Archive 2011 news page
This page contains information on:
- Notice of AGM – 29 October 2011
- Tournament Winners for the 2011 Season
- The Carpenter Cup – 8 September 2011
- The Golf Doubles – 1 September 2011
- 112th Annual – 27-30 August 2011
- Centenary Celebrations: Flower Bed & Cake in 2011
- The Golf Handicap Doubles League – August 2011
- The Golf Croquet Open Invitation Weekend – 6-7 August 2011
- The Green Shutters (Handicap) Doubles – 4 August 2011
- The Leighton Linslade Golf Croquet Weekend – 30-31 July 2011
- The Easterns – 22-24 July 2011
- The Green Shutters (Handicap) Singles – 7 July 2011
- The Roger Ivill at Newport – 3 July 2011
- Vintage Croquet & Hunstanton Carnival – 25-26 June 2011
- The Over Fifties – 17-19 June 2011
- The EACF Inter-counties Golf Croquet Ken Wheeler Shield – 11 June 2011
- The Robert Prichard 2011 (Tournament Report)
- Sedgeford Village Sports Day – Saturday 14th May 2011
- Come & Try Afternoon – Saturday 7th May 2011 at 2pm
- Centenary Year Celebrations to start with an Open Day on Wednesday 6 April 2011.
- Hunstanton awarded World Croquet Federation Under 21s Golf Croquet Championship.
- The AGM, New President & Committee, Subscriptions for 2011.
- Tournament Winners for the 2010 Season.
- Winter Preparations.
NOTICE of AGM
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the HUNSTANTON CROQUET CLUB
MEMBERS ARE ADVISED THAT THE AGM WILL BE HELD
ON SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2011.
AT 11AM. (Coffee will be served from 10.30AM).
IN THE CLUBHOUSE.
Full Members are advised that Proposals for consideration at the AGM are to be delivered to the Chairman no later than 17th September 2011.
CHAIRMAN
3rd September 2011
*** NB: Agenda for AGM (2011), Minutes of Previous AGM (2010) & Proposed Constitution can be downloaded from the ‘Rules’ Page ***
Tournament Winners for the 2011 Season
| Tournament | Winner(s) |
|---|---|
| The Robert Prichard (Fermoy Cup) | Mark Avery |
| Golf Croquet Singles | David Thirtle-Watts |
| EACF Inter-counties (The Ken Wheeler Shield) | Hertfordshire |
| The Over Fifties (Jane Neville Rolf Salver) | Terrey Sparks |
| The Roger Ivill Cup | Hunstanton |
| The Green Shutters (Handicap) Singles | Derek Cole |
| The Easterns (The Cecil Strange Cup) | David Maugham |
| The Easterns (The Heatherington Plate) | Gabrielle Higgins |
| The Leighton Linslade Weekend | Leighton Linslade |
| The Green Shutters Doubles | Barrie Joyce & Bryan Montgomery |
| GC Open Invitation – Singles – Level Play | Mike Percival |
| GC Open Invitation – Singles – Handicap | Roger Stroud |
| GC Open Invitation – Doubles | Joyce Robins & Stephen Dennis |
| The Golf Doubles League – Handicap | Carole Ward & Heather Mainwaring |
| The 112th Annual Tournament | A Block Philip Eardley B Block Terrey Sparks C Block Patricia Duke-Cox D Block Hugh Carlisle Egyptian Winner Martin Kolbuszewski Egyptian Runner-up Tim Race |
| The Golf Doubles | Joyce Robins & David Boxell |
| The Carpenter Cup (GC) | Susan Boxell |
| The Golf Handicap Singles League / Friday League | Terry Kendal |
| The Albert Bowl (AC) | Terrey Sparks |
| The Butlin Trophy (AC) | Mike Bowser |
The Carpenter Cup – 08 September 2011
 |
| Winner: Susan Boxell being presented with the Carpenter Cup by David Thirtle-Watts, Chairman Hunstanton Croquet Club |
Golf Doubles – 01 September 2011
 |
| Winners: Joyce Robins & David Boxell |
112th Annual – 27-30 August 2011
 |
The Winners:
Standing: Philip Eardley Sitting: Terrey Sparks, Patricia Duke-Cox |
Tournament report to follow.
