2006 News

Additional pictures can be seen in our Photo Gallery and detailed match results/reports via our Competitive Play page

15th December – AGM

Chairman’s Report to the AGM

Richard Clark retires as Chairman, replaced by Jon Diamond, Colin Maybe also retires, new members are Ann Boyle and Elaine Houslop.

22nd November – Aaron Westerby at the MacRobertson Shield

Aaron plays in the No. 1 spot in the New Zealand team at the MacRobertson Shield (World Team Tournament) in Melbourne, Australia. In the first Test Match against Great Britain he beats David Maughan (-17; +26tp; +6tpo) and Robert Fulford (+19tp, -9tp, +5tp), but loses both doubles. The NZ team lose 15:6.

30th October – Lawns still open

The lawns on the Bowling Green are still open! Despite the clock change last Sunday saw 12 people playing in the pleasant sun, very unusual for this late in October. Today saw a working party undertake grass maintenance on the Bowling Green (scarifying, slitting and mowing), but it’s still OK to play.

26th October – Aaron Westerby wins New Zealand Top Ten tournament

17th October – Chris Barham & Roger Morris win Doubles Goblet

In the last competition final of the season on a beautiful sunny October day and at least two spectators, Chris and Roger beat John Timmis and Miriam Reader by 10 hoops.

12th October – Club award by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society

The Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society decided to recognise the Club’s endeavours by the award of the Society’s new “Community Contribution Commendation”. As the Club’s briefing document stated: “From its roots as a traditional private members’ club, it has become a community-oriented club that not only is open to all but also recognises that it has a key role to play in preserving (and enhancing) the ambience of Calverley Grounds”. The Commendation was presented by Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Chairman of the Local Government Association, to Richard Clark at an Awards Ceremony at the Town Hall on October 12th.

11th October – Latest Newsletter

2006-10 newsletter– warning 809K size

It includes a full review of the season’s activities and future Diary dates/locations for the AGM and Winter Pub lunches

27th September – SECF U League v Canterbury – lost 1:6

John Hobbs reports: “Mick Belcham was the only winner. Roger Morris and I lost the doubles, due to Roger’s injury making it impossible for him to play properly. He lost his singles for the same reason. The sloping lawns didn’t help any of us, especially me when I had to rely on hitting in at a distance to get the innings.”

25th September – SECF B League v Ramsgate – lost 1:2

John Hobbs reports: “Roger Morris, Miriam Reader and I travelled to Ramsgate for the second time in four days, along with Dan Long and we enjoyed the beautiful lawns once more. They are fast, but manageable and made accurate play possible.

Dan and I won the doubles fairly easily because their second string was rather too fast with her shots and consequently seldom hit straight. Roger was pipped by one in a close finish and Miriam put up a fight against their best player, Trevor Longman (9), but lost by 5. We enjoyed lunch again, courtesy of Zoe Hawkins and in the afternoon I finished my game against Trevor, but lost – both playing long breaks. The other games had to be curtailed, otherwise we would have been a bit late departing. The rain held off and the wind was moderate for once.”

23rd/24th September – Philip Mann wins Pegasus Plate

John Hobbs reports: “Twelve players duly turned up for our Autumn Handicap Tournament, but sadly only two local players – Chris Barham and Miriam Reader, so that I just managed. The format was Egyptian, with shortened games for high handicap players (Bray formula). To get games going between high handicappers I played full bisque to base 7, which was the median handicap and meant that all the lower half had no bisques, but games between two high handicappers would have bisques for both players. This set a cracking pace with some players getting 5 games on the Saturday. I applied Wharrad turns for just two games on Saturday.

The runaway winner was Philip Mann from Medway, but he was beaten in his last game by Jeffrey Rushby from Caterham and this meant that Jeffrey became the runner up. There was another game going on at the same time in which it emerged that if Peter Highton won and Philip lost, Peter would win the tournament. However, Peter lost to our visitor from Bath, Andrew Willis and thus the final ranking put Peter third and Andrew fourth. It was an unplanned and exciting finale.”

22nd September – SECF Golf Level League v Ramsgate – lost 4:5

Chastened by recent defeats, our gallant team this time comprised Richard Clark (Captain) John Hobbs, Roger Morris and Miriam Reader. The long journey to Ramsgate served to acclimatise the team to the heavy rain, but not to the very fast paced lawns.

