Category: News

The Christmas Lunch and Trophy Presentation will take place at the Clubhouse on Saturday 13th December, 12.30 for 1. The price per person will be £20. If you would like to bring your own Wine, there will be a £5 corkage fee per bottle.

There are only 32 spaces, so book early to be sure you get a place!

It would be great if as many Competition winners as possible could attend the lunch to celebrate their achievements and be presented with their Trophies.

The Menu is shown below:

Please note that this is a Singles competition, there is no Doubles option. The rules will be the same as last year (see club website https://colchestercroquet.org.uk/gc-winter-league/  for details).  

All matches will be played using the Advantage Handicap system.

In order to enter, you must have an official GC handicap.  This is very easy and takes less than half an hour.  If you would like to arrange an assessment, please contact Ian Cumming or Alex Wood via the GC WhatsApp group or by email to ian@graham-cumming.com or alexwood999@hotmail.com

WINTER LEAGUE MATCHES SHOULD NOT BE RECORDED ON YOUR HANDICAP CARDS

Please note that, in accordance with the club winter rules, NO JUMP SHOTS ARE ALLOWED to avoid damaging the lawns.

The league phase will commence as soon as the courts are converted to their winter format, which should be mid November.

There will be a maximum of 36 players, which will give 4 leagues of 9.  Within the leagues, all play all so there will be a maximum of 8 matches to be played.  Each match is the best of 3 x 13 hoop games.  The winner and runner up in each league will go forward to a knockout held in February and March to determine the overall winner. 

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.  If you enter, please make every effort to play as many league games as possible – it is not fair on the other members of your league to play a couple of matches and then decide not to play any more.

To enter, send an email to cccresults@gmail.com with your Name and official GC Handicap or put your details on the sheet in the Clubhouse

The team – Marilyn, Nerys, Kevin and Simon – defeated Enfield 12-6 at Wrest Park, to win the league for the second year in succession.  

26 teams from around the wide Eastern region competed, including Bury & Pinchbeck in the Northern area, Maldon & Chelmsford in the East, Barnet & Newport in the Central and Watford & Northampton in the West.  

The matches are played under Advantage rules with each 4-person team having a total aggregate handicap of at least 20.  There are a many ways of achieving that.  As captain, Marilyn took a fairly standard approach of two low handicaps (2&3), one medium (5) and one high (11) – total 21.  Enfield fielded a more extreme range of handicaps of 0, 3, 9 and 16 – total 26.  Both valid approaches, and a great way of introducing higher handicappers to competition play.

The win means that Colchester once again qualify for next year’s National Federation Shield.  Having reaching the semi-finals last year (only to be beaten by the eventual winners – Crake Valley), the team will be looking to go all the way next year.

Congratulations to the team at Wrest Park, and to everyone who played in the earlier rounds – Chris Clarke, Marion de Landmeter, Alex Wood and Pat de Burca

After a week of cold, wet autumnal weather, summer returned to Colchester for the Club Invitational day with temperatures reaching 29 degrees!

On beautiful green lawns (so the rain did have some uses…) players from Colchester, Maldon, Southchurch and Chelmsford battled to win the trophy.

The morning session consisted of a round robin tournament with the top 8 players going forward to a knockout in the afternoon.

With players from all four clubs advancing to the knockout, there was plenty to keep the spectators interested.  In the final four, Paul Trumper of Colchester defeated John Ferguson of Maldon and John Skuse of Chelmsford defeated his club mate Julie Holmes.

The final between Paul and John was hard fought, with both players achieving long clearances, good hoop running and spectacular jump shots.  Fittingly, the match ended at Hoop 13.  Paul had a chance to win, but a tentative shot left his ball in the jaws of the hoop.  John made no mistake in clearing it to the boundary and, when his chance came, he ran the hoop confidently to win 7-6.

This event is always eagerly anticipated, and the games were played in a friendly but competitive spirit.  Many thanks to Pam Hopper for organising the day so efficiently and to Pam’s husband for making the beautiful wooden trophy.

Following last year’s triumph in the East Anglian Croquet Federation Handicap League, Colchester once again reached the knockout stages.  Newport hosted the match, remarkably featuring, for the third year in succession, Colchester vs Unity.  Kevin, Simon, Chris and Marilyn made the short journey to Newport where the torrential downpours of Friday meant the lawns couldn’t be mowed, making them challenging for both teams.  The morning dry weather window was forecast to break at around 3.30, so speedy play was of the essence!  

The two morning doubles matches were halved, as were the first two rounds of singles.  5 games all at lunchtime, and with the weather closing in, all to play for.  Penultimate round wins shared, so going in to the final round matches all square 7-7.

But when the going gets tough, the tough get going … team captain Marilyn closed out the tie with a boundary shot through the Golden Hoop, just as the rain started to fall.  Final result Colchester 10 Unity 8.

Once again, an incredibly close match, with a final hoop score of 102-101 to Colchester, who now qualify for the final at Wrest Park for the third year running.  Congratulations to the team, commiserations to Unity, and many thanks to Anne Taylor and the volunteers from Newport for a well-run event.

On Thursday, with a weather forecast that promised ‘thundery showers’, 17 players turned up for the Club Doubles Day, the last club tournament of the summer season.  Pairings were drawn for the three games before lunch with one player sitting out each round.  Dodging a few sharp showers, we were still (mostly) dry for the semi-finals and with increasingly angry clouds gathering at 3.15, Nerys & Alex won a closely fought final against Marilyn & Maggie.  Perfect timing, because at 3.20, the heavens opened!

Congratulations to Nerys and Alex and well done to everyone who turned out to play in decidedly autumnal conditions.  As always, huge thanks to Pam for organizing and managing this popular club event.  

This Thursday is our Golf Croquet Club Doubles Day – one of the most enjoyable dates in the club calendar.

• Open to all members – no need to find a partner in advance. On the day, players will be paired up as high/low handicap couples, so everyone has a chance to shine.
• A full day of croquet and camaraderie – please arrive by 9:30am for a 10:00am start. We usually wrap up around 3:30pm. Bring lunch and a sense of fun.
• The more, the merrier! Whether you’re keen to meet new members, test your skills, learn some new ones, or simply enjoy a fun and sociable day of croquet, this is the event for you.

Come along, join in, and make it a day to remember!

Please note: as the Doubles will be running all day, there will be no roll-up on Thursday.

Our last match in the 3+ League was at home against top of the table Meldreth.  

Colchester started strongly with wins in the doubles for Hugh & Marian and Michael & Marilyn.  Rain showers sent everyone scurrying for their rain coats just before lunch, but play carried on regardless and we had established a narrow 6-4 lead after the third round.  The closely matched teams continued the battle in the afternoon with the match ending with an 11-7 win for the home team.

This result means that Meldreth win the North and East area League with 10 points from Colchester on 9.

Congratulations to the team on an excellent win and many thanks to Marian for her hard work in organising the matches and baking delicious cakes for the post match tea – Carrot cake & Victoria sponge this time.

Thanks also to Martin Tunmore and his team of volunteer grass cutters who looked after the lawns during the gardeners’ two week holiday.

The final matches have been played and Colchester have topped the Eastern Region League for the third year in a row! As with last year, it was very close run – Colchester and Maldon Lakeside were level on 8 points each but Colchester had a better game difference (+34 against +13).

The team will now head off to Newport on 14th September to play Unity (Sudbury) in the semi final – also for the third year in a row!