Centenary Celebrations
 |
 |
| Pride of place in the flower bed on ‘The Green’ at Hunstanton.
Courtesy of The Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. |
Centenary Cake
Courtesy of ‘Life is Sweet’. |
The Golf Handicap Doubles League – August 2011
We are endebted to David Mainwaring for suggesting, organising and managing this new competition played over 3 Tuesday evenings. 10 pairs entered and each played each other once. Points were awarded for wins (3) and draws (1). The winners were Carole Ward and Heather Mainwaring. We wish Heather and David well for their move to Spain.
The Golf Croquet Open Invitation Weekend – 6-7 August 2011
 |
 |
 |
The GC Open Invitation Winners 2011
Top left: Mike Percival, Winner of the Level Play Singles receiving the trophy from Ken Wheeler. Top right: Roger Stroud, Winner of the Handicap Singles. Bottom left: Stephen Dennis and Joyce Robins receiving the Doubles Shield from Ken Wheeler. |
Hunstanton Invitation Weekend – 6/7th August
– as seen by John Cundell from Leighton-Linslade Croquet Club
‘This event at Hunstanton Croquet Club is an annual two-day open tournament aimed at providing competition for all levels of golf croquet players from within the local and other clubs. This is achieved by arranging what are in effect three separate competitions, although two are run at the same time.
On the Saturday the Singles Competition is held. This year there were 24 players who were split into two groups of 12 – each group containing two blocks of six players. Named Alpha 1 and 2, and Beta 1 and 2 by Organising Manager and Club President, Ken Wheeler, the Alpha blocks were Level play for those with handicaps of six and under – whilst the Beta blocks were handicap games for players of seven to twelve. These two groups were run separately and a winner would be found in each case by a final of the two block winners from each group.
The non-club competitors had travelled from Norwich, Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds, Leighton-Linslade and Watford. Visitors are always impressed as Hunstanton Croquet Club is fortunate in having five excellent lawns in a fine park – and is completely self-contained with a superbly equipped pavilion/clubhouse with all the facilities and amenities that any club could wish for. So on the five lawns it was of course possible to play 10 matches simultaneously with primaries and secondaries starting from opposite corners – and with no time limits – all very acceptable to the players. Manager Ken Wheeler, ably assisted by Christine Thirtle-Watts, juggled the players as they completed each match and kept everyone moving along very efficiently, but still leaving the odd minutes to take welcome refreshment, and watch some of the other games in progress.
At the end of the block play, Jeff Race from Hunstanton and Mike Percival from Ipswich topped their blocks as Alpha finalists – whilst in the Beta blocks it was Roger Stroud from Leighton-Linslade and Robert Archer from Watford – almost a local derby for these two as the clubs hold League and Friendlies regularly. Mike Percival was in fine form and despite Jeff Race striking some impressive shots – the Alpha trophy went to Mike by 7 games to 6. In the Beta final Roger Stroud was in command almost from the start and beat Robert Archer by seven games to three. Despite a weather forecast of heavy showers, the day was blessed by fine, dry and reasonably warm conditions – as one would expect from Sunny Hunny – and the sun was still shining as Ken Wheeler presented the trophies to Mike and Roger amongst much acclaim by all present.
Sunday morning also dawned dry, if a trifle chilly in the strong wind that prevailed most of the day. What more can you expect when at the seaside! This tournament, compared to Saturday, was ‘completely different’. Of the twenty players entered in this Doubles tournament, fourteen had taken part in the previous day’s Singles. Ken Wheeler had come up with a system that really gives most players the chance of success. There were two blocks of five pairs, chosen by pairing a Hunstanton player with one of the visitors – and they are also chosen from opposite ends of the handicap spectrum. A player of 12 would be paired with one of the lower handicappers – say a 3 – and so on up and down the scale. This obviously evens out the pairs’ playing abilities and often results in success for the higher handicapped competitor.