The morning’s doubles saw us romp to a two game disadvantage, with Miriam and Richard crashing 7 – 0 and John and Roger losing by 7 – 3. By now, we had all registered that we needed to drop our hitting by an octave or two, and wins in the singles by John and Richard cancelled out losses by Roger and Miriam and sent us in to lunch 4 – 2 down and needing to win all the afternoon games to secure victory.

The lasagne, beer and sweet were all recognised as Ramsgate ploys to dampen our resurgence, but the reverse effect saw Roger and Miriam back to form with a good doubles win, while John Hobbs pushed the stakes higher by winning his singles game. Four games all. No pressure therefore on Richard whose last game against Graham was a marathon, decided 7-5 in Ramsgate’s favour after a magnanimous refereeing decision by John Hobbs and a heroic hit in from 30 yards by Graham Wallin turned the tide in his and Ramsgate’s favour. A Ramsgate win by 5 games to 4 was the outcome of a dour, wet, hard fought but most enjoyable day’s play.

15th September – SECF Golf Level League v Dulwich – lost 0:9

Some things in life are best savoured in the smallest portions. Dulwich, a small hamlet within the great sprawl of our Capital City, sent a team of four golf croquet devotees to Royal Tunbridge Wells on Friday last to challenge the local heroes.

The weather was fair, the playing field level, but alas the contest was not so. It was of course fair, but scarcely level as the visitors, led by a Frenchman Pierre Beaudry, triumphed emphatically by 9 games to 0. There is little to add, as the local contestants prefer anonymity to public shame. Well done Dulwich! The detailed scores have been posted to the South East Federation in a plain brown envelope – edged of course in black.

6th September – SECF Golf Handicap League v Canterbury – lost 2:7

The sleek Jaguar of Frank Gunstone purred its way to Canterbury with Richard Clark, Roger Morris and Ray Meech aboard, all hopeful for a fine day of power golf croquet at the quiet pastures of Polo Farm. Seven hours later, the Jaguar returned, tail between legs, bearing four tired, dejected dispirited souls, soundly beaten by a margin of 7 – 2 by Brenda Porrer, Jean Byers, Ted and Elaine Salisbury.

Fast, close cropped lawns provided the setting, with hoops which showed a determined impenetrability to the RTW team’s shots. The locals had the pace of the lawns and knew the virtues of patiently putting their balls in front of the hoops while we blasted away with impeccable long range clearances before succumbing to the devastating bisque whenever within range – a tactical lesson to be learnt. The good side? Ray Meech contributed both wins, and almost every game went to the final hoop. At least we did justice to the tea, remembered our manners, said thank you through tears and gritted teeth and looked forward to seeing our hosts next year on our new lawns.

3rd September – Open Advanced Tournament (the Honeygrove Cup)

16 players entered this tournament, using all four of our lawns for the Association tournament for the first time, with a handicap range of 2 (the minimum) to 9. Saturday dawned misty with a poor forecast for the day – rain and wind. Well, it turned out like that, but not quite as much as forecast thank goodness.

Jon Male from Caterham started off well and definitely looked the person to beat as he swept through the opposition on the first day scoring 5 straight wins, including our own Jon Diamond and John Hobbs. So it was odds-on that he would be one of the finalists.

The other finalist eventually turned out to be John Daniels from Purley Bury and the final was a classic! John started really well and had got to Peg and 4-back whilst Jon was on 1 and 3. However, Jon gradually clawed himself back into the game and was catching up all the time, still needing to ensure that John never had an opportunity to hit in as if he did he would surely finish the game off.

Finally, with John on Peg and Rover Jon got to Peg and 2-back, and was then able to peg out one of John’s balls to leave a three ball ending; clearly Jon thought he had the advantage then. However, he then made a slight slip in the leave and allowed John to hit in – surely the game would be over now as John just has to run Rover and peg out his solitary ball? But no, he ran Rover but was hampered and unable to hit the escape ball; so he had to hit away and hope to hit the peg from a long distance. This left Jon in control, but he still had several hoops to make and all the time he had to try and ensure John was wired from the peg! Slowly he made the final hoops and finished the game off – winning by a solitary point. Phew……

So Jon Male retained the Honeygrove Cup, which he won on the last occasion it was run in 2004 with John Daniels as runner-up. Mark Homan from Watford won the Egyptian block. Other TW participants were Chris Sturdy (good to see him back from the USA) and Richard Clark. This was another great tournament, ably managed by Mick Belcham, with the weather eventually clearing to leave the final and the presentation ceremony bathed in sun. Just a shame it was so late!

