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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
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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 After crashing out in the first round of the Longman against Southwick last year, the HWCC team were full of vim going into this contest; a recent loss against Ealing in a friendly match was an additional pique to achieve a result away from home.
The team was Alan Clark (3.5), Kenny Weir (14), Matt Miles Griffiths (14) and Mark Wilce (20). They faced an experienced Ealing team, of Tony Elliott (6) Simon Turner (6), David Graham (11) and Margaret Page (16). All games were played to Base 6 bisques, in accordance with the competition's advice for high handicap players. This made for a tactical and aggressive playing environment, with both sides able to deploy bisques in most of the matches. In the morning session, David Graham made excellent use of his 7.5 bisques to beat Alan Clark 26-4. In the other singles game, Kenny Weir achieved a hard-fought win against Simon Turner, with the score at 21-12 when time was called. In the doubles match, Mark Wilce and Matt MG made the most of their 11 to 5 bisque advantage; an early 6 hoop break gave them the lead, which they defended resolutely from that point on. Nevertheless, Tony Elliott was able to get a four-ball break going, and looked like taking his ball all the way round, before unfortunately blobbing 3 back. It was a tight and nervy match, finishing 19-14 to High Wycombe. HWCC went into lunch 2-1 up. As always, Ealing were consummate and generous hosts; an excellent lunch was served, with homemade salads by Margaret, fresh strawberries, and a wide selection of cakes. Ealing's Carol was there throughout the day, offering refreshments whenever needed, and making the guests feel very welcome. In the afternoon session, Lawn 1 saw the doubles teams face each other singly; Margaret Page demonstrated her class with a 26-11 win over Mark Wilce, making the most of her 10 bisques. She was the only player to peg out on Lawn 1 all day. On Lawn 3, Alan Clark won 17-10 against Simon Turner, whose 2.5 bisques weren't enough to get a result against the lowest handicap player on the lawns. Kenny Weir made judicious use of his 8 bisques to David Graham's 5, to win a very close match 23-20. With the match score at 4-2, the last game was academic. With his 6 handicap, Tony Elliott had no bisques to Matt MG's 8, and it resulted in a defensive, somewhat negative, encounter, which finished 19-7 to Wycombe. The final result was 5-2 to Wycombe, which flattered the guests somewhat, considering how close many of the games were. All in all, it was a fine day's croquet, played very much in the spirit of the game. HWCC and Ealing have a long history of friendship, stretching back to them sharing their ground with us when we were homeless, and it was a pleasure to continue this association. We look forward to Hurlingham in the next round! Matt Miles Griffiths Following the inaugural launch of the GC Club Challenge last year, the competition is returning this season for the summer months through to 1st October. The aim is to encourage some gentle competition beyond the regular roll ups to improve skills and even possibly individual handicaps
It’s a simple format of individuals challenging fellow club members to GC 'first to 7 hoops' game in either a level or Advantage GC format. You can play each other several times if you wish! Each game is then recorded in the Competition folder in the clubhouse and on your handicap card. Please give it a try and invite both your regular croquet friends as well as other members that you’ve yet to play. Good luck! Nigel Moore and Mark Higgins A cool but happy day to kick start the Friendlies Match Season. Here are the two teams together, well wrapped up. We were 4-all at half time but Roehampton got the edge in the second half after lunch and we finished 10 - 6 down on games. Everyone appeared to enjoy themselves and the lunch, produced by Wendy Kingon, HWCC Friendlies Lead. Chris Webbley  One of the slightly quirky elements of the Southern Croquet Federation GC league is that where a club fields more than one team, those teams have to play each other as a starting match. So it was that HW Kestrels hosted the HW Kites on 22 April for an Advantage GC match. Kestrels were the perfect hosts, managing the day well and keeping everybody fed and watered in an enjoyable atmosphere.
The Kites took an early lead in the opening round and were able to sustain that through the day, winning 11-5. Both teams are now ready to take on opponents from other clubs during the rest of the season. During the day, High Wycombe maintained its reputation for learning and development. An observer would have seen someone receiving referee coaching from Ian Shore; a player being assessed using the CPA system to help their development; and all games being played using the Target Scores method currently being trialled for all SCF AGC matches this summer, with feedback gathered at the end of the day. There's more to croquet than croquet... Thanks from the Kites to our Kestrel friends. Happy hunting for the rest of the season! Chris Webbley, Kites Captain |
