2007 News

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

14th December – December Newsletter

The main points are:

• Yet more fencing news
• Winter Warmer chilli on 31st Jan
• Kent Youth Service to take over Pavilion (and share it with us)
• We’re visiting Penshurst Place in July

17th November – AGM

Our AGM was held as usual in Frant Village Hall, where we immediately encountered a few obstacles, starting with the doors being locked and there was nowhere obvious to find the key! Having overcome this the main entrance into the meeting room was locked (again without a key) and there was a nice sign over the cooker saying “Don’t turn on the oven until 21st January”.

This caused Anne Boyle a large headache, since she had planned hot food and had been assured by the person responsible that there was a working cooker! (Pam Clark, who had stepped in nobly at the last minute when Carolyn Gunstone was called away an a family emergency, was also rather disconcerted.) And lastly, the Mobile Library graciously blocked the car park completely until the scheduled meeting start time. Nevertheless we managed to this all sorted out, had coffee and starting the meeting pretty well on time at 11am.

The minutes will be available in due course, but the highlights were:

• John Hobbs was presented with his Croquet Association Diploma (see last year’s AGM for details)
• We had a surplus in 2007 of roughly £2600, but would be spending significantly more on the lawns in 2008 and were forecasting a deficit of £2400.
• Ann Boyle and Selwyn Ward retired from the Committee, with Mick Greagsby being elected as a new member (despite being in California). There are still spaces available on the Committee, so if you’re interested contact Jon or Mick
• Membership fees unchanged
• The Constitution amendment passed, although there was a significant discussion about communications to members without email access
• The Council will be undertaking some fencing work to minimise intrusion from foxes.
• Kent Youth Service will be using the Pavilion by the Bowling Green as an office and meeting place, so we will only have limited storage there in future.
• A discussion on Club sessions next year suggested Saturday am for coaching and pm for a playing session
• We would be hosting the CA Musk Cup (top 8 English Golf players) on 16/17 August

The meeting finished with the usual presentation of prizes, a raffle that raised £100 and thanks for the superb hot food provided by Ann and Pam.

10th November – Final Competition decided

Mick Belcham beat John Timmis by 3 hoops in the final of the Calverley Cup. This is probably the latest in the year that we’ve had any competitive game played. So, there’s something to thank global warming for, and also our being able to use the Bowling Green!

3rd November – Still playing!

The weather is gradually getting colder and the colours in the park are just lovely this year. So it was good to see that 10 hardyish souls turned up on Sunday to play croquet. We had to lay out both lawns on the Bowling Green, which had just been cut. It was still somewhat long and slow, but reasonably straight – so there were quite a few accurate long shots and hoops. Derek Crocombe was noticeable with a splendid jump shot, despite saying that he can’t do them…

If the weather continues like this perhaps we’ll be playing all winter.

27th October – SECF Results issued

We came second of 19 in the B League, 11th of 13 in the U League, 6th equal of 7 in the Golf Level League and 4th of 18 in the Handicap League. Not a bad result at all!

Woking may have to do something about their Golf Handicaps, since they won all 8 of their Golf League games…..

26th October – Pub Lunch update

The last pub lunch of the season at the Mark Cross Inn was also the largest ever, with 23 attendees. From the comments of many this is an obviously undiscovered pub, well worth another visit; not only were the portions large, the quality of the cooking and service was excellent too.

19th October – Main lawns close

A working party of Mick Belcham, Derek Crocombe, Mike Greagsby, John Hobbs, Dan Long and Ray Meech led by the damaged Roger Morris are scarifying, mowing, trimming the banks, weeding and reseeding bare patches on the lawns today. The lawns are therefore now closed for the winter.

They’re also mowing the Bowling Green, so this is now properly open again. Thanks to all helping.

13th October – Croquet Association AGM

At the CA AGM Jon Diamond received on behalf of the club the Apps Heley award for 2007, shared with the Crake Valley club. See for more details.