1st September – Lovat win Corporate and Community Challenge

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the Lovatt team Insurance Brokers winning team

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and the Lovatt runners-up

Some late cancellations meant that only six teams competed for our first Corporate Challenge, which we hope to repeat annually from now on. However the quality was high, despite all entrants being new to the game of Golf Croquet. After two closely fought rounds the final decider was between the two Lovat Insurance Broker teams, with Tim Austen and Cheryl Bowden winning on the very last hoop.

Other teams participating were from the Civic Society, Wells Associates and one headed by our local reporter Mary Harris from the Courier newspaper. Everybody involved had a thoroughly enjoyable time and look forward to playing in it next year.

1st September – SECF U league v Ramsgate – won 6:1

31st August – SECF B League v Medway – won 2:1

29th August – SECF U league v Compton – won 5:2

29th August – Radio Kent

Part of the Breakfast Show on Radio Kent today (at 8:40am), broadcast from their local offices in the Great Hall less than 5 minutes for the club, was an interview with John Hobbs and Mick Belcham about croquet and our Croquet in the Park week. It’s available on-line until 5th September.

28th August – Open Day

Our Open Day as part of Croquet in the Park was a great success, with more than 20 people attending and enjoying learning about the game – several stayed for more than 3 hours!

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plus Mick Belcham and Carolyn Gunstone

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Open Day – Selwyn and Jane Ward and two visitors (not in costume!)

Four brave (foolhardy?) members, (Mick Belcham, Carolyn Gunstone, Jane and Selwyn Ward) wore historic costumes for the occasion, as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and were photographed by the Kent Messenger and a local audio-visual society. Hopefully, we’ll see the results soon.

27th August – Geoff Croxford wins Golf Handicap Tournament

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Our first Open Golf Tournament – Geoff Croxford winning the final

In our inaugural Golf Handicap Tournament Geoff Croxford (handicap 5 from Ivychurch) beat Pierre Beaudry (-3 from Sydenham) in the closest possible final – winning by a margin of 7:6, albeit with some bisques in reserve.

Pierre had been the clear winner from Block B, winning all his games. However, Block A was much closer, with the final game to finish between Eli Frith (handicap 4 from Ivychurch) and Geoff finishing in a draw. Each had 5.5 wins and were inseparable by points scored and points differences, so we had to resort to hit-off – closest nearest to the peg to be the winner. Geoff went first and left it well short, but Eli couldn’t do any better.

in the third place final, Eli beat our own Selwyn Ward (handicap 6) by 6:5. Geoff, Eli and Selwyn all had their handicaps reduced as a result.

All 16 players including several from Ramsgate and Worthing had a great time, including a very tired manager Jon Diamond having to play to even up the numbers. The event used all four of our lawns for the first time and the sun shone on and off all day.

26th August – Croquet in the Park week starts with Mark Houslop winning our High Bisquers Tournament

Mark Houslop emerged as winner with Stan Oxenbury as runner-up in a hard fought six round 14-point game Association Tournament today. There were twelve contestants, half from our own club with opposition from Ramsgate, Ivychurch and Southwick. The new lawns were still slow paced, but dried rapidly after heavy showers which did little to dampen the spirits of the entrants, several dipping their toes for the first time into tournament play.

After a shaky start and bouts of self recrimination, Mark Houslop settled and relaxed to show his true form and come through strongly at the end. Stan Oxenbury had several very good games, pegging out in two of them to reach the final, whilst Dan Long in his first outing showed that he threatens to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Ray Meech had a particularly good tournament and there were creditable performances from Miriam Reader and Ann Boyle.

Manager Richard Clark, presenting the prizes remarked on the much higher level of skill displayed in this year’s contest and thanked everyone for their quite remarkable conformity to his tight time schedules. By six o’clock, all was stowed away ready for tomorrow’s Golf Tournament and some very tired but happy contestants were on their way home.

24th August – Cripps Harries Hall Corporate Event

Our first corporate event on the new lawns went extremely well, with about 28 players from two departments of Cripps playing some friendlyish Golf Croquet. Together with the spectators who couldn’t be persuaded to play this meant that 40 more people were exposed to the game and more than £300 contributed to club funds. Well done to all helping on this occasion – Mick Belcham as Manager and Impresario, Richard Clark, Jon Diamond, Frank & Carolyn Gunstone, John Hobbs and Miriam Reader as coaches and Barbara Diamond as barmaid! We look forward to the next Cripps event in September and seeing some of them back as players in the future.