Play was a little more relaxed than for the Singles as each pair only had to play four games in their particular block. As this is a relatively small number of games for a day’s play then each pair also played against their opposite number in the other block – another innovation by Ken that improved the day’s enjoyment.
With fewer games than Saturday the play was run in rounds with no doubling up and again no time limit. The order of play had been drawn up by Ken previously and was displayed for all to adhere to, so it was a smooth progression through an enjoyable day – interspersed with lunch, tea and refreshment breaks. As 5.00pm approached the winning pairs had emerged from the two blocks ready for the final – Janet Lewis and Ruth Cole against Stephen Dennis and Joyce Robins. Janet and Ruth didn’t manage to find the good form they had displayed in their block play, and Stephen and Joyce came out winners by seven games to 4.
Once again Ken Wheeler appeared from behind his paperwork and made the presentation to the winners and thanked all the Hunstanton members who had put in a tremendous effort over the weekend to provide us all with two exceptionally fine croquet days on excellent lawns, and with good humour and hospitality throughout. It’s a shame that for many of us who live in the south and west of the Anglia region that we have to travel 100 plus miles – but it’s worth all the pain of the Hunstanton to King’s Lynn road on a Sunday evening!
Roll on next year.
John Cundell
Leighton-Linslade, Croquet Club’
The Green Shutters (Handicap) Doubles – 4 August 2011
 |
| Barrie Joyce and Bryan Montgomery Winners of the Green Shutters Golf Croquet Doubles (Handicap) 04/08/2011. |
The Leighton Linslade – Golf Croquet
Weekend – 30-31 July 2011
 |
| The players in the class of 2011, from left to right:
Standing: Malcom Kirby, Barrie Joyce, Mary Coombs, Pauline Lefrere, David Boxell, Judith Cundell, John Cundell, Christine Thirtle-Watts, David Thirtle-Watts, Alf Wells, Val Jeffers, Terry Kendal, & Derek Cole. Seated: Tony Stammers, Roger Stroud, Irene Davis, Peter Davis, Thelma Betts, Tony Wells, & Susan Boxell. |
This annual event was blessed with good weather. 10 players from each club had alternate games of singles and doubles, everyone playing 6 games. The trophy was won by Leighton Linslade 24-21. A fish and chip supper was enjoyed by all. This was followed by a Beetle Drive which had everyone on the edge of their seats – a contrast from the pace of play on the lawns earlier in the day; and the very relaxed pace enjoyed by a number of players on the Sunday morning before our friends made their journeys home. Plans are a foot for next year …
The Easterns – 22-24 July 2011
Hunstanton hosted this year’s event for 14 players. The Championship of East Anglia was won by David Maugham the runner up was Ian Burridge. The Plate Event was won by Gabrielle Higgins the runner up was Duncan Hector.
Green Shutters Handicap Singles – 7 July 2011
 |
| Derek Cole receiving the salver from Ken Wheeler |
An enjoyable days play was had by all, despite the occasional shower. This year’s event was played in two blocks of 7. Block A was won by Bryan Montgomery and Block B by Derek Cole, who won the final 7-3. The presentation was made by Ken Wheeler, the Club’s President and today’s Tournament Manager. Apologies for the poor quality of the photo.
The Roger Ivill Cup at Newport – Sunday 3 July 2011
 |
This year’s event was hosted by Newport, whose hospitality, organisation and lawn preparation were much appreciated by everyone. The day was blessed with glorious sunshine and enjoyed by players, officials and spectators alike. The six golf croquet players in each team played 18 singles (9-9) and three doubles games (1-2). The two association croquet players in each team played 2 singles (0-2) and 1 doubles (0-1). The players in the photo are from left to right:
Ken Wheeler, Barrie Joyce, David Boxell, Adrian Seabrook, Bernard Yallop, Arthur Flutter.