Diplomas were also presented to Richard Clark and Roger Morris recognizing their services to croquet, especially to our club.

10th October – Competition Updates

Congratulations to the following winners:
Spa – Jolyon Creasey
Lustau – Richard Mann
All England – John Greenwood
Golf High Bisquers – Elaine Houslop
Doubles – Chris Sturdy and Miriam Reader

8th October – TV filming

A TV production company making a half-hour programme about Royal Tunbridge Wells, with the emphasis on the “Royal” spent 2 hours filming at our club, with Mick taking time to teach them how to play Golf Croquet. Many other members were present to give some background shots, including those playing in whites for the final of the Association Doubles! Thanks to all those who helped. Hopefully not all the film will end up on the cutting room floor (or whatever they have these days).

25th September – Golf Level League v Dulwich – lost 3:6

23rd September – Open Handicap Tournament (Pegasus Plate)

Another successful tournament with 12 players from many clubs managed by John Hobbs. Philip Mann from Medway retained the trophy that he won for the first time last year – if he wins it next year he WON’T retain the trophy permanently!

Congratulations to Miriam Reader for playing so well that her handicap was reduced to 16.

6th September – Golf Handicap League v Merton (Green) – won 6:3

2nd September – Paul Miles wins Open Advanced Tournament

Despite the best efforts of the four local players, manager Mick Belcham together with Jon Diamond, John Hobbs and Chris Sturdy, Paul Miles from Medway and Simon Whiteley from Dulwich contested the final, with Paul running out an easy winner in the end. Jon picked up the other prize for the Block winner, having only lost one game, to Paul.

As usual for this late summer(ish) the sun shone, the six visitors were again from far and wide with the furthest coming from Bowden in the North West. The catering was good and the washing up, by Miriam (not a player!) was excellent.

30th August – Golf Handicap League v Littlehampton – won 6:3

On Thursday 30th August, the club, represented by Frank and Carolyn Gunstone and Miriam Reader under Richard Clark’s captaincy took on the might of Littlehampton. So often a scourge to us in past seasons, Littlehampton fielded two scratch players, a two and a three.

After the first round, the scores were level with each side winning one of the doubles games. Carolyn on her first outing in a club match played consistently alongside Richard to secure our first game. In the second round Frank, Miriam and Carolyn all won, whilst Richard conceded victory to Colin Thornton. Now 4-2 up, we needed only one win in the final round to carry the day. Carolyn went on to her third win partnering Miriam in the doubles, while Richard found form again to beat Elizabeth Thornton, Frank this time falling to the mallet of Colin Thornton.

So, a very satisfying 6 – 3 overall victory to which all contributed. It was particularly pleasing to see Carolyn make a very full contribution, as have all the others of this season’s debutant(e)s : Elaine Houslop, Val Rocco, Ann Boyle, Mick Greagsby, Pauline (as a substitute for a stricken Roger) and Miriam. Their form, when viewed alongside others knocking at the door of selection, bodes well for our chances in next year’s league matches.

Littlehampton returned home much impressed by our lawns and no doubt more respectful of our skills after a friendly but keenly competitive day.

23rd August – B League v Canterbury – won 3:0

Another miserable summer(?) day with Lawn 2 only just playable with squelches on the North half of the lawn. The only saving grace in the col was that we only had drizzle for about 5 minutes. Despite the slow/average speed of the lawns on the North/South sides of the centre respectively most players eventually learnt how to cope – although the water trails in the air were sometimes a bit disturbing, not the sort of thing you expect when playing croquet.

Anyway, it is clear that the local players coped better with the conditions than the visitors, who clearly need a bit more practice in the taking of bisques and blew quite a few away. We won all three games comfortably; although Mark, having just beaten the Club Handicapper on Monday to see his handicap reduce from 18 to 14 (shame), managed to waste his last 3 bisques (out of 4) trying to peg out from about 6 feet and gave Ted an opportunity to recover with a three-ball ending – luckily he didn’t take it and Mark pegged his other ball out at the first attempt from about 10 yards.

