Category: News

Having now completed our 4th season here are a few highlights of what croquet at Derby Croquet Club is all about!

Social croquet has consolidated itself over the season to Monday, Wednesday and Sunday afternoons with a few Fridays thrown in. Our afternoon sessions are a reason to get out in the fresh air and play a sport which is gentle on the knees but taxing on the brain! Tactics are being perfected and even our jump shots are showing more promise!

We have further improved our facilities this year by building a croquet cabin adjacent to lawn 2. This has proven to be most convenient, not least as it means when the heavens open we have somewhere to shelter temporarily.

We kicked off the season at the end of April with a friendly game against Long Eaton. Both clubs put forward 8 players to allow a tournament to be held. Whilst the aim was to socialise and play croquet, presentations were made in the form of some early bedding plants to the player from each club who ran the most personal hoops. The event proved very enjoyable and may well become a fixture in the calendar.

We again entered teams in the East Midlands Federations GC30min and GC45min (Div 4) leagues finishing 3rd and 5th respectively and took on Ashby Croquet Club in Croquet England’s Bowl competition narrowly missing advancement in a very close 4-3 finish! We had them worried!

We also entered Croquet England’s handicap competition for the first time. Heats were held at Derby with our 1st and 2nd winners namely Amanda Young and Frank Webster representing Derby at the regional final also held at Ashby Croquet Club. Sadly, we didn’t manage to progress further but there is always next year! Derby was further represented at Ashby’s Dixon Shield tournament by Amanda Young, Mick Haytack and Frank Webster where they managed to reach 5th place accomplishing 7 wins. So, in all a very active year albeit as always with plenty of room for improvement next year!!

During the season we entertained 16 girl guides from Melbourne. Judith Rowe came along from Ashby Croquet Club as our official coach and explained the rules and techniques of playing croquet. Whilst juice and biscuits were on offer the guides were so focused on perfecting their mallet skills nothing was drunk or eaten! A mini competition was held with awards being presented to the winning team and the guide who ran the most hoops.

At the start of the season we agreed to run 2 internal club box leagues for all members wishing to take part. The winners of each league namely Claire Tobin and Kate Ibbitson played in a hard fought final in September with Claire taking the prize 7-6 on the golden hoop! Her name is now immortalised on our new honours board designed and built by Amanda Young and which is now proudly positioned in the club house next to our Club Champion board.

We finished off our season on the 24th September with our club challenge tournament where 13 members battled it out to be crowned club champion. David Charlton was this year’s winner after a well fought battle against Peter Seddon in the grand final. We interspersed the day with a ‘bring a dish’ lunch and raided the club bar appropriately! We gave special thanks to Bernie and Frank Webster for their support at all our home fixtures preparing the buffet and timekeeping our matches.

In summary we have had another great season entertaining other clubs and visiting new venues. Sadly, we have to close our courts for the winter to allow for annual maintenance but we are already looking forward to next year’s season and will strive as always to improve our positions in all leagues!

Kate Ibbitson

(League Secretary)

Ashby welcomed Derby in the first round of the new GC Bowl competition. Derby is a fairly new club and this was their first entry in an Interclub competition and they produced a very creditable performance, giving Ashby a bit of a scare!

At lunchtime Ashby were 2 up and the doubles was tied at 1 a piece. It was decided to leave the final doubles game until the end: at the time we had no idea that it would be the deciding game.

Either lunch gave the Derby players an extra boost or they had got used to the bigger lawns, and they took all the games straight after lunch.  Jane Greaves and Frank Webster from Derby both beat their Ashby opponents in straight games and what had seemed like an easy Ashby win started to look in doubt. Judith Rowe from Ashby lost to Jack Blackmore in three tightly fought games, fortunately Steph White was able to win in 3 games bringing the score to 3 – 3 and the suspended doubles game was played to an increasing audience of Ashby players who had turned up for their regular club session.

The final game of the doubles was not as close as some of the other games and Ashby finally won 4 – 3.

Bring the family along on Bank Holiday Monday, 26th May 2025, for an enjoyable afternoon and give either croquet or lawn bowls a go. Contact details above or email Amanda for further information. amanda.croquet9@gmail.com.

All welcome. Flat soled shoes essential.

The 2024 season saw us growing our membership to 25 with our Wednesday afternoon social play being particularly well attended. We have now extended social play to Monday afternoons as well. Sunday afternoon is also becoming a thing!

