News 2025 

Alison Receives Diploma From Croquet England

Pleased ro say that Alison has received a Diploma for Services To Croquet for all the efforts she puts into the running, development and playing of Leicester Croquet Club.... or was it just for her cheese chilli scones.

Susan Lansdale Wins The Pavilion Cup

It was 7 brave new players who turned out on a cold and windy day to compete for the Pavilion Cup. It was an all plays all competition and it was tight at the top with anyone of 4 people still in with a change of lifting the trophy. Tempertures might have dropped but determination was high. Susan won her last 2 games & Claire lost hers so Susan lifted the cup whilst 3 tied for 2nd place

National Forest Doubles Winners

Two pairs from Leicester entered the National Forest Doubles competition held at Ashby- Paul & Alison, Ian & Mark Buckley. Fortunately they found themselves in opposite blocks of the competition. At the end of day 1 Paul & Alison had only dropped one game so were through to the knockout as block winners. The Buckley brothers did less well only picking up one game and heading for the plate in day 2. Paul & Alison beat Arthur & Judith Rowe in 3 games in the semi final and went on to beat Andrew Grant & John Palframan (both Woodhall Spa) in the final. 4-7, 7-4, 7-2. The Buckley brothers performed similarly to their day one performance and just missed out to bottom position by one hoop!

Divion  Two Inter Counties Promotion For Leicestershire

The team of David Bell, Mark Buckley and Alison Murray all of Leicester were joined by Keith Pound (Ashby) and John Carrington (Broadwas - his mum was born in Leicester) at Cheltenham to represent Leicestershire in Division 2 of the inter Counties. The aim was not necessarily to win but to ensure promotion to avoid travelling to Southwick in 2026.  The lawns lacked grass and the hoops were rock solid which was testing most people. At the end of day one Leicestershire were in 5th position so still in with a chance. Some teams dropped away but the overall winners were Croquet England Select but as composite team they cannot officially win, followed by Northamptonshire and then Leicestershire with the same number of test wins but a few less games. Leicestershire attained their objective with promotion and back to Cheltenham next year. Good job done!

Ian Buckley Qualifies For The Ascot Cup

Ian managed to come second in the Nottingham Championship which gives him qualification to the ascot cup later in the season at Hurlingham.  Day 1 saw 2 block competitions with the top 4 going forward to the knockout round on day 2.  Ian's block was tight with several people managing 4 wins. The positions were decided on net hoops and that saw Ian in 3rd position playing Mike Bilton in the first round of thge knockout (and just missing playing Euan Burridge who played John Picken in 4th position). Ian beat Mike in 2 games and had a wait to see if he played Arthur Rowe or Giles Pepperell a match which took over 3.5 hours. Ian's match against Giles was tight with Ian winning on 2 golden hoop games.  The final was less close as Euan quickly saw Ian off.  An excellent competition for Ian who is now a handicap 2.

What A Weekend For Leicester Players    29/6/25

Gillian & Mark Take On Hunstanton C Level

So again Leicester players head off to play on the lovely lawns at Hunstanton.  It was a full competition with 16 players divided into 4 blocks meaning the top 2 from each block go into the knockout round. Mark & Gillian were in different blocks and with Mark picking up 2 out of 3 wins he qualified along with Gillian who had a full house. Unfortunately the Baverstocks had to play each other in the quarterfinals and with time run out Gillian beat Mark 6-3.  There was a tight game in the semis but Gillian came through on golden hoop and quickly put the final to bed with a 7-1 win.  Mark came a respectable 8th.

Five Went To Ashby - National Forest Open

So the Buckley's  (Mark, Ian & Claire Van Dijk - their sister) went on a family outting and took Alison & Paul with them.  With 10 people in the tournement it as run as one block and all plays all. The other players came from Ashby x2, Tyneside, Sheffield & Czech! 8 rounds were played in the exhausting heat on Saturday and at that point there were 7 people fighting for the 4 places in the knockout.  The final round on Sunday meant that Arthur Rowe, Paul & Mark had all qualified outright for the knockout whilst it was a countback between Alison & Ian both on 6 wins.  They also tied on hoop differents so it came down to who beat who. Alison got the last place in the knockout having beaten Ian on Saturday.  Alison beat Arthur in 2 games whilst it took Mark 3 games to see off Paul.  Yes it was an Alison V Mark final.  Play was quick and with a 7-3 & 7-6 win, to Mark, he lifted the trophy.

Flamingo & Hedgehog Tournament   21/6/25

This years tournament took place on the longest day of the year so "The hippies" were out for love along with "French Kiss" but not so "The other French -with garlic". The games started and the "clowns" started to perform with the "Pirate and his parrot" looking to get the treasure or at least the lucky hoop. With several games down the chase was on and that was not just the "Huntsman & Fox", things were getting frosty with competitors but the "snowmen" were refusing to melt. With many twists and turns - quirks on normal GC games- 3 teams went into the final round with an opportunity to win. The Hippies showed their love by letting the snowmen pick up their first win, similarly the French Kiss put the pirates into the jaws on golden hoop. The Clowns preformed well to smash the garlic and win the tournement with 4 win out of 5.  The hippies were voted best dressed but you decide....