We had a lovely lunch with the left-overs from the barbeque (thanks again Elaine) and continued with our domination on the lawns in the afternoon friendly games, with Jon winning the first of two games against Ted in just over one hour, before everyone left after an early tea.

22nd August – Summer Barbeque

Summer barbeque (indoors) at the Houslop’s
A cloudburst greeted our arrival at the Club Summer Barbeque, hosted and with delicious food prepared by Elaine and Mark Houslop – so just another typical day this summer…… Despite this 37 people attended with Mark barbecuing the chicken underneath an umbrella! We all managed to crowd into the house and everybody met at least someone they hadn’t met before and had a great time, even those with White tickets who didn’t seem to win much in the raffle.

20th August – U League v Compton – won 4:3

A classic U League Match …… good lawns, good spread of handicaps (from scratch to 9), good enough weather and some very tight games. The morning did not bode well with Tunbridge Wells losing 2 out of its 3 games. While Richard Mann walked all over his opponent, John Timmis and Mick were having the same done to them in the doubles. But the real game of the morning was Chris Sturdy against Compton’s scratch player. Chris managed to hold him at bay for most of the game but then, with both his clips on peg, succumbed to an impressively executed triple peel. A pleasure to watch – but not for Chris.

In the afternoon Tunbridge Wells won 3 out of its 4 games, with Mick, Chris and John racking up a total score of +60 for their three games while Richard had to concede victory after a very tight finish.

16th August – B League v Ember- won 3:0

The team consisted of John Hobbs, Dan Long, Mark Houslop and Miriam Reader.

We set off on a fine morning to Ember where no-one had been previously, so no-one knew the way, although our driver had a map. We were all chatting about Medway C.C. so no-one noticed when we found ourselves heading in that direction, and our driver had to do a U-turn back to Pembury and get to the M25.

Subsequently there was a lot of talk about women not being able to read maps, during which Miriam seemed to develop a very bad cough. Her opinion was vindicated when the car had to pull into a side-road and all three males took several minutes sorting out the route.

Ember is part of a sports complex with tennis and bowls, and a large and sumptuous clubhouse with comfy chairs. They have 1 1/4 lawns, so John and Miriam played doubles in the morning and Dan and Mark singles in the afternoon. Ember very kindly gave us lunch in a small dining room in the clubhouse and we had a gorgeous chocolate cake and strawberries for tea.

We won all our matches and then drove home through some torrential rain, but on arriving at TW it had not rained at all. Unusual!

15th August – Golf Level League v Southwick – lost 0:7

11th August – U League v Canterbury – lost 2:5

10th August – Golf Handicap League v Ramsgate – lost 3:6

A beautiful day saw the sun blinds in action as Ramsgate took to our lawns for the second time in a fortnight. This time, in a handicap league event, the fortunes were reversed and Ramsgate emerged the 6-3 winners after what was agreed by all to be a cracking day’s croquet.

On his debut, Val Rocco distinguished himself by being on the winning side in two of his three games, narrowly losing the third by one hoop, a fate he could have avoided by using the three bisques at his disposal. We lacked the concentration our visitors displayed and vital points were lost by playing out of sequence and even stepping on a ball (Richard) at a crucial point. As their handicaps demonstrate, Ramsgate are now formidable opponents and our win in the level play match and the closeness of many of the games in this one show that we are fast improving.

Our opponents joined with us in a relaxed and friendly lunch provided by Pam under our splendid awnings which on a rare fine summer’s day really came into their own. The lawns were noticeably faster than a fortnight ago and their essential flatness encouraged some spectacular long range shots and clearances. Overall, we are now beginning to see on these occasions the full value of our investment over the last two busy years.

6th August – U League v Caterham – lost 2:5

We lost all 3 games in the morning – John Greenwood + Miriam Reader (doubles), Richard Mann and Mick Belcham (both singles). Then Miriam and Mick won our singles in the afternoon while Richard and John lost theirs.

