THE BOYS WERE BUZZING !

Wednesday 5th saw the culmination of eight weeks of effort by many club members, volunteering to help with a group of 16 boys from a local school (Thorpe House in Gerrards Cross).  A terrific tournament for them was organised and run by Chris Webbley.

It all came about out of Carole Lawther’s long held ambition to get more youngsters involved with croquet – something of interest and a theme for Croquet England also.  Carole had approached a number of schools during the early part of the year.  Thorpe House were the first to grab the chance to give some exposure to some of their boys, and signed on for five weeks at two hours per week on a Wednesday afternoon.  The first four of these were familiarisation and ‘coaching sessions’ organised by Carole,  with the help of Ian Shore and Alan Clark to provide qualified coaching experience, and the additional help of some 3 or 4 others each week to look after the four half-lawns in use throughout the afternoons.

The tournament on the last day, was a mini mirror-image of a real GC tournament, with each pair of boys playing 4 doubles matches of first to 4 hoops.  Three teams each achieved 3 wins out of 4, and the top 2 (equal on net-hoops) played off with a penalty shoot-out to hit the peg.  Great fun was had by all – boys, helpers and a number of parents who came along – and, considering the excitement levels natural amongst 11 year-olds, it all ran very smoothly, and the boys behaved impeccably (most of the time!) and were a credit to their school.

Three quotes summed up different aspects of this effort:
The Deputy Head, who brought the boys, said “how good it was to see this particular group of boys enjoying being competitive in a sport for the first time.”
A parent said after the tournament “how she had never seen her son so excited or involved before in a school sporting activity.”
A teacher next day said “how the boys had been absolutely buzzing when they got back to school that afternoon.”

Carole did a marvellous job to turn the germ of an idea into such a success, and couldn’t have done it without her extensive group of helpers who gave their time and enthusiasm.  We all should be grateful and proud to belong to a club that has such values and enthusiastic volunteers. 

​Richard Coward