17th August – SECF Golf Handicap League v Medway – won 8:1

All of the Medway team arrived with handicaps of 6, so our work was cut out to win as we were giving between 2 and 7 bisques in each game. Nevertheless, superior skill and guile combined with the heaviness of our lawns, compared with Medway’s home ones , saw us through to a convincing win by 8 games to 1.

19/20th August – Sport 2006

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Sports 2006 @ Groombridge Place

Sport 2006 was an innovation, showcasing some 40 different sports in a single venue and sponsored by Sport England amongst others, to encourage participation in sports of any kind. Groombridge Place was the chosen location this weekend, with publicity attempting to attract people from over South East England. Since we are the closest club to Groombridge (a mere 5 miles) the Croquet Association had nominated us to participate.

Groombridge Place is a lovely old medieval moated manor house, reconstructed in the 17th century, now trading on its location for the filming of Pride and Prejudice, with They managed to provide a flat enough lawn, albeit with some rabbit holes and somewhat lengthy grass, which we shared with the bowlers from The Grove Bowling Club. So given that Sport 2006 had forecast between 10,000 and 12,000 attendees we thought it worthwhile to put on a show, which was organised by Jon Diamond.

A gazebo was purchased and, whilst the forecast was for showers, a pretty fine and sunny Saturday ensued, but boy were we glad of the gazebo on Sunday. The event started slowly, but by the middle of Saturday there were 3 groups of players on the lawn simultaneously, with people queuing for a go! When we had a chance to pause for breath and look around the show it looked like we were about as busy as any other sport.

We don’t know how many people we introduced to Golf Croquet, but it must have been over 100, with an age range of 7-70. We expect some to come to Tunbridge Wells; but there was significant interest in others in the region from people as far away as Dulwich, Reigate, Gravesend, Canterbury, Brighton and Worthing. So hopefully we’ve contributed to membership at other clubs too.

Our impression was that there were nowhere near the original 10-12,000 target, our best guess being probably 2,000-2,500. So the event may not happen again, but if it does we should certainly attend, and now we know what to expect! One definite message is to bring some short mallets for the children.

Thanks are due to all the club members helping – Mick Belcham, Miriam Reader, Carolyn and Frank Gunstone, Pauline and Roger Morris, Stan Oxenbury and Jane and Selwyn Ward, together with two ex-members Barbara and Brian Kitching who now play at Southwick (Brian is also on the CA’s Marketing Committee). It was hard work, but enjoyed by all.

17th August – Courier update

Our Croquet in the Park event makes the front page of “Focus on Tunbridge Wells”. This follows up on an article in The Courier the previous week

10th August – SECF B League v Purley Bury – lost 1:2

This was our first club Association match at home on our new lawns. Purley Bury, whose home lawns are always frighteningly fast, found ours very slow and heavy although they were appreciative of what we have achieved so far, as they still recall the lottery of shooting on our old lawns. Audrey Sherwin adapted well to the unfamiliar conditions and beat Richard Clark in the morning (+7) and Mick Belcham in the afternoon to be the most successful player on the day. Mick started his game against Pauline Davies with panache and quickly took a convincing lead, winning by 7 hoops after his opponent managed some dogged catching up. The new combination of Chris Berwick and Dan Long were bettered by their Purley Bury opponents Valerie Edwards and Margaret Hampson by 16.

In the after lunch friendlies, Richard Clark came back with a convincing 18 hoop win over Pauline Davies, and Ann Boyle, replacing Chris Berwick, got off to a good start in our club matches by beating Valerie Edwards by 11 hoops on time. Dan (-11) and Mick (-14) lost to Margaret Hampson and Audrey Sherwin respectively.

The lawns were green, but despite drying out later were slow following overnight rain and a couple of showers during play.

1st August – SECF Golf Handicap League v Ivychurch – lost 4:5

Our second home match on the new lawns was decided on the last hoop after some hard-fought competitive games. At the lunch break we were in the lead but we lost all three afternoon games. The lawns played well; slow but accurate and were appreciated by all players. An excellent tea was provided by Pauline Morris, Carolyn Gunstone and our team.

