On June 4th 2023, Reigate Priory Croquet Club hosted an exhibition match between two of the top players in the world, as part of their ongoing Centenary Year celebrations. Mark Avery (current world no. 7) came to visit, to play against Jamie Burch (world no. 3) in 3 golf games followed by an Association match. The two had paired together… Read more →
On the morning of Thursday 25th May, a small army of bowlers advanced across the cricket ground towards the NE corner, armed with their wheeled bowls trolley bags. But it wasn’t an invasion of the croquet lawn – just a takeover for the morning… As part of our Centenary Celebrations, the bowlers of Reigate Priory Bowling Club had been invited… Read more →
Reigate Priory has the privilege of having one of the best players in the world as a member, but on Sunday 4th June 2023 we’ll be welcoming a second top 10 player, albeit for one day only! As part of our Centenary celebrations, there will be exhibition matches played out between Mark Avery and Jamie Burch at our own Reigate… Read more →
On the evening of Tuesday 2nd May, members with partners and friends were sipping a chilled crémant watching the setting sun from balcony of the Reigate Priory Cricket Club pavilion as a prelude to dining in the pavilion below. The occasion was the Croquet Clubs Centenary Celebration dinner. After the somewhat haphazard arrangement of the balcony group photo, the 3… Read more →
Weather conditions It was cloudy from Sunrise 06:37 to sunset 17:48, apart from a short 5 minute burst of sun at 1pm. The temperature on the lawn at the start hovered between 0 and -1°C but there was no frost and the back-up lawn on the football pitch was not invoked. By Noon it was 3°C reaching 4°C in the… Read more →
Just after 6am on March 5th, it was dark on the lawn but members were busy setting out the hoops and tightening them, ready for the long day of croquet – part of our Centenary Celebrations. The chairman was halfway up a pole at the far end of the lawn wearing a head torch and setting up a freeze-frame camera,… Read more →
Reigate and Banstead put on a bit of a show last Wednesday evening, 1st March. Over 200 people, many of them youngsters, were seated in the Harlequin main auditorium at round tables bathed in purplish light, waiting with anticipation to find out who the winners were. No, the occasion was not was not a re-run of the BAFTAs, it was… Read more →
As part of our Centenary celebrations, we have a number of events planned, beginning with our Dawn to Dusk Challenge. The Game The format will be level play Golf Croquet, played the conventional way with all the current rules. However, the game isn’t finished at “first to 7” etc., it will continue through to hoop 12, directly to hoop 1,… Read more →
While the fundamentals of croquet have existed for a long time now, many advances have been made in all areas, from the manufacturing of mallets, balls and hoops, to lawn maintenance, to online resources and more. Recently, there have been massive advances released in the world of Artificial Intelligence, from systems that can write complete original essays for students, through… Read more →
At the AGM on Sunday 20th November 2022, Chairman John Bristow outlined a full programme of events and items planned to celebrate the club’s Centenary year 2023. Some 6 events are proposed : a dawn to dusk continuous croquet day in the week the club was formed a new Centenary Plate competition likely to be GC 19-point GC a lunchtime… Read more →