A very enjoyable Christmas Luncheon was held at the Kiama Golf Club on Wednesday 3rd December. Club President, Harry Howe, presented trophies to the winners of our club competitions. Len Chafer and David Simmonds (Vosti Shield), Jan Griffiths (Lyn Brierley Shield), Marilyn Benson and Margaret Jackson (Golf Croquet Doubles), May Byrne (Sheep Station Event) and Pat Moroney (Golf Croquet Singles)
Marilyn Benson made a special presentation to Roger Evans in recognition of his dedication to the building of the clubhouse. This award took the form of an honorary doctorate from the "University of Kiama" and this came complete with trencher and testamur.
Club members donated Christmas-related goodies for our raffle and these items were attractively arranged in baskets by Sandra and Brenda. Lucky winners were Diana Chafer, The Moroneys, Carol Williams, The Moroneys (again) and Margie Long. A total of $590 was raised by this raffle - a fantastic result!
Lucky Door prizes were donated by Margie Long and Margaret Howe and lucky winners were Graham Arthur, Alma Callaghan, May Byrne, Brian Colquhoun and Brigit Christensen.
Another important event on the day was the drawing of the First Flush Raffle. Lucky winner was Marilyn Benson, who will take her prize on 17th December before (ie. "Preceding", not "in front of") the General Meeting!
Brenda Evans
Publicity Officer
Jamberoo Croquet Club
Jamberoo and Milton-Ulladulla Annual Event
The annual contest between Jamberoo and Milton-Ulladulla clubs was held on Thursday 25th November at Jamberoo. This is an Association competition where the clubs play for the Gentlemen trophy (so called because it is a trophy of Gentlemen, not because only Gentlemen play for it!) Unfortunately, the visitors were just too good on the day and took the trophy back to Milton!
Jamberoo Club Captain hands the trophy
to Jean Pack, Captain of Milton-Ulladulla
to Jean Pack, Captain of Milton-Ulladulla
| JAMBEROO | MILTON-ULLADULLA | ||
| John Griffiths & Jan Griffiths | 7 | Jim & Jude Elston | 26 |
| Len Chafer & Diana Chafer | 19 | John Gilhooley & Moya Flynn | 19 |
| John Deeves | 3 | John Gilhooley | 26 |
| John Deeves | 22 | Russell McGarrity | 13 |
| David Simmonds | 26 | Russell McGarrity | 19 |
| John Griffiths | 10 | Annette Potter | 12 |
Publicity Officer
Jamberoo Croquet Club
Twenty-two Jamberoo Croquet Club members set off on Monday 10th November for our Inaugural Croquet Crawl. First stop was McDonald’s at Thornleigh for coffee and raisin toast before moving on to Toronto Croquet Club for the next stage of our croquet-eat-fest! The aroma of barbecued sausages and onions greeted us as we pulled into the carpark! We were welcomed by Bill and Margaret Newberry and a large contingent of Toronto players. After lunch, we played both Ricochet and Golf Croquet and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
We arrived in Morpeth at about 5 pm and proceeded to take over the small motel for 4 nights as the only guests. Robyn and John Compton, who are members of both the Jamberoo and Maitland Croquet Clubs, joined us for dinner and special guests for the evening were Peter Smith, Club Captain of Maitland, and his wife, Bev.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed the Gala Day at Maitland where the 80 players came from Foster, EDSACC, Toronto, Miller Park, Dungog, Gloucester, Mount Sugarloaf, Myall Park, Sydney and, of course, Jamberoo. Some Maitland players were able to participate in the games, but many of their members were involved in the excellent organistion of the day. Tuesday night was Pizza night and the boys were on duty in the kitchen!
We started slowly on Wednesday with a trip into Morpeth for a bit of sightseeing while some just “vegged” by the pool consuming more coffee and raisin toast! Then we returned to Maitland for some instruction in Golf Croquet Rules for Referees. Robyn Wallace, Golf Croquet Co-ordinator of Croquet NSW, had organised a good team of helpers to put us on the straight and narrow. Three members, Roger, Helen and Pat, proceeded with The Test and later were awarded their badges, so we now have three qualified referees, ready to co-ordinate our own Tournaments when the clubhouse is ready!
It was time for a night out, so we headed to the East Maitland Bowling Club for a buffet dinner (and no washing up!) Then it was back to the recreation room for Rummikub, Euchre etc, which became part of the culture of the Crawl.
