Over a post-match drink, the players were in agreement: you could always find new ways to fail a triple peel. Wycombe’s players had come up with two that very evening.
 
This was the first “full” match of the A-league season, with half of the preceding fixture against Aldermaston being postponed at the last moment due to a broken thumb.  Wycombe’s team of Rich Waterman (–1) and Mike Porter (–1/2) was faced with a tough task against Blewbury’s pairing of Robin Brown (–2) and Peter Allan (0).
 
In Mike’s match he had the first break to 4-back and had completed one peel of the triple before inexplicably mis-hitting a simple croquet stroke in the middle of the lawn, gluing his ball to the peg where it couldn’t hit anything.  Peter took advantage of this mishap and looked favourite to win before his own mini-disaster, mis-approaching 3-back from short range and allowing Mike back in to take the game +9.
 
Rich got off to an excellent start against Robin, taking his first break to 4-back and – despite Robin hitting the lift shot – regaining the innings and embarking on his own triple peel attempt. Things were going smoothly, with two peels completed, but in running 2-back he only just got through and, despite having a clear shot through the hoop to continue the break, he clanged his mallet into the upright rather than the ball.  Robin immediately took a break to 1-back and then attempted a sextuple peel; this was abandoned after failing to peel partner through 2-back, but he continued to peg, peeling Rich’s rover ball and pegging it out.  From the contact turn, Rich rolled to a runnable position at 3-back but failed to make the hoop and, despite giving one further chance, Robin held on to win +5. 
 
An excellent and close match played on a ridiculously hot evening. The team’s next fixture is at Basingstoke next Wednesday.

Mike Porter

The annual club's summer barbecue was blessed with delightful June evening sunshine, some splendid cooking, LOTS of people both members and families, and a relaxed sense of people coming together to enjoy themselves.  

A big thankyou goes to everyone in the event team who put on such a good evening in such an unobtrusive, good-humoured way.   HWCC already has Kestrels and Kites but now can also claim a sizeable team of Swans -- furious paddling below the surface but serene progress above!  Chief Swan award has to go to Kenny Weir who led from the front.

Congratulations to Chairman David, who kindly funded some of the drinks on his near-birthday.

What a convivial evening!

Words by Chris Webbley
Photos by Sharon Clark       

One of our newer members, William Hollman, made the journey up to Nottingham Croquet Club last weekend (21-22 Jun) to take part in the National Individual Junior Championship.  

Having won all his block games he ended up in the final against a player who had recently been to America to compete in the WCF’s International U21s World Championship.  With the score at 0-6 he had to dig deep!.  Having then won 4 hoops in succession, he ran the 11th hoop to get the score to 5-6.  His opponent then played a 28-yard stroke directly into the jaws of Hoop 12!  William made a valiant 6-yard attempt with an excellent Dambuster stroke, but succeeded in peeling his opponent through to end the match.

A worthy runner-up, William learnt a great deal from his experience and has now set his sights on further competitive play (but hopefully a bit nearer home!)

​​Ian Shore

No, not that running around hitting soft balls sport.  Today was the day when Wimbledon came to High Wycombe in the form of four delightful guests from the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club AELTC.  This continues an enjoyable collaboration of annual friendly matches between our two clubs. There are benefits in each direction. High Wycombe members who are lucky enough to get into the ballot get to play croquet at Wimbledon and are treated to splendid hospitality and good fellowship there. AELTC Members get a chance to play during their truncated season, when their lawns are turned over to practice courts for the running around hitting soft balls stuff (see above).

In perfect weather, everyone enjoyed some friendly and competitive Croquet. Punctuated by a range of delicious meals, including a superb lunch prepared by Alan Clark, assisted by drinks supremo Andrew Maclay.

The final result? A win by 9.5 : 6.5 to AELTC. But it was one of those days when it really was the taking part that mattered.
And I am hopeful that we will receive a return invitation for next summer to continue the relationship.  

My thanks go to the whole of the HWCC team who contributed to making the day so successful.

​Chris Webbley 

On our clubhouse wall is a photo of one of the world's ugliest trophies - the Mary Rose cup.  But, whether it was dredged up from the Tudor carrack or simply modelled on a crude pewter tankard found therein, it remains the most coveted prize in the AC B-Level world.  It's a national AC inter-club championship which we won in 2018 and again in 2023.

On June 12th, our team of Richard Coward, Keith Harker, Richard Peperell and David Cotton faced a team which, on paper, looked unassailable.  Our combined handicaps were 17, and Wrest Park's were 7.5.  The Mary Rose is a 'level advanced' competition which, for those who don't play AC, means at the end of various turns you have to snooker your opponent by placing balls in positions that stymie them and benefit you.

The format is quite prescriptive:  the lowest two handicap players on each side play doubles in the morning, while the higher handicaps play singles.  In the afternoon, everyone plays singles based on handicap order.  Richard Peperell (2) and David Cotton (3) played George Collin (1) and Eric Audsley (1) at doubles. Richard Coward (7) played Peter Rothwell ((2) and Keith Harker (5) played Tim Brewer (2.5).  Wunderkind Peter is in his third year of croquet and his handicap has dropped from 24 to 3 in that time.  The only player I know who has bettered this is Dave Fuller of East Dorset although keep your eyes on our own Gabriel Furse who may get there even quicker!  The results were a 26-19 win for Richard P. and David, a 17-14 win for Keith on time and a 15-26 loss for Richard C. with a very respectable score given the strength of the opposition.

