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Action Planning in Your Croquet Club

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National Development Officer, Dave Gunn, Points the Way

Club members discussing the Development tool

Seven north west croquet clubs were represented (sometimes by more than one member) at a Club Development Workshop on 12 January 2019, led by the CA National Development Officer, Dave Gunn.  The event was hosted by Bury Croquet Club at their Whitehead Park clubhouse.

The main object of the workshop was the use of a new on-line tool prepared by Sport England which can be downloaded here:

https://www.sportenglandclubmatters.com/club-improvement-tool/    

The idea of the tool is that it asks questions about many existing aspects of your club, together with your aspirations. At the end the tool summarises your answers, provides a plan of action and produces further links to other tools and media for you to consider using.

It was extremely worthwhile and thought provoking. Many clubs seemed to get ideas from it.

One criticism is the tool is designed for any Sports club and available nationally, so is trying to be one size and fit all. It becomes quite obvious some questions are irrelevant to your particular club but these can be skipped with a N/A button. Even having seven Croquet clubs in the same room highlighted this problem. Each club having their different number of members, strength, resources, etc.

There were early, and sometime heated, debates between the attendees. Time ran a bit short, this probably would not happen in the usual one club workshop format.

For any club wishing to have a look for themselves, Dave suggests that they visit his page on the CA website (https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=clubs/croquetmatters) to find out a little more about the programme and then either contact him directly (07710 981 561) or alternatively approach the new Federation Development Officer Sarah Andrew, either of whom would be delighted to facilitate a dedicated club development workshop.

Bury provided a wonderful lunch, and there was much to talk about during that time.

Thanks must be given to Dave for presenting it, Bury CC for hosting it and the Federation for the idea of holding it.

Further Information: 

1  You can download the Presentation slides from the workshop here:-   Croquet Matters Workshop Presentation  

2  The link to his section on the CA website is https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=clubs/croquetmatters. If you then click through to Marketing section, there are details re the club website template offering (including example clubs and also the online helpdesk where you can register interest or ask questions) and also a link to download the ‘How to get your club on to Facebook’ guide.

3  You can download the Blank Club Improvement Plan Questions here.  

4  You can download The Guide to ‘Croquet Matters’ here – this is for use by FDOs and other Fed Committee Members when supporting clubs…but can also be very useful for clubs themselves following them having experienced their own dedicated workshop or, possibly, having seen the ‘general taster’ at the workshop & then decide to plough on themselves.

5  The link for the lead contact at each club to register as an individual on the Club Matters website is https://learn.sportenglandclubmatters.com/login/index.php. They can then add their club as ‘a new club’. 

6  Any other club committee members and even general members can register using the same link and then search for their club on the system and ‘join it’ This will then allow all registered club members to see the various club development plans etc produced over time…. 

Penrith only North West Winner in National Inter Club Tournaments

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The Croquet Association organise a range of national competitions for clubs.  Here is the list of tournaments featuring north west clubs in 2018:

THE INAUGURAL SHORT CROQUET INTER CLUB TROPHY 2018 (AC)
The CA website does not list this new tournament, however Penrith and North Lakes beat Bowdon 7-4 in the last round of the area matches, then…..
– 08 October – Congratulations to Penrith & North Lakes who beat Nottingham 6-5 in the Final

2018 Inaugural All England Short Croquet Champions – Penrith & North Lakes – Robin Swindell, Geoff Sonley, Ian Ward, John Henderson.

THE INTER-CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 (AC)
Advanced Level, no handicap restrictions.
Featuring Bowdon – see Inter-Club results here 
– 18 June – Bowdon beat Woking 4-3 – see CA website report here  
– 03 Oct – Bowdon beat Bristol 5-1 – see CA website report here   
– 07 Oct – Bowdon beaten in Final by Surbiton – see CA website report here  

THE GOLF CROQUET INTER-CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 (GC)
Featured Bowdon and Culcheth – see GC Inter-Club results here 
– 12 May – Culcheth crash out in first round – see CA website report here  
– 02 Apr – Bowdon lost 2-4 at home to Nottingham in 1st Round – see report on CA website here  

 THE MARY ROSE INTER-CLUB TROPHY 2018 (AC)
Advanced Level, players must have Handicaps of 0 or greater and teams must have a gross handicap of at least 4.
Featuring Bowdon, Chester, Fylde and Pendle – see Mary Rose results here  
–  08 Aug – Chester beat Nottingham to reach semi-final – see report on CA website here  
–  13 Jul – Chester beat Bowdon 6-1 in 2nd Round – see report on CA website here  
–  22 Jun – Pendle lost 5-0 to Nottingham in 2nd Round – see report on CA website here  
–  29 Apr – Fylde lost 2-5 at home to Nottingham in a thrilling 1st Round match – see report on Fylde website here. 
–  26 Apr – Pendle beat Tyneside 4-3  in close 1st Round encounter  – see report on CA website here.   
–  19 Sep – Chester defeated by Watford in semi-final – see report on CA website here. 

