Crake Croquet Drains Cleared

23 January 2021 by David Cornes

Lockdown Success on Crake Valley Lawns

Although the lawns at Crake are closed, some members have been working in shifts, within social bubbles and Covid rules, to improve drainage at the club.

Thirty years worth of debris and spoil has been cleared ensuring the embankment outlet flap from our ditches to the River Crake is now working properly.

Using a diagram from 2012 when some work was undertaken the members set about identifying, rodding and hosing each outlet. There were 20 outlets pipes (some buried) and all bar 4 of them had some level of blockage.

The attached photos show the effect of Storm Christoph on Thursday (21st January) lunchtime and just 24 hours later. Whilst we will always suffer from a high water table, being next to the River Crake, the work shows that standing water now drains much faster than before.

Let’s give our Croquet more public recognition – Here are some new Logos

19 January 2021 by Chris Alvey

Are the letters NWFCC enough?

How do we attract more interest in Croquet? How do we distinguish our Federation from all the other sporting organisations? How do we persuade people to want to know us?

A Logo is one way of starting this process but unfortunately, here in the North West our Clubs have Logos, our governing body, the Croquet Association has a Logo, so where is the North West Federation of Croquet Clubs’s Logo? The initials NWFCC does not really cut it.

Time to let loose your artistic flair – can you design a Logo that:

provides a unique identity for north west Croquet?
attracts interest and raises curiosity
becomes an easily recognised symbol of the Fed
easy to replicate on digital media, paperwork, flags, banners, trophies, clothing and marketing accessories

Why not have a go at designing something, especially since you may have time on your hands during Lockdown!

Here are the entries so far:

Please submit any further designs to the Federation Secretary – Angharrad Walters (email – secretary.nwcroquet@gmail.com ) by 1st March 2021, who will collate the entries and present them to clubs at the Spring Meeting. Clubs will then decide the winner.

We cannot promise the winner any material riches but they will gain a place in the Federation Roll of Honour and be remembered for a lasting and memorable contribution.

Caring for Your Croquet Lawn

7 January 2021 by CA Website

Next CA Webinar – Croquet Lawn Care and Maintenance – Sat 30 Jan 9.30

Croquet Association Webinars are a series for CA Members, CA Member Clubs and Federations, to learn and discuss particular topics around croquet administration. We aim to run this on the last Saturday morning of each month.

Recordings of past webinars are available via the Webinars page (member login required).

Have a suggestion for a topic? Wish to present? Email cainfo#croquet.org.uk

Next Webinar

Saturday 30th January 2021 – Croquet Lawn Care and Maintenance (Duncan Hector and George Noble)

Join us in hearing from Duncan Hector and George Noble – two of the leading experts on croquet lawn care in England.

Potential topics (details tbc):

General lawn care advice
Equipment
Construction of new lawns
Greenkeepers’ calendar
Winter play
Recent advances

Duncan Hector, of Great Dunham Croquet Club, is a lawn care professional advising on more than 90 croquet lawns around the UK. He has worked with the Sports Turf Research Institute on sports turf nutrition, and control of turf diseases and pests, and established two high quality lawns from scratch at Letchworth Croquet Club.

George Noble, Chairman of Surbiton Croquet Club for many years, converted Surbiton’s 7 lawns over the years from rough, sloping, former tennis courts to some of the best in the country. A leading light in instilling a volunteering ethos and always willing to roll up his sleeves, he willingly shares his knowledge via the CA’s Lawn Advisory Group.

Details: Saturday 30th January 2021, 9:30-11:00am.

Please sign up on Eventbrite by 5pm (BST) on Thursday 28th January to reserve your place.

The webinar will be held on Zoom and broadcast live on YouTube. Meeting details (how to join the webinar) will be shared with registered attendees on Friday 29th January.

Past Webinars

Date	Title
31st October 2020	Meet the new CA Executive Board
26th September 2020	Marketing your Club
29th August 2020	A conversation on Diversity and Inclusion in Croquet
25th July 2020	Managing A Croquet Roll-Up/Competition (COVID-19 Edition)
27th June 2020	Recruiting Young Players Over Lockdown
30th May 2020	Court Booking Systems

Want to view a previous webinar? Visit the Webinars page (member login required)