Dennis Buisson, Dennis Saville, Ernie Turkington, Clive Cassidy, Bob Leeds.
Derek Cole, Mary Coombs, Pam Reynolds, Helen Manley, Ruth Cole & Vivienne Seabrook.
The trophy was won by Hunstanton. Newport will visit Hunstanton next year …..
Vintage Croquet Day & Carnival – Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 June 2011
This was a great weekend of celebration, nostalgia and fun as part of our Centenary festivities.
On Saturday, 31 members attended the Chairman’s Day Vintage Croquet Party dressed in period costumes from various decades of the past 100 years. A photographer from the Lynn News recorded the event and judged the best-dressed member to be June Critcher. She would have given Lady Bracknell (“A handbag?”) a run for her money. After games of croquet – some played in the traditional manner and others in a way that you had to be there to believe – a delicious afternoon tea was enjoyed by all. Then the specially commissioned celebration cake was photographed, admired, cut and devoured appreciatively.
Sunday was the day of the annual Hunstanton Carnival in which 13 members again donned their costumes to walk in the procession around the town. It was hot and sunny with just enough breeze to catch the wide brims of the ladies’ hats! However, it was all worthwhile, as Hunstanton Croquet Club was awarded 2nd place in the adult section. Not bad for our first attempt. Thanks and congratulations to all concerned. Photos to follow!
Over Fifties Weekend – The Jane Neville Rolf Salver
 |
 |
| The Competitors (well most of them!) | Terrey Sparks receiving the trophy from David Mattacks (Vice Chairman HCC) |
20 players contested this event over the three days, 17-19 June 2011. It was won by the Tournament Manager!
Over Fifties Tournament Report
“This year the annual tournament attracted a full entry of 20 players and was played over the long weekend of 17/19th June 2011. Thanks to the efforts put in by the Club’s Groundsman Jeff Race the lawns were in an excellent condition with an exceptionally covering of grass that ran very true. Despite the previous week being unusually rainy they still ran quite fast and accurately. On the first day the weather was hot and sunny defying all the reports. However, for the next two days things deteriorated into overcast and showery but not enough to detract the competitors from their games. Using the ‘Hans-Irwin Eyptian Format’, the tournament was managed by Terrey Sparks.
After the first day local member Mike Bowser headed the field with a rating of 126 after completing an incredible five games. Closely followed by Ken Anderton 123, Nick Steiner 119, Terrey Sparks 118 and Bob Thompson and Ken Cooper on 117. However, on the second day Mike was not able to continue the pace and his form suddenly departed. This led to Bob Thompson finishing the day on a rating of 140 followed by Nick Steiner 125, Robert Halpin 124, Colin Hemming 121 and husband and wife Ken and Sue Cooper both on 118.
At the start of the third day Robert Halpin one of the leaders due to a nagging abscess of the gums had unfortunately to withdraw from the tournament which as he had already beaten the leader helped to consolidate Bob’s position at the lunch break. Only two of the field had a chance of toppling Bob those being the manager Terrey Sparks and Georgeen Hemming both not having played against him. As Terrey had already beaten Georgeen earlier in the tournament he decided to pit himself against Bob in the final Round. Despite the game being very close Terrey eventually overcame the number of bisques against him and ran out the winner +6 to win the tournament outright.
The final result being:
1st Terrey Sparks 136
2nd Georgeen Hemming 133
3rd Bob Thompson 132
4th Sue Cooper 126
5th Rodney Parkins 122
David Mattacks the Hunstanton Club’s Vice Chairman presented the trophy to the winner and also presented a bottle of wine to Ken Cooper for acting as the Tournament Referee. Thanks were also given for all those members behind the scene for all the work they had put in to make sure the tournament was a success.”
Terrey Sparks, Tournament Manager 04/07/2011.
EACF – Inter-counties – Golf Croquet – The Ken Wheeler Shield
 |
 |
| The Winning Team from Hertfordshire receiving the Ken Wheeler Shield from Ken Wheeler.