After a light lunch, largely thanks to Jane Cotton, play was resumed.  In the afternoon, David had a sudden rush of blood to the head and beat Eric 26-2 in a little under an hour.  Richard P.  beat George 26-21 after a stunning rover peel and pegout.  His opponent claimed that Richard's peel would have been impossible on their lawns.  Hats off to Richard, Kenny and Russell for getting our lawns up to this standard.  Keith was unable to contain Peter and lost 7-21 on time and Richard beat Tim 20-17 on time.  The joy of the day was that everyone in our team won at least one match.  The result: 5-2 to High Wycombe.

We were given a bye in round one, and from my reading of the CqE website, we will play the winner of a Newport/Letchworth match in the quarter finals.

As we waved the opponents off the premises, we cracked open a nice bottle of Bordeaux, kindly provided by Richard C., to celebrate our victory.  We had naturally offered a glass to our opponents, but as they had declined, we drank it ourselves.

David Cotton ​

How fortunes can swing during a match.  Playing Harwell on 10 June in the SCF Doubles League,  some contests went like this:
Our A pair versus their D pair:  6-7 loss then a 7-0 win
Our B pair versus their C pair:  6-7 loss then a 7-3 win
Our A pair versus their C pair:  7-3 win then a 3-7 loss

All very narrow.  But our B pair brought home two wins against Harwell's D, this securing a win for HW by 5 matches to 3.

Well played, all, on a topsy-turvy day!

Chris Webbley 

On 21 April, a band of hopefuls travelled to Ealing to take part in the annual Lloyd-Pratt friendly competition which celebrates Ealing's generous sharing of their club premises when HW was temporarily without any lawns.   The competition features both AC and GC matches.  

Without naming or shaming (not least because I was one of the AC players), the GC teams did splendidly, the AC pairs less so, resulting in a draw on games.  

Exactly the same happened two years ago, and the result, as then, was decided by target practice - first to hit the peg from the sidelines.  In a horrible case of history repeating itself, the first to hit the peg was Ealing's Fred White-Overton.  He's rather good at this, and we should hire him to teach us how it's done, then ask that he sit out the shoot-out next time on the grounds that he's already proved himself.

Thanks to Ealing for their hospitality and to all who took part.  

David Cotton ​

On May 13th, a surprisingly warm day, 14 stalwarts turned out to play in the CqE One-Ball Charity competition,  We had a lovely mix of die-hard GC and AC players, and a smattering of crossover artists, some of whom had not played one-ball before.  The handicap system for one-ball is fun: take the lowest of your AC handicap, your GC handicap x 2.5, and 20, then subtract your birthday and shoe size.  Your handicap is then 1/3 of the result.  Some questioned the effectiveness of the handicapping system, while some revelled in the number of extra turns it afforded them.   

CqE had asked everyone to wear something blue, the colour of the Alzheimer's Society logo.  Adherence to the suggestion ranged from Ron Carter who had a blue logo somewhere on his shorts to Nigel Clogg who dyed his beard blue.  He claimed that the dye would wash out.  I haven't seen him since then to verify his claim.

We were delighted to welcome Robin Morrison's wife, Charlotte, who having neither played one-ball nor played on a full sized lawn, discharged herself with considerable honour!

Thank you so much to Geoff Johnson and Paul Gunn (not pictured) and, from left to right in the photo: Alan Clark, Robin Morrison, Ian Shore, Ron Carter, Charlotte Morrison, Mark Wilce, Matt Miles Griffiths, Nigel ('Bluebeard') Clogg, Mary Whimster, Richard Coward, James Gamon and Nigel Moore.

Congratulations to the overall winner, Mark Wilce and the runners-up, Richard Coward and Matt Miles Griffiths.  In the end, because of a combination of our late heats and a small admin errror (mea culpa!) we were not able to send anyone to the regional final in Surbiton. 

In total, we raised £160 for the Alzheimer's Society, the CqE's nominated charity. 

The day was light, informal and great fun and we would love to see more of you getting involved in next year's charity event.

​David Cotton

No, really.

The HWCC team of Alan Clark, Chris Webbley, Keith Toovey and Mark Higgins travelled to Leighton Linslade for our opening (and sadly, also closing) match in this national inter-club competition on a sunny Sunday 11 May.  The home club played well, eventually ending the day worthy winners at 5-2.  

Their fine hospitality was tested, however, when a cistern in the clubhouse roof space burst, bringing down an area of the ceiling!   Match manager Bill valiantly and successfully resisted any 3rd party attempts to have the clubhouse closed and the match abandoned, so with limited ...ahem...facilities, the day proceeded and ended with a fine tea.  Most of us out on the courts were unaware of all the drama, so our focus was unimpaired!

Congratulations to LL, who now go forward to the next round.

​Chris Webbley