3rd August – B League v Ivychurch – won 2:1

Just a lovely day………

2nd August – New Club Sessions

In response to a consistently large number of players attending Club Afternoons and demand for more ‘professional’ Golf playing we’re initiating two addition Club Sessions – Association on Wednesday mornings from 10am and Golf Handicap Singles (primarily) on Thursday evening from 5pm.

29th July – Open High Bisquers Tournament

Sunday 29th July saw us play host to an Open High Bisquers Tournament (Association), the fourth annual one of its kind aimed at providing a friendly setting for those entering their first tournament or still perfecting the art of competitive play from a high bisque base. Feedback from this and the earlier events suggests that the format is very much appreciated by our visitors who are always complimentary about our lawns, hospitality and organisation.

Despite the rival attractions of the big South East Federation Golf Croquet fest at Southwick, we had eight contestants from four clubs. Very heavy overnight rain left the lawns little short of squelchy at the start of play, but they dried out fast rapidly to provide good playing conditions as the cloud gave way to sunshine.

This year Richard Clark, as tournament manager, opted for slightly longer games (four rounds of 14 point games played over one hour and a quarter each). Skill levels quickly proved to be higher than in previous years and a clear leader emerged in each of the blocks. Betty Body from Ivychurch won all three of her Block games very convincingly, whilst John Wright from Medway topped the second Block, demonstrating why in his first season he had already progressed from a handicap of 20 to 18. The play off between the two block winners was a thriller. When time was called, the game was even, but John had a ball in his next hoop. In extra time, all hinged on Betty’s long attempt to roquet, which was narrowly missed. John tapped his way to glory, to the first prize and to a further handicap reduction.

The three local contenders, Miriam Reader, Ray Meech and Dan Long all acquitted themselves creditably, without this year hitting the high spots. They will be back for more next year as all of our visitors vowed to be.

Winner : John Wright – Medway

Runner up : Betty Boddy – Ivychurch.

28th July – Miriam Reader wins Golf Handicap Tournament

Despite being held the same week-end as the SECF Golf Team event at Southwick 10 players took part, although only one was not from Tunbridge Wells (Neil Coote from Reigate Priory) . It was a 7-round Swiss event on a slightly blustery but mostly sunny day and a pleasant introduction to tournament play for 5 of our new members this year.

After 5 rounds Neil Coote was the clear leader having won all his games, but he lost the last two and after the smoke had cleared four players all had 5 wins. After a tie-break on hoops scored; Miriam Reader, who beat Neil by 7-3 in the final game, was declared the winner with Neil as the runner-up. A tight finish, but everyone enjoyed the day and learned a lot about playing the game – especially that if you receive bisques they actually need to be used if you’re losing! Miriam also had her handicap reduced to 5.

The final places were:

Position	Player	Handicap	Wins
1	Miriam Reader	6	5
2	Neil Coote	5	5
3=	Frank Gunstone	3	5
3=	Val Rocca	6	5
5	John Moore	6	4
6=	Joyce Rocca	6	3
6=	Tim Austen	6	3
6=	Mick Greagsby	6	3
9	Cheryl Bowden	6	1
10	Peter Sinclair	6	0

27th July – SECF Golf Level League – we beat Ramsgate 5:4

Our team of heroes, Jon Diamond, Frank Gunstone, and Ray Meech, led by Richard Clark set off at a blistering pace against Ramsgate in the SE Federation Level Play Golf League on Friday, convincingly winning both doubles and sharing the 4 singles games to go to lunch with a 4-2 advantage.

So all was set fair for a leisurely afternoon’s play with our home team needing only one win from 4 to clinch victory. Ramsgate needed three wins from four to snatch a victory which before lunch looked unlikely. Maybe the lunch, provided by Pam was just too much, or our team are too used to a post lunch nap!