Another Hot Match......... 

Leicester B v Bakewell            15/6/25

The Leicester team of Richard, Andrew & Chris L turned out to play Bakewell on another hot day.  It was always going to be challenging with the heat and our very fast lawns (well not actually sure there is any grass left due to broken sprinklers) but the guys rose to the challenge.  Going into the last round they knew at worsest they would get is a draw and they only needed one win out of 3 games for the match.  The team fought through with a 8-4 win.  Well done and maybe there will be green stuff for the next game.

Championship Plate Hunstanton   8/6/25

Alison & Mark took part in their first Championship competition at Hunstanton.  The weather was wind & rain but better than expected.  The play was expected and both found themselves in the plate.  Mark only dropped one game on the second day and went on to win the plate.  Mark Avery won the main event in 3 games beating Sam Murray

MURPHY BOWL   

Susan, Mark B, Rob and Phil travelled to Ashby with as much hope as they could muster as our combined 36 handicap was to be pitted against Ashby's 20 in a match comprising one doubles and six singles. A short day loomed until we discovered that each "game" was actually scheduled to be best-of-three legs.

Paul Williams Defeated In The Final On His Debute A Level    1/6/25

With the change in handicap rules Paul has been forced to enter A Level competitions this year. He ventured to Sidmouth to play alongside Mark & Alison with the hope of gaining more index points than he lost.  With 3 wins on day one in block A he scraped into the cut on hoops, only to face playing the winner of block B. Paul lost the first game but fought back to beat Stephen CB 2-1, he then went on to win a very slow semi final and face the tough opposition of Ricahrd Gardiner in the final. It was a quick final compared to some heats (2 hour match) but in the end Paul was beaten and settled for a fantastic 2nd place.  For those interested Paul left the the new mallet at home and went back to the old faithful -which did him proud.

Mark had also made the cut but was knocked out by Richard, while Alison also went out in the plate.

The Draw Has Been Made

With the drawn made now is the time to get your outfits ready....the draw is

Paul & Virginia 

Ron & Ruth

Ian & Julie

Phil & Christine W

Andrew & Claire

Nick & Christine F

Dixon Cup & Trophy - Ashby 17/5/25

So the Bass & Coors has a new sponsor and a new name to go with the new silverware - Dixon Engineering Ltd.  We sent a team of Jen, Claire & Nick all handicap 8 to compete with Ashby, Long Eaton, Derby and Nottingham.  Our block was Ashby B and Nottingham and then we went on to play Long Eaton in the consolation round. It was always going to be a tough day for our team but I am pleased to say everyone picked up some wins and even draws.  The important thing is that it was a good day out and lots of lessons learnt. The experiance will help them in the season ahead. Full match report is on the fed website

Ashby One Day Open (10/5/25)

Ian Buckley played in his first national tournament at Ashby and decided to dive straight in with an Open (no handicap restrictions).  It was a hot day and the family were split across 2 blocks with Ian & Alison having to play each other and Mark in the opposite block. Mark made the cut on hoop countback while Alison missed out by  a 2 hoop difference to Mike O'Brien who went on to with the tournament. Mark came 4th and Alison lost in the plate final on the golden hoop.  Ian had a good tournament and gained lots of experience.

Murphy's Shield First Round (29/4/25)

On a fabulous sunny morning Mark(1) Alison (2), Ian (3) & Paul (3) travelled to Wrest Park to play their team (total handicap 8) headed by Les Heard (1). Alison & Mark first match (best of 3) was doubles against their numbers 1& 2. The games were tight with both going to golden hoop and Leicester winning that match 2-0. Meanwhile Paul was playing their number 4 ( Tim 3) and Ian (George 2) in singles. Unfortunately Paul lost his round but Ian won both of his on golden hoop again! Going into lunch it was 2-1, in match results, with 4 singles matches to play in the afternoon.  Mark took on Les winning the first then dropping a game to win that match 2-1 Leicester. Alison played her opposite Terry (2) - another golden hoop won by Alison which she followed up with a 7-4 win after leading 5-1. So one more match was required to win the match from Paul or Ian both playing their opposite player. Both games went to 3 games but Ian got us over the line despite a 7-0 defeat by winning the other 2 on golden hoop. 7 Golden hoops in total and the match could so easily have gone the other way to Wrest Park - who were fantastic hosts.  Watford in the next round!

New Ladder Competitions For 2025

Please make sure that you respond to Phil's email regarding level play and advantage ladders as he wants to check numbers and build the ladders to accommodate.

How To Avoid A Crush

This document explains when you are likely to create a fault due to a crush when the ball is in the hoop.  It also explains the angle at which the shot must be played to avoid the crush