Thursday morning was time to visit the new Mount Sugarloaf Croquet Club at West Wallsend. (Who would have thought that West Wallsend would be at least 10 kilometres from Wallsend and that both would have a Brooks Street? Anyway, we all got there eventually!) Bob and Chris Ogilvie and their merry band of new players made us very welcome and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them- the lawns were less predictable than our own, and provided some interesting results! The usual high standard of fare was provided by our hosts, so once again, we tucked in!
On our last night, we treated ourselves to a slap-up dinner at the Royal River Inn in Morpeth before returning to our recreation room for coffee and more games of Rummikub and Euchre! (Expect to see us playing these games when the clubhouse is finished!)
On Friday morning, we had just enough energy to get us to EDSACC (at Bateaux Bay) where Sylvia Shipp and Betty Seigman had mustered a team of friendly players and kitchen helpers for our final croquet stop-over. Ricochet and golf were again on offer and we all played a couple of games before lunch - delicious sandwiches (a change from sausages!) and then the trek home, arriving by about 5 o’clock.
It was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and to meet new ones. We greatly appreciated the warm welcome and generous hospitality of our host clubs. We all enjoyed ourselves and are already talking about the next Croquet Crawl.
Brenda Evans
Publicity Officer
Jamberoo Croquet Club
Cake and Tablecloth embroidered with members names, begun in 1931
At our celebrations, Elaine McCormack as MC welcomed Lismore's Mayor, Jennie Dowell, President of Northern Rivers Croquet Assoc, Laurie Sargent, our Patroness, Fay Riley, Life members, Ada Somerville, Phyl Thompson & Bert Harris, past members, present members and their families and guests.
After a welcome Elaine invited everyone present to enjoy afternoon tea then to take to the lawns to enjoy an afternoon of various mallet sports and side games.
Fay Ross
Club Captain
 Life members Ada Somerville & Phyl Thompson cutting the birthday cake |
 Elaine McCormack welcomes everyone and gives a brief history of the club |
 Life member Phyl Thompson, past member June Alexander, current member Laurel Moody |
 Laurie Sargent, President NRCA congratulates Lismore Croquet Club on it's 80th Birthday |
After approximately 5 years of negotiating with council, the considering of three different sites in the Shoalhaven area, the problems in applying for grants and the continual and still on-going fund raising, Nowra Croquet Club can at last see the turf being laid on their two new courts at Bomaderry.
During this period we have seen many changes in the club's committee, but at no time has any member given up hope of finally being able to achieve this goal.
Nowra Croquet Club has been at their present site at the Nowra showground for 70years and for some of our older members it will be difficult to make the move but at the same time they are looking forward to the new complex.
We are hoping to move onto the new courts in January, and will be starting off with only a small storage area, but we are looking to increase our membership with promotions and "come and try" days.
Our next goal is the building of a new Club House
Pam Owen
President
Bill Haines of Blackheath Croquet Club jumping a ball during the Orange Golf Croquet Carnival
Courtesy of Central Western Daily, Saturday 13th Sept
Courtesy of Central Western Daily, Saturday 13th Sept
In awe of Alan Honey's recent 4th place in the ACA Bronze Medal, David Archer realised that he had to play well and use his six bisques carefully, and surprised himself by doing both, leaving Alan with little to do. Yvonne Tarvin and Sarah O'Sullivan both won their games through dogged persistence, with Jan King and Leila Merson having some difficulty with a fairly slow, just renovated lawn. Sorina Atkins played well considering she has only recently taken up Association croquet, but for the Bundanoon spectators Ian McClelland became the hero of the day, making hoop after hoop as time drew nigh, to even up the game score.
| QUEANBEYAN | BUNDANOON | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Honey (0) | 0 | - | 26 | * | David Archer (6) | |
| Sarah O'Sullivan (12) | * | 19 | - | 12 | Leila Merson (10) | |
| Yvonne Tarvin (18) | * | 20 | - | 15 | Jan King (12) | |
| Sorina Atkins (20) | 9 | - | 18 | * | Ian McClelland (18) | |
| 2 WINS | 48 | 71 | 2 WINS | |||
David Archer
Bundanoon Croquet Club
The Tri-Club Association Series is an event held each year since 2001 between Woolgoolga, Sawtell and Urunga where each Club hosts the other for a day of Association with two doubles and four singles games contested each round. It is always closely contested with both Urunga and Sawtell having their names on the trophy three times and Woolgoolga twice.