Left to right: Nick Archer (Watford), Ken Wheeler (Tournament Manager), Nick Mounfield (Letchworth), |
The Norfolk Team from Hunstanton Croquet Club
Left to right: |
The inaugural tournament was held at Hunstanton Croquet Club on Saturday 11 June 2011, with six teams from: Bedfordshire, EACF Select, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The tournament was won by Hertfordshire.
See EACF website for results and match report: http://www.angliacroquet.co.uk/2011/gc_wheeler_shield.php
 |
 |
| Previous winners: Left to right standing: Martin French (1985,2009), Mark Avery (2005,2010), Jon Watson (2001), Phillip Eardley (2003), seated: Ian Vincent (1993,1996,2000), Fermoy Cup, George Noble (1986,1995,1998,2006) |
2011 Winner – Mark Avery |
The Robert Prichard 2011 (Tournament Report)
“This year’s Prichard saw many of the usual faces returning to the challenge of Hunstonic winds. Fortunately the sun shone most of the time but it was still chilly, if not cold, but more players survived to the end this year than last! If you are coming next year remember to pack some warm and windproof gear. Handicaps ranged from -2 to 6 and with wind and “French” firm tight hoops there was plenty of interactivity. The WCF Secretary General was ROT and also put up a very nice Tournament Regulations Notice.
In the upper echelons, Jeff Race – who also mowed the lawns before play on Monday ( thank you ) played as many games as Mark Avery (10 – only 10!! But then Mark did do a 10K run in King’s Lynn on the Sunday Morning) but despite beating both him and Martin French, Jeff had 3 losses which put him behind Mark and Keith Aiton (who unfortunately had to leave at lunch on Monday leaving Mark in contention). Last year’s revelation Nick Steiner, now 2.5, was eclipsed by Brian Saddington who started at 4.5 but had only one loss up to Monday afternoon so played a final on the only lawn that afforded any shelter for the spectators (lawn 2) against Mark, to whom he succumbed. Mark Avery was allowed to take the Trophy home this time. With games put on whenever players wanted to play over the three days, Beer that lasts till Monday and sunshine and good food it was another classic Prichard.”
N Harris, Tournament Manager 18/05/2011
Sedgeford Village Sports Day – Saturday 14th May 2011
4 Members of the Hunstanton Croquet Club provided an opportunity for a number of people and their families to experience Croquet. Some for the very first time, others renewing their memories of playing the game at different levels. This was in addition to the demonstration by other groups of sports including: Archery, Football and Indoor bowls,
Come & Try Afternoon – Saturday 7th May 2011 at 2pm
Hunstanton Croquet Club recently celebrated the start of its Centenary Year with an Open Day, which was attended by members, local residents and members of Newport Croquet Club.
If you were not able to attend this event we would now like to invite you to our annual “Come and Try” afternoon. Our friendly members will show you around our Club House facilities and will enjoy showing you the basics of croquet, (mallets are provided). Croquet is fun, sociable and as competitive as you want it to be. There are competitions to suit all and Club afternoons, throughout the season.
If this appeals to you then please come along to the Club House, which is situated at the southern end of the Recreation Ground, on Saturday 7th May at 2 pm. Please wear flat shoes for your protection and that of the lawns.
This event was attended by 14 Visitors.
100 Years of Croquet in HUNSTANTON
Open Day on Wednesday 6 April 2011
To commence our Centenary Year we are holding an OPEN DAY on the 6th April 2011. We would like to invite past and present members of the Hunstanton Croquet Club to join the Committee for light refreshments, a chat and of course to play croquet.
We would also like to extend this invitation to all who may be interested in finding out more about the Club and how croquet is played. If this appeals to you then please come along to the Club House, which is situated at the southern end of the Recreation Ground, on the 6th April between 11am and 3 pm. Please wear flat shoes for your protection and that of the lawns.