Richard and Frank, so unbeatable in the morning, went down in a thrilling finish 7-6 to Sheila Prentice and Val Gould. The match was sealed however when Jon Diamond beat Graham Wallin (who had earlier had the better of Richard) by 7 -3.

Ray Meech, unaware of the outcome, was left locked in a close duel with Geraldine Stone and playing well. At 6 – 6, Ray taking first shot in the decider, obligingly struck his opponent’s ball instead of his own for a perfectly placed first shot. Geraldine could not believe her luck as she called foul on the dumbfounded Ray and elected to play her ball from where it lay, the only ball played for the final hoop, six inches dead in front! Ray’s relief at hearing that victory was already ours was palpable.

A good home win over formidable opponents.

25th July – Friendly against Bromley

Another traditional Association friendly, hosted by Bromley on this occasion, (we have two common members) ended up with two games won by each team and we won on number of hoops scored.

21st July – Away match against Merton

Abandoned after 2 hoops due to rain – see the state of the lawns……

6th July – Blockley Partnership win 2nd Annual Corporate Challenge

The second year of this event, inaugurated as part of Royal Tunbridge Wells 400 last year, was a great success with a doubling in the number of teams taking part to 11. Taking place on the evening of 6th July it sadly didn’t attract quite as many participants or spectators as the other major sporting event in Tunbridge Wells over the weekend – the Tour de France. However, the weather recognised the importance of the event and magically cleared to provide a bright and sunny occasion

The previous year’s winner (Lovat Insurance Brokers) entered an additional team this year, but just failed to repeat their previous success and had to give second-best to the team of Jim Page and Rob Kirwan from the Blockley Partnership, a local dental practice in Mount Ephraim, who won all four of their games. Runners-up were Tim Austen and Cheryl Bowden from Lovat Insurance Brokers.

Prizes were awarded to the winners and commiserations to the losers and we hope they’ll all be back next year, if not before.

Full results are:

4 wins	Blockley Partnership (Hen’s Teeth)
3 wins	Lovat 1 and 2
2 wins	Thomson Snell & Passmore (BP2), Mayo Wynne Baxter (No Wynne No Fee), Lovat Insurance Brokers (Lovat 3), Mayo Wynne Baxter (Amanda’s Magic Mallets), Wells Associates (Big Cheese), Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society (The Civvies)
1 win	Wells Associates (Little Cheese), Thomson Snell & Passmore (BP1)

3rd July – SECF Golf Handicap League – we beat Medway 6:3

Leaving Tunbridge Wells in a tremendous rain storm we drove all the way to Medway in the rain, but it subsided within 10 minutes of our starting the match. The lawns were in reasonable shape, having just been cut in the rain and therefore there being some longer bits, with the main lawn playing pretty straight. Lawn 2, being on a slope, obviously needed some adjustment to aiming when going across the slope, but otherwise was fine.

The first round of doubles ended even, but we drew away in the second round (the sun even deigning to make a brief and warm appearance) bringing the score to 4:2 and therefore we needed to win only one game in the final round after lunch.

The first singles to finish provided us with the match winner, but the final game between Ray Meech and Roz Cheeseman went to the final hoop. After nearly half an hour of toing and froing the two captains were beginning to debate whether we should put a time limit on the game, but luckily Ray claimed it in the end bringing the final score to 6:3!

As we left the rain started again – a fitting tribute to this summer!

28th June – Aaron Westerby coaching

Aaron, currently ranked 6th in the World, has given our Advanced Association players two coaching sessions this week. Obviously, we all need to tighten up on our 4-ball breaks! Hopefully he’ll be able to give some more needed tuition when he returns to TW in early September.

22nd June – SECF Golf Level League – we lose at Worthing 8:1

An overcast day, tight hoops and a pair of limping protagonists made for a disappointing day for RTWCC. Richard and Roger began the day looking like battle worn heroes after a conflict. Roger, after two rounds, had to concede to pain and Pauline substituted for him in the final doubles, sharing in our first and only triumph of the day.