This year’s series started in May with Urunga hosting Woolgoolga and securing the two points with a 5 game to 1 score line. In June Sawtell travelled to Woolgoolga and enjoyed a win with the result being 4 games to 2 and securing the 2 points. Urunga played host to Sawtell in July with a similar score line to when they hosted Woolgoolga and securing another 2 points. In August Sawtell played host to Woolgoolga and the result was a 5 to 1 score line with another two points to Sawtell giving both Urunga and Sawtell 4 points with two matches still to be played.
The final two matches were a lot tighter than the first four with both matches being decided in a hoop count as results at the end of each day were 3 games all. Urunga who had travelled to Woolgoolga in October secured the 2 points with 113 to 97 hoops, while Sawtell secured the 2 points in the final match hosted by them against Urunga 105 to 101.
This left both Sawtell and Urunga on 6 points for the series with the winners being determined on a game count. Urunga’s early form at home helped secure the overall win with 16 games to 13. Jennie Arnold, Sawtell Captain, presented the trophy at completion of play to Barb Piggott, Urunga Vice Captain. The trophy will now be displayed at Urunga until next year’s series is completed.
Thanks to all players from the three Clubs who participated in this year’s event to again make it a happy and successful series.
Barb Piggott - Urunga Vice Captain
The Mid North Coast Croquet Council (MNCCC) Championships for both Association Croquet and Golf Croquet were contested at Taree Croquet Club on Wednesday 29th and Friday 31st October. The MNCCC includes Forster, Gloucester, Port Macquarie and Taree Croquet Clubs.
Three rounds of 2½ hour Association games were played in overcast, humid but reasonably comfortable conditions. Division 1 was won by Bill Blaikie (Taree) who defeated all his opponents. Division 2 was decided by a count back between three players, the winner being Bob Hokin (Taree). Division 3 was played as a best-of-three match between Tony Earle (Port Macquarie) and Marion Ellison (Forster). Tony won the first game 26-12, and Marion the second game 25-14. Both players were feeling tired after a long day when Tony took the third game 17-13. A close contest indeed. The scores in Division 4 were not high, but Bill Freeman (Taree) remained steady and consistent, winning all his games.
Friday proved true to the weather forecasts as the temperature steadily rose to the mid-thirties. Both singles and doubles play was scheduled over 9 rounds of double banked games, and the program was completed with players resting under the trees, in the shelter sheds or under the fans in the club house between games. More than 20 litres of mixed cordial and two bags of ice, as well as tea, coffee and water were consumed during the Championships. Ice packs were also applied to necks and heads.
Division 1 (handicaps 0-6) was won by Taree (Bob Hokin and Joe Dimech), who won all their games. Division 2 (handicaps 7-9) was won by Gloucester (John Ikin, Yvonne Bagnall and Bev Murray), who lost only one game. Division 3 (handicaps 10-12) was won by Gloucester (Zan Mendel, Dirk Heyink and Barbara Ikin). This was decided by a count back, with only a few points separating three teams of players.
Sincere thanks are extended to the referees who travelled with the players to officiate at the Championships
There were many exciting shots played - long hoops, jump shots, in-offs - but no cheering and whistling, only occasional polite applause. Passers by would have thought we were having no fun at all.
Jan Sage - Captain - Taree Croquet Club
happy new croquet player
Croquet was just one of nine sports that took part in the Festival of Sports, conducted by Manning /Great Lakes Ability All Sports, on Saturday 25th October.
The Festival is a showcase of sports available for disabled people in the area. On the day at least forty five participants visited Taree Croquet Club. A number of club members were available to teach the basics of grip, stance and swing, and hoop running, then the visitors enjoyed themselves learning to play the hoops in order - from blue to red. Plans are under way for a regular playing time to be established, when the players will learn to play Croquet games, and perhaps take part in competitions.
Andrew Gaze - an ambassador for the National Australia Bank, major sponsor of the festival - visited the Croquet Club, much to the delight of visitors and members alike. He played a ball through a hoop, and was happy to be photographed with fans and admirers.
This is the second year the Croquet Club has been part of the Festival of Sports, and we look forward to further involvement With Ability All Sports, and the people it supports.
Pat Moroney plays a shot watched by Macquarie City girls
Referee Jim Hicks watches a hampered shot
Iris Frazer pins the Life membership Badge
on June Stack
on June Stack