Hunstanton awarded World Croquet Federation
Under 21s Golf Croquet Championship
We are pleased to announce that the WCF has accepted an offer from the Croquet Association to hold the Under 21 Golf Croquet World Championship at Hunstanton Croquet Club. Play will be over 4 days, from Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th July. This competition is being held the week before the WCF Golf Croquet World Championship in London.
The entry will be limited to 24 players. World associations are currently being invited to nominate players in order of merit to play in the event by 11th March 2011, at which point an allocation of places will be made. The WCF will select the 24 entrants from the nominations, following the principles established in the Sports Regulations as far as this is practical for a 24 player event.
The two highest placed finishers in this event, who are available and have not already gained places for the GCWC the following week, will each be awarded a place in the GCWC.
Annual General Meeting
We are pleased to announce that at the 2010 Annual General Meeting, which was held in the Club House on Saturday 30 October 2010 and attended by 36 members, Mr Ken Wheeler was duly elected as President of the Club. This was then followed by the election of officers for the 2011 Season.
The current officers and committee members are shown on the Officers page.
The meeting also agreed the Membership Subscription rates for the 2011 Season.
Please see details on the Home Page.
Tournament Winners for the 2010 Season
| Tournament | Winner |
|---|---|
| The Robert Prichard (Fermoy Cup) | Mark Avery |
| Over 50’s (Jane Neville Rolf) | Margaret Anderton |
| 111th Annual Tournament A Block (Norfolk County Challenge Cup) |
Martin French |
| 111th Annual Tournament B Block (Hunstanton Challenge Bowl) |
George Woolhouse |
| 111th Annual Tournament C Block (The Silver Bowl) |
Neil Chalmers |
| 111th Annual Tournament D Block (The Perbedy Lee Trophy) |
Timothy Race |
| 111th Annual Tournament Egyptian |
Timothy Race |
| 111th Annual Tournament Rothwell Trophy |
Martin Kolbuszewski |
| GB Golf Doubles Finals (Ranleigh Cup) | Jeff Race & Timothy Race |
| Golf Singles (Level Play) | Jeff Race |
| Golf Doubles (Level Play) (Storey Salver) | Susan Boxell |
| Golf Doubles (Level Play) (Wood Salver) | David Thirtle-Watts |
| Green Shutters Singles | Pat Baillie |
| Green Shutters Doubles | Susan Boxell & Myfanwy Dunford |
| Grass Roots Singles | Tom Carpenter |
| Friday Singles League | Barrie Joyce |
| Open Invitation Singles – H/C 1-4 | Jeff Race |
| Open Invitation Singles – H/C 5-12 | Roger Stroud |
| Open Invitation Doubles | Ann Dennis & David Thirtle-Watts |
| The Albert Trophy | Bryan Saddington |
| The Butlin Trophy | Jeff Race |
| Roger Ivill (Hunstanton v Newport) | Newport |
| Hunstanton – Leighton Linslade Cup | Hunstanton |
| October Bowl (Hunstanton v Norwich) | Hunstanton |
| Golf Knockout Tournament – Men’s Singles | Timothy Race |
| Golf Knockout Tournament – Ladies’ Singles | Pat Baillie |
| Golf Knockout Tournament – Doubles | Pat Dawson & Pam Reynolds |
Winter Preparations
The playing season may well be over but, preparation of the lawns is well underway to provide for next year the high quality lawns that we all take for granted.
Projects are also being undertaken around the lawns. A dedicated band of members have volunteered their time and muscle to achieve some of the jobs on the Chairman’s wish list. Already completed or underway are:
- Work to level the boundaries of Lawns 1, 4 & 5 along the Tennis Courts/Clubhouse and make good with new turf is nearing completion.
- Our 5 sets of hoops have been shot blasted, repainted and remarked ready for the 2011 Season.
- The stop boards at the end of Lawn 3 have been removed and we now have a grassed bank.
- The hut on Lawn 1 has been moved and repaired.
- The Lawns have been marked out and the hoops set ready for play.
- Many essential tasks have already been carried out by several volunteers.
A big thank you to all concerned.