Author: Andy Loakes

Would a football, rugby or cricket team turn their pitch by 90° for the winter? No. Would they shrink the size of the playing surface by a quarter? Again, no. But croquet likes to be different. To prevent excessive wear around the summer hoop-holes, every autumn the lawns at Camerton & Peasedown Croquet Club (CPCC) are turned by 90° and shrunk to 75% of their regular size. This allows play to continue throughout the winter – weather permitting!

A small army of volunteers met this week to undertake the painstaking process. For some arcane reason, lost in the mists of time, only male members of the club had previously been involved in ‘hoop-setting’. CPCC is proud of its inclusivity and diversity, so this year ladies were invited to take part as well. In all, sixteen members came along and had a stimulating morning of accurate measuring, hammering, aligning, filling, marking and finally white-lining. Metrication has not yet caught up with croquet and all measurements are in feet and inches. We like it that way.

Many hands did indeed make light work and all four lawns were turned in under an hour and a half. Celebratory tea and biscuits were then taken as was the obligatory group photograph. As the sun was out we then played on all the lawns to test them out.

We now await that glorious day in spring 2026 when our lawns are restored to full size ready for the upcoming season’s play.

Thanks to all who came along to help. Special thanks to the ladies, some of whom were heard to remark that maybe next year some of the men members will clean the toilets from time to time!

… well, sort of.

Croquet England awards diplomas to those who have made an outstanding contribution to our sport over the years. This year the committee nominated Brian – and our nomination was approved. We were hoping to present his award on Finals’ Day – which was unfortunately postponed. Instead we found an opportunity on a regular club session and a camouflaged Andy (left) presented Brian (right) with his certificate. Meanwhile Mo sulked in the crowd and complained that the Diploma she received a few years ago wasn’t framed as nicely as Brian’s!

Here’s the citation…

Brian started playing at Lansdown CC, Bath c. 2001. Around 2012 the club relocated to Peasedown St John and Brian was instrumental in organising and raising funds for the move.

He joined the committee as Minutes Secretary and Liaison Officer.

More recently he has helped to raise substantial amounts of money for the new Clubhouse (opened in 2023) by applying to various organisations.

He has, over the years, written numerous articles for the press about the Club and has taken part in several interviews with local radio, promoting the Club

He became a GC Club Coach and subsequently a Grade 1 GC Coach in 2015 and has continued to coach, generously, to CPCC members and in many local clubs.

Not satisfied with just coaching he became a GC Referee in 2023 and has offered his services on numerous occasions both at CPCC and at many Clubs in the area. The amount of time he contributes to the game is humbling.

As if this is not enough he has served on the South West Federation of Croquet Clubs in various roles including Chairman and has represented the South West at Croquet England and is currently a Trustee of Croquet England.

He is now a Development Representative for the South West.

Brian’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious and he is always willing to help or offer advice, whether it is within his club, or further afield.

He would be a very deserving recipient of the Croquet England Diploma

Several of us met for a mower tutorial, followed by a mow. Because we scalped the lawn last week, it was so much easier today. Rather than emptying maybe 100 boxes of grass, we emptied 4! What a doddle. We could simply concentrate on getting our stripes straight.

Well, it’s been quite a week. Last Thursday we were informed our lawn maintenance contractor had gone bust. Ooh err – what do we do now? Our grass, already a bit shaggy, was getting longer by the hour. In a few days’ time it would be unplayable.

Pickle to the rescue! “Who is Pickle?” you ask. Well, she’s Andy’s trusty hound and her daily walk takes her owner past a local lawnmower emporium in Hallatrow. Pickle, ever on the hunt for a bargain, popped in last Friday and discovered they had a reconditioned fine turf mower for sale, as used by bowling clubs and the like. She snapped it up there and then so that, on the Saturday morning, we could take delivery and mow!

… and we didn’t do too bad a job of it. We probably mowed shorter than we should have done, our stripes were wobbly and we missed patches. But the day was saved and play continued.

Here’s a few pictures of us mastering the art…

It’s not as easy as it seems!

CPCC Hosted a B-Level tournament on Tuesday 6th May. Patrick, Nigel and Des made the cut and were allocated places in this prestigious competition.

A couple of highlights were Patrick’s two 7-1 wins, Nigel’s relatively good morning helping him into the top half, but most impressively, Des lost only one game all day and won the Plate Jelly Babies!

We’re well into the season now and the matches are coming thick and fast. And, whisper it softly, CPCC are doing rather well.

Today the 5+ Level Ply B Team trundled off to Bath for a local derby. Don’t they look smart! The result? A resounding 12-8 victory.

The high handicap team went away to Bristol today and a) ate yummy cake and b) played on and on and on. As the sun went down, and with only a couple of games still to play CPCC were leading 10.5 to 7.5. With the match won they decided to call it a day. The longevity of the match was mostly due to the lawns being double-banked so there was much waiting around for other games to progress. Still, a sunny and happy day all round.

The AC Intermediate League team welcomes Nailsea to CPCC. The result? A 6-1 victory. WhatsApp came alight with the following comments …

What a team! Considering how much we practice it’s almost miraculous. It must be pure talent- yeah right? Well done.

Congratulations all. In AC lingo that’s known as a “right drubbing”!

Camerton & Peasedown Croquet Club (CPCC) have entered two teams this year into the Golf Croquet 5+ level play league organised by the South West Federation of croquet clubs. One of the league rules is that where there are two teams from one club entered in the same league they must play each other before playing anyone else. So the first match of the season was CPCC ‘A’ against CPCC ‘B’.

The day started well for the ‘B’ team and at the halfway point the score was 6 games to 4 with the ‘B’ team in the lead. In the afternoon the ‘A’ team held on and managed to win both of their doubles matches. Waiting for the last game to be completed the score was 10 games to the ‘A’ team and 9 to the ‘B’ team. Like many of the games in this match the final game was very close with a score of 7 hoops to 6. This win secured a draw for the ‘B’ team. The best performances were from Trish Naish for the ‘B’ team and Nigel Wulcko for the ‘A’ team who both won all their singles matches with Nigel Wulcko improving his handicap.