30th July – SECF Golf Teams Championships @ Southwick

Doubles 1st Sussex County, 2nd Reigate 1, 3rd Sydenham 1 & 2 (tied)

Our pairings were Richard Clark & Paul Buckland (one win, one draw), Stan Oxenbury & Frank Gunstone (one win, one loss), Miriam Reader & Pam Clark (one win, one loss) and Carolyn Gunstone & Selwyn Ward (one win, one loss).

Richard and Paul had a very creditable draw against Simon Carter, an England player with a minus 4 handicap and his scratch partner, denying the Sydenham pair their 3rd consecutive tournament win and narrowly missing a place themselves.

Singles 1st Reigate, 2nd Sydenham 2, 3rd Sussex County.

Our scores (3 singles played each): Stan 1 win, 1 draw; Richard, Paul, Frank, Miriam and Carolyn 1 win; Pam and Selwyn 0 wins.

The Southwick lawns were at their best after a poor season and the weather defied the forecasters to bless us with sunshine. Our teams acquitted themselves well, despite meeting some very good opposition and will all have profited from experiencing the occasion and the challenge. Next year, to greater glory!

27th July – SECF Golf Level League v Compton – won 5:4

Our first match v Compton. Note the tramlines!

Our first home match on the new lawns was successfully won in some very hot weather! All three awnings are now in place and the shelter from end to end of the club house was much welcomed.

Despite the very slow nature of the lawns our opponents were also very appreciative of the flatness, certainly compared to last year. However, it appeared that home advantage was decisive as Compton’s total handicap of 3 (morning) and 0 (afternoon) should have outclassed ours of 12. [Actually, I think that our team just played better.] An excellent tea was provided by Carolyn Gunstone and Barbara Diamond.

17th July – Official Lawn and Equipment Store Opening

It’s all finished! The Equipment Store is now complete, the Lawn is growing well, the Club House tidied up, reorganised and repainted, benches provided outside and there are now two awnings to provide some shade (especially needed this summer).

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Ceremonial Hoop Running

The lawns were opened yesterday in a ceremony performed by Councillor Ron Weeden, Mayor of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Our Chairman, Richard Clark, introduced the ceremony and there were speeches by the Mayor and also Bernard Neal, President of the Croquet Association. Also attending were Councillor Scholes from Kent County Council, Richard Hilditch and Michael Hague from the South East Croquet Federation. The 2006 Lawns Re-opening Brochure is here.

Richard’s Welcome address is reproduced here. Bernard Neal described his original visit to the club, in the old Frant days, and went on to say how impressed he was with the developments since then and especially in the last year. The Mayor, having already run the first hoop for the photographer from the Courier, said how pleased he was to see this development in the centre of Tunbridge Wells and how enjoyable both the club and croquet are. (We trust he’ll be back to enjoy it a little more when out of his dark suit and mayoral chain.)

Also to be noted was a friendly visit by our local (cycling) policeman – Keith Farmer. We hope to see him and a team of the local force for Croquet in the Park.

One point to note for members – although the grass is growing well and the irrigation system has helped greatly, the climatic conditions have not been in our favour. It has therefore been decided that use of the new lawns will be reserved for external events and matches. All internal games and matches will continue to be played on the Bowling Green lawns, probably for the remainder of this season.

In addition to the formal Opening Ceremony, with the obligatory champagne and canapes to make a proper celebration, many informal games were played, so that everyone could see how flat the lawns are (a few patches need reseeding though). A Soup and Ploughman’s Lunch was provided by Jon Diamond and a bunch of helpers, a Raffle raise £90 for club funds and a magnificent tea with home-made cakes was provided to round out a wonderful day when the sun shone on us all.

Thanks to everyone who helped on the day as well as those who helped make it all possible.

13th July – SECF Golf Handicap League v Compton – won 5:4

5th July – SECF Golf Level League v Worthing – lost 4:5

Richard Clark and Paul Buckland won their doubles match, while Frank Gunstone and Stan Oxenbury lost their two doubles games. In the singles, Richard had 2 wins out of 2, Paul 1 win out of 2, Frank and Stan each lost 1 of 1.

The weather was hot, hospitality first class, but the marked slope of the lawns towards the sea end caught us out. It took time to adjust for the inevitable drift of the balls to be mastered by which time the locals deservedly had the better of the match.