THE GOLF CROQUET MURPHY SHIELD 2018 (GC)
Featured Pendle and Culcheth – see GC Murphy Shield results here   
– 12 May – Pendle disappointment in Durham losing 4-3 – see CA website report here  
– 08 May – Ashby beat Culcheth 4-2 in 1st Round – see report on CA website here

THE LONGMAN CUP 2018 (AC)
Handicap play, players must have a Handicap between 3.5 and 20.  Teams must have a gross handicap of at least 24.
Featuring Bowdon, Bury, Chester, Crake,  Pendle, Southport – see Longman Cup results here  
– 27 Jul – Bowdon lose out to Tyneside 3-4 – see report on CA website here  
– 25 Jun – Bowdon beat Chester 5-2 in 2nd Round  
– 30 Jun – Southport lose out to Tyneside – see report on CA website  
– 22 May – Southport knock out Crake 6-1 
– 27 May – Bowdon narrowly beat Cup holders Pendle 4-3
– 30 May – Chester beat Bury in ‘local derby’ 5-2 – see report on CA website by John Dawson   

THE SECRETARY’S SHIELD 2018 (AC)
Handicap play for players with a maximum handicap of 20.
Featuring Bury – see Secretary’s Shield results here 
Bury narrowly beaten by Sheffield 3-4 in Quarter Final  
In each round, normally one doubles and six single matches are played in a single day by a team of four, but variation is possible – refer to the full regulations for details.

 

Robin Swindell (Penrith) playing at York in inaugural Short Croquet Competition.

 

CA President, Quiller Barratt, presents the Longman Cup to Pendle captain Robin Delves. Also in picture: l to r - Libby Dixon; Paul Dowdall, Catherine Parnell. (October 2017)
CA President, Quiller Barratt, presents the Longman Cup to Pendle captain Robin Delves. Also in picture: l to r – Libby Dixon; Paul Dowdall, Catherine Parnell. (October 2017)

 

 

2017 Players in Murphy Shield at Nottingham (October)
2017 Players in Murphy Shield at Nottingham (October)

 

 

Richard Leach Going to National GC Final

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National C Level GC Tournament at Bury 25 July 2018

Scorching HOT sunshine and a very fast playing surface welcomed players to Bury Croquet Club for this inaugural ‘C’ level Golf Tournament. The majority of the players present were playing in their first ever CA scheduled Tournament and it soon became evident that each one of them had arrived with every intention of winning and attaining automatic entry into the National final which is to be held in Nottingham during September.

David Cornes from Crake Valley, celebrated his recent appointment as a qualified Tournament Referee by overseeing play throughout the day. His presence proved invaluable to the players and Tournament Managers alike with his helpful and constant attention whenever required.

The fast lawns enabled long clearances and hoop shots. It soon became apparent that Izzy Poyntz from Bishop Monkton was using her prowess and strong hitting to successfully remove her opponents balls to the side lines whilst she herself scored a succession of good hoops.  Meanwhile steady, but slower, progress was being made by Richard Leach, Gill Freely and Roger Harper from Bury, as they each tried to challenge the high number of wins being achieved by Izzy.

When all the rounds had finished, however it became abundantly clear that Izzy had won all her games, including beating her nearest challengers and she therefore stormed into the Semi-Finals.  At this point, the extreme heat of the day must have had a different effect on the four semi- finalists because two players improved their concentration immensely and also improved their play, whilst the other two wilted in the sun.

The number of wins had brought Izzy against Gil and Richard against Roger for the semi’s. From these games , it was Gil and Richard who then progressed into the Final.  The final itself proved to be an extremely hard fought match with lots of excitement for the spectators with several wonderful shots that brought cheers from the crowd. In the end it was won by Richard Leach 7-4.

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