For those wishing to play match croquet we entered 2 East Midlands Federation leagues. We finished 4th in the 30min (social) league and 7th in Division 3 ranked league running 448 & 419 hoops respectively which was more hoops than last year!!

In the 30min (social) league we played Darley Dale, Southwell, Dunston Lincs & Nottingham, home and away, winning 2 matches, losing 3 and drawing 1. In the Division 3 ranked league we played Southwell, Gainsborough, Branston Lincs, Ashby, Darley Dale, Sheffield Park & Nottingham, again winning 2 matches, losing 4 and drawing 1. As the saying goes “the only way is up”!!

We were very fortunate in having Judith Rowe come and give us all some coaching at the beginning of the season which went down very well and gave us all something to think about especially when considering our stalking techniques! Thank you Judith. We also managed to persuade Arthur Rowe to pop over to give us some insights into the ‘Jump Shot’. Thank you Arthur. I think clearing balls from a distance could be our next lesson!!

Sadly, early on in the season Derby West End Bowls and Croquet Club was the victim of an arson attack in which our joint changing room facility and croquet store room were destroyed. Whilst the hoops eventually cleaned up we did lose some balls and mallets. The plastic tubes used to house the balls basically melted onto their contents! The good news however was that our insurance company paid out quickly on the damaged contents which allowed us to replace these items, albeit we now have to replace the building which is a greater challenge.

Our joint open day with Derby West End Bowls Club brought us 5 new members and our ‘Stag Lads’ afternoon brought in valuable revenue. An unusual request but one that proved very entertaining as basically ‘the stags’ in question preferred sending each other’s balls to the far side of the court, rather than running an obvious hoop! Each to their own I suppose!

We finished off our season with the Club Challenge Trophy and an awards lunch where we gave special thanks to Bernie and Frank Webster for their support at all our home fixtures preparing the buffet and timekeeping our matches.

In summary we have had a great season entertaining other clubs and visiting new venues. Sadly we have to close our courts for the winter to allow for annual maintenance but we are already looking forward to next year’s season and to improving our techniques.

We have a meeting in the club house on Tuesday 11th February 2025 at 11am to discuss the 2025 season. All members are invited, including any new persons interested in playing croquet in 2025.

Roll on 2025!!

Kate Ibbitson (League Secretary)

Derby Croquet Club was founded on 1/4/22 with 8 members when an agreement was struck with Derby West End Bowls Club that allowed us to utilise their 2nd lawn. We were granted a loan from the Croquet Association (now Croquet England) to purchase our first set of hoops, 4 mallets and a set of balls and borrowed a further set to facilitate 2 courts. Our first season was spent spreading the word, wielding malletts and trying to run hoops and having great fun in the process.

In our 2nd season the club had grown to 16 members with an increasing number of pay and play members whom we are hoping will join as full members next year. Our social afternoons on Monday and Wednesday are well attended to the extent we have started playing on a Sunday afternoon as well.

We bit the bullet this year and entered a team into division 3 of the FEMCC Golf Croquet Leagues. Not knowing quite what to expect we were welcomed with open arms by every team we played and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. We also managed a respectable 6th place running 392 hoops in the process! We are now keen to build on this experience and are looking to improve on our position next year!

We ran 2 fun sessions during the year, one for a student who, having graduated, wanted an afternoon activity for her family and the 2nd for a local ‘meet up’ group who have since requested a further season next year.

Towards the end of the season, we held a club mini-tournament where everyone played 6 hoops and the scores were recorded. Frank Webster was heralded our club champion. This will now be an annual event.

We ended our season with a lunchtime buffet in the clubhouse after which we split into 4 teams for a general knowledge quiz. We all agreed Croquet was great fun and that we were looking forward to repeating our adventure in 2024!

On the 9th of May, we played our first match in the East Midlands golf croquet league away at Darley Dale. After a shaky start, we recovered well and won the match 8-4. The team was Kate, Chris and Mick.

This was back in 2023. We now have quite a few league matches under our belt. We don’t always win but enter each match with enthusiasm and learn & develop from each one.

We now enter two Leagues. One is Social and a wonderful way to get to know other clubs, enjoy a day out, or entertain at home. Also a great way to get into competitive play and hopefully improve skills.

We hold an annual Open Day, usually in May, in conjunction with the DWEBC. Watch this site and local news posters for more information nearer the time.

Come along and have a free trial and an enjoyable afternoon. All necessary equipment will be provided. Just wear flat-soled shoes or trainers. Refreshments will be available to purchase in the Clubhouse.

Two games in progress