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 →
Reigate Win the S League
The ‘Small’ lawn ‘S’ league (Association croquet) comprises 3 players involved in two doubles and two singles matches. With Martin P out of action, Philip D picked up the reins. Having organised the dates for the matches early in the season (originally 4 teams, before Hampstead were added late in the day) it then left the player availability to sort… Read more →
Reigate Bag the Acorn Trophy
Our team at the Rother Valley Challenge event on 24 September came away with the acorn trophy for the third time! The competition was very close and we think all four teams must have had the same number of wins and two of them the same highest number of hoops scored, but we were adjudged winners on the basis of… Read more →
The Return of Club Days
16 players all simultaneously playing croquet on the club one-and-only lawn enlivened the dull dry day Saturday 4th September. The occasion was the end of season “Chairman’s Choice” club day. The game played [dubbed Fusion Croquet by the Chairman when hard pressed for a name] was a hybrid of AC, GC and One-Ball; fuller details at the end of this… Read more →
2021 Competition Winners
The results are in – congratulations to the winners and commiserations to the losers! Competition Winner Runner-up Vulliamy Salver Neil Coote Chris O’Byrne Creed Memorial Cup Chris Parker Chris O’Byrne Fuller Buckley Cup Phil Davies John Hyde John Staddon Trophy Alan Slade Phil Davies Rosamond Trophy John Bramhall Joyce Carlisle The Copper Cups Phil Davies & Doug Dykes Alan Slade… 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 →