However, Elaine and Mick Greagsby, both playing in their first competitive games, acquitted themselves well, and the scores did little justice to their efforts. Had we been playing handicap rather than level play, the scores might well have been very different.

Worthing on the day were deserving winners, rewarded for their greater accuracy and patient approach play. We have yet to learn that the dramatic clearance and long hard hoop shot can go astray and will not be a match for the persistent return of the ball to the shooting area.

17th June – Ightham Mote NT visit

Most of the other players from TW not involved in the Kent Cup went off to a visit to Ightham Mote NT to participate in one of their family days, organised by Selwyn Ward. There were lots of people there and the croquet proved a big attraction – we had people literally queuing to play throughout the whole day – and even had to stay ‘open’ an hour or more beyond the scheduled time. Everyone seemed to have a good time and we had some genuine interest from people in taking it further (tho’ not necessarily with us, as, inevitably, many came from farther afield). National Trust people seemed equally well pleased.

16th/17th June – Kent Cup

The Kent Cup is an individual competition amongst members of all the clubs in Kent and rotates around the county each year. This year was the first in Tunbridge Wells for some years and allowed us to show off the development on our lawns. A final cut just as the players arrived got the lawns even, but they need to be cut even shorter in future as they were said by all participants to be too slow. Luckily, despite the forecast, the rain mostly held off and the second afternoon was a lovely sunny one.

Participants from Tunbridge Wells were Mick Belcham (Manager), Jon Diamond, John Hobbs and Chris Sturdy. In addition, Alex Jardine, a ex-member of Tunbridge Wells living in France and winner of the Kent Cup twice, also played.

However, our players didn’t manage to do quite well enough with the final being contested between two Medway players – David Parkins and Robert Alexander, with Robert turning up winner in a one-sided final by +26 at the late hour of 7pm. Jon Diamond was third and Chris Sturdy won the Consolation Event.

30th May – Bateman’s NT Visit

A disastrously wet day thoroughly soaked Stan Oxenbury and Paul Barnard who volunteered to try and teach some youngsters at Bateman’s on one of their Family Days. Thanks for their perseverance and better luck next time.

29th May – Inter-County

John Hobbs represented Kent at the Inter-County Championship. Unfortunately they finished 10th out of 11 in the Second Division.

25th May – Jean Heath

It is with deep regret that we have to announce that Jean Heath, a long-time, stalwart member of the club, and a past committee member, has died after a long illness. Our sympathies are with her husband and family and we hope to see Derek back on the lawns soon.

12/13th May – SECF Team Doubles

Southwick was a picture as usual as 14 teams from all over the South East Region played this annual Association Doubles Event with 5 games over the two days. Medway turned out easy winners – assuring their victory after 4 rounds by winning all their games, well ahead of the other teams.

Our team of Miriam Reader & Jolyon Creasey (Saturday)/Mick Belcham (Sunday) and Jon Diamond & Ann Boyle (Saturday)/Ray Meech (Sunday) didn’t perform brilliantly – each pairing winning 2 games. Things could have been marginally better as Jon blobbed in Rover with his last turn after time in the final game against Ember; ensuring a loss by one hoop when he had an excellent opportunity to peel Ray through his next hoop to win the game! Shame…

6th May – Opening Day report

After a long spell of almost summery weather of course our Opening Day for the Main Lawns was quite chilly, but dry. Nevertheless almost 40 people turned up at some stage during the day, with more than 25 for Elaine Houslop’s excellent Mushroom Soup and Ploughman’s Lunch.

The morning One Ball Handicap event was contested by 10 players, for most of whom this was their first experience of the game! (In case you haven’t seen it before it’s a cross between Association and Golf Croquet.) The handicaps varied between 24 and -0.5, so there were some very different styles of game to be seen. A closely contested final between Miriam Reader and Ray Meech saw Ray run out the winner by the narrowest of margins to win the prize – one of the new badges (see below). We hope to see him sporting it shortly.

