Ian Shore kindly agreed to be the referee and demonstrated a potential crush shot. Sally Rogers as an additional manager helped support the players with the format of the day and handicap card advice. The High Handicap Cup was won by Wendy Kingon in the final against Nigel Clogg. Sharon Clark  Top row from left: Ian Shore, Joy Biggs, Penny Austin, Nigel Clogg, Carole Lawther and Mary Whimster Bottom Row: Joyce Foran, Wendy Kingon, Max Foran, Sharon Clark |