30th June – Courier Report – Festival of games will prove a hit in the town

A full news report about our Croquet in the Park week appeared today, together with a mention in the Editorial. (Anyone for croquet? – original title eh?)

20th June – SECF Golf Championship

16 players were persuaded by some last minute arm twisting from Bill Arliss to enter this event at Compton, with handicaps ranging from -3 to +5. Jon Diamond performed reasonably well – winning 5/7 in his block, but then lost all three matches in the Knock-Out by two games to one and 7:6 in the final game, so coming 8th. Simon Carter won for the second year running.

15th June – National Veterans Championship

John Hobbs reports: “The handicap was run as an Egyptian and I won three games on Monday giving me 61 points (4 + 4 + 3). The chap who had most was Tony Wately, (62) with a handicap of 18 and on Saturday he played one more match, which he won and therefore won the prize. I played Paul Castell h/cap 0, who had had a bad time and was only on 44 points, so when, by heroic play I managed to beat him I earned only one point, so came second. In the doubles, my partner and I reached the semi finals. In the advanced block I won 4/5 and was beaten by Don Meers who won 5/5. So, not a bad week.”

10th June – SECF U League v Purley Bury – lost 3:4

8th June – Royal Tunbridge Wells 400 grant

As part of the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council year long celebration of Royal Tunbridge Wells 400 we have just been granted an additional £1,000 to cover 50% of the costs for publicity etc. to support our Croquet in the Park week.

7th June – Equipment Store update

Almost finished now!

5th June – Ightham Mote

12 members made it to the NT property at Ightham Mote on a gloriously sunny Sunday, as well as a photographer from the Courier who seemed to like lying on the ground to take photos!

The warmth brought out the spectators who sat on the banks around the lawns enjoying the high standard of playing. We managed to get may of them to try out the game, although unfortunately most of them don’t live close to Tunbridge Wells.

15th May – Equipment Store update

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERABuilding work is now well underway and should be completed in a couple of weeks (mostly by Roger Morris and John Hobbs, supported by Jason – Jason and the Saganauts!).

14th May – SECF Team Doubles

Our team of John Hobbs, Jon Diamond and (Saturday) Roger Morris, Stan Oxenbury, (Sunday) Barney Lewis and Miriam Reader had a slightly disappointing weekend. The lawns at Southwick were not in good condition with some noticeable tram lines and the weather was slightly chilly which was discouraging too. Saturday wasn’t too bad with us winning 4 out of 6 games, but Sunday didn’t stack up so well with all 4 games lost, albeit by small margins. Medway won with 7/10 wins and we came 10th out of 14 teams with 4/10.

7th May – Swing Trainer

With the season now in full swing and full lawns on Club Afternoons John Hobbs has provided a Swing Trainer, to enable you to improve the consistency of your swing and therefore the accuracy of your strokes.

Please use it carefully, after reading the instructions! (Top players use it for up to one hour at a time!!!)

15th April – Surbiton Easter Handicap Tournament

Despite the slightly unfriendly weather, Chris Barham in his first tournament outing came second in this two-day tournament and had his handicap reduced from 14 to 10. Jon Diamond didn’t do quite as well, but came 8th of 32. A full report is here

10th April – Latest Newsletter

2006-04 newsletter – warning 569K size

The main points are:

  • Lawns (Bowling Lawns) Opening 16th April
  • Official Lawn Opening by the Mayor 16th July
  • Ball Trolleys being replaced by new design
  • Equipment Store funding received from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council and is now under construction. Plans and views are in our Photo Gallery.
  • Association Croquet Thursday session now coaching from 4pm

27th March – Croquet in the Park launched

Today we’re launching our Croquet in the Park initiative in conjunction with Royal Tunbridge Wells 400th anniversary. This incorporates our first Corporate Challenge aimed at introducing novices or non-players to Golf Croquet in a competitive, but fun, environment. See the above links for full details.

28th February – Pub Lunches

The two Pub Lunches so far this have been very successful, with 9 and 15 people attending respectively, although the Rock in Chiddingstone Hoath proved a little difficult to find (especially if you followed Mick’s directions). The local beer (Larkin) was excellent, as was the brewer who popped in while we were there. By popular request the Brown Trout was selected as the location for the last one (March) in the off-season.

20th January – NZ Open

Aaron Westerby (Waikato and Tunbridge Wells) loses in the Quarter-Final of the New Zealand Open to Paul Skinley (Wellington) 12-26, 26tp-13, 26-19