In general, not much is known about croquet, but hidden away in a corner of Reigate, Surrey, our club has been established for nearly 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… Read more →
Gordon Goodchild 2021
This weekend saw our block stages for the Gordon Goodchild played. A golf tournament, for handicaps 3-8, the weather could have been better but fine play and effective management from Doug saw all rounds completed in good time. Congratulations to Sue Rice and John Dawson for winning their respective blocks, and progressing to the best-of-three decider to be played in… Read more →
Removing the Ridge – Episode 6
After the rain cleared on Friday morning (25th Sept) a large colony of crane flies had taken up residence under club house canopy – a fact of passing interest that did not deter the small working party of Claire, Neil, Mike and JohnB, from setting about re-installing the irrigation sprinkler heads and getting the watering up and running. The ends… Read more →
Removing the Ridge – Episode 5
After the Sunday work, nothing happened on our lawn Monday, but on Tuesday 22nd it was all go laying down the Rootzone 60/40 (topsoil to you and me) one inch deep across the levelled surface. The levelling and spreading left interesting patterns on the ground. At the end of the day focus shifted to some further laser-levelling and flattening in… Read more →
Removing the Ridge – Episode 4
Sunday was a busy day at the club. It is tempting to say “on the lawn” but of course it’s not there at the moment! The activity started with clearing up the edges and removing debris from the initial vegetation stripping. Some of this was by hand, in the time honoured way, and more later on by dexterous use of… Read more →
Removing the Ridge – Episode 3
By Tuesday night the entrance drive through the gates was clear of parked cars; thanks to Roger with several empty beer barrels and a long blue rope. This enabled the trucks to deliver the 20 tonnes of “Rootzone” directly onto the outfield conveniently near the lawn. The pile is now covered in a white tarpaulin sheet to prevent contamination before… Read more →
Removing the Ridge – Episodes 1 & 2
The story of levelling and relaying the croquet lawn in 10 episodes – the Chairman’s view. The debate begins with “do we want the lawn level or flat?“ This begs the questions “what is level?” and “what is flat?” Level is at the same height above a given datum and flat is all on one plane. The answer to the… Read more →
2020 Finals Day – Sunday 30th August
A few months ago, it was decided not to hold an official Finals Day this year, however as the situation has developed we have decided that four finals will take place on Sunday 30th August. The order of play will be as follows: 9am Frances Payne (Level Golf) John Bristow v Chris O’Byrne …followed by the Creed Memorial (Handicap Advanced)… Read more →
Croquet Stories – Simon
Seeing as there’s no croquet to be played at the moment, it means there’s some time for reflection on how some members got into croquet in the first place. First up is club Secretary Simon Ling, and his story (or at least some of it!) is below. If you have a croquet story you’d like to share (not just Reigate… Read more →
Finals Results! From 1996…
With free time in abundance during the lockdown, Alan Slade was charged with clearing out old files at home, and came across this report from the Surrey Mirror. The picture is of Alan himself, with Becky Cosier. The text reads (with scores reformatted for easy reading!): REIGATE Priory Croquet Club’s annual finals weekend did not enjoy ideal weather but the… Read more →
Cryptic Quiz – Local Towns
During these self-isolating times, our croquet club members are staying in contact with each other, and the other day a quiz was devised and shared by Simon and Judy, with some tricky clues to lead you to some place names from the Reigate area (and maybe a little more towards Ashtead!). Check your answers by clicking on the clues below… Read more →