The afternoon saw several newcomers to the club being shown the ropes by experienced club members in a mixture of Association and Golf playing during the normal Club Session, with an overflow having to use the Bowling Green as the other 3 lawns were full. We were obviously successful since two cheques for membership were handed to Mick later in the day and several more new members look in prospect.

Finally, after tea (with splendid cakes), about a dozen players took to Lawn 1 for a game of Pirates. Much hilarity ensued, obviously everybody enjoyed themselves and I’m sure there must have been a winner, but I’ve forgotten who it was.

Many thanks must go to Elaine for the food, Roger Morris and his helpers for the lawn and garden maintenance and John Hobbs plus his helpers for the improved state of the club house and surrounds.

We hope to see all of you on the lawns shortly.

6th May – New signs and badges unveiled

A brand new sign incorporating our new logo on the side of the Equipment Store was unveiled on Opening Day. This replaced our old sign that was getting very tatty. A second new sign will also be mounted on the other side of the Club House, so that people walking up the path from the Bowling Green will also know who we are! A third copy will be left inside the Pavilion at the Bowling Green, so that it can be displayed outside when people are playing on the lawns there or taken to external events, such as Ightham Mote, for publicity purposes.

To complement this we’ve also produced copies of our new logo suitable for putting on a T-shirt, cap etc. These are iron-on transfers and are available from the Club House (on board opposite door), price £2.00 each, together with instructions on how to apply them. We plan to have sow-on badges later this summer.

15th April – Main Lawns news

Because of the over-crowding on the opening day Roger has mowed and laid out Main Lawn. It’s somewhat slow still, but flat and only to be used when the Bowling Green is full. Lawns 2 and 3 are recovering after a very wet period in the winter, but still need sometime before they’re ready for play.

8th April – Bowls Lawn Opening

With our first Club Afternoon of the season more than 20 people came out in the sunny weather to enjoy the Bowling Green lawns.

4th April – April Newsletter

The full Newsletter is here. The main points are:

 

• New logo announced
• Lawns 2 and 3 have suffered from the very wet winter
• Fencing still in progress
• Season’s Opening Events announced – 8th April (Bowling Green) and 6th May (Main Lawns)
• Frank Gunstone resigns from Committee, but will run Club Afternoons
• Introductory Association Course starts 20th May
• Hosting of Kent Cup in June

 

16th March – Hammock Dunes Croquet Club visit

Six members of RTWCC challenged the prestigious Hammock Dunes Croquet Club in Florida to an American Rules Golf Croquet match on Friday 16th March (Wal Mart supplied the whites). Mallets were non-standard objects except for Elaine Houslop who had her Super Mallet which was in great demand by several players. Our team of Frank & Carolyn Gunstone, Roger & Pauline Morris played well winning the majority of games. We were made very welcome and invited back on the next afternoon to continue the contest as guests of Elaine and Mark Houslop, who are members of the club. Thanks to all for a memorable event.

21st February – Tunbridge Wells wins Apps Heley award

It has just been announced that we have jointly won the Croquet Association’s Apps Heley award for the club (3 or 4 lawns) that has done most over the last 2 years to further the sport in their area. This recognises the massive effort we’ve made in relaying our lawns, adding equipment and the Equipment Store, using the Bowling Green and the external marketing efforts, especially the “Croquet in the Park” event and participating in Sport 2006 on behalf of the CA.

This is the second time that we’ve won this award, the first being 1995 and related to our move to Calverley Grounds. In addition to the plaque, we have also received a cheque for £100 from the CA – a welcome addition to our club funds. Thanks to everyone who helped over the last two years in making the club what it is today.

24th January – Pub lunch update

19 people (a record number which included almost 1/3 of the membership) attended the first pub lunch of 2007 at the Globe and Rainbow, Kilndown, despite the first snows of the winter.