In general, not much is known about croquet, but hidden away in a corner of Reigate, Surrey, our club has been established for 100 years, catering for members of all ages, from all walks of life. A sociable and fun past-time, with the potential for games to range from simple and carefree, to devilishly tactical, croquet is a low-impact sport, which is easy to… Read more →
Reigate retains the S League for 2024
By Phil Davies Having won the trophy in 2023, our Centenary Year, we were keen to repeat the feat in 2024. We did, but it went down to the final game. This year’s matches were against Bromley, Hampstead, Ember, and Cheam, and our defence started with two Home matches. The first, in early August, was against Bromley. We were in… Read more →
One-Ball final was a story of leaves and leaves
No-one expected it to be warm when the one-ball final was scheduled for 20 November, and the day dawned with frost on the lawn. But by the start time of 11am, that had gone, leaving leaves – lots of them – to greet finalists Phil Davies and Doug Dykes on their arrival. Clearing them delayed the start of the match,… Read more →
Finals Weekend 2024
Managing to arrange players to be available on a given weekend is never easy. This year was proving to be particularly difficult so the early summer final in July was cancelled to be replaced by one in September. Nevertheless initially Doug and latterly Caroline managed to put together a programme of seven finals over the weekend of 17-18 August. There… Read more →
Centenary Tournament 2024
Following on from the successful tournament held in the Centenary year the format was repeated this year at the end of August on a cold and blustery day, but at least there was no rain. This year Caterham, Ember, Merton and Purley Bury clubs entered teams of two players. To keep the balls rolling and the half lawns full, Reigate… Read more →
European Golf Club League
6th/7th July 2024, Venue: Hamburg Croquet Club This is the second year the event has taken place at venues throughout Europe. The winners of each heat (semi-final) qualify for the final in Madrid. Our opponents – Germans (Hamburg), Spanish (Sherry), and British (Dulwich, last year’s winners) – were all, on paper, at least one and sometimes up to five rankings… Read more →
A Match for May Day
After a period of five years, Reigate was pleased to welcome Wimbledon (the croquet section of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club) back to play on our lawn on 1 May. Our aim was to play GC doubles, doubled up on the full lawn, with three rounds in the morning and three more in the afternoon. In all,… Read more →
New carpet; new gadget and new season
Our season-opening first club day of the year was the Chairman’s Choice on 6th April. It was also the first event to take place after some clubhouse rectification action had been tackled following the flooding of the loo area back in January. The clubhouse carpet had to be scrapped and a replacement laid. The carpet had been generously supplied by… Read more →
Red-hot Heat for Charity One-Ball Competition
Wardrobes were scoured to find something red to wear for this year’s Charity One-Ball competition on 13 April, to match the theme colour of this year’s chosen charity: The British Heart Foundation (BHF). Even the sun came out to raise the temperature during the very well supported event, with competitors ranging from beginners to regular trophy winners. Chris Parker was… Read more →
AGM makes Andy Gray an Honorary Member
After 17 years as Treasurer, Andy Gray was made an Honorary Member of the club at its November AGM as he handed over the role to Martin Peacock. It was a meeting that reflected on a Centenary Year of events, with the Chairman, John Bristow, declaring the effort involved in planning and holding the various events to have been worthwhile… Read more →
Wet Cracker still went off with a bang!
Early December was wet. Very wet. Too wet, it seemed, for the Christmas Cracker to take place, with early arrivers finding the lawn waterlogged and unplayable. But they were not beaten and set up some wire hoops on the cricket pitch outfield: on a slope; uneven and muddy. It made for some interesting seven-hoop games of doubles, in which the… Read more →