Category: News

BCC’s Finals Day on Saturday 5^th September dawned clear and bright after several days of cloudy weather and went on to become a simply glorious day of blue skies and warm breezes. 

Pete Miles, who is our Fixtures Secretary and also organises all our internal competitions, had put together a very entertaining programme of matches in which both codes were well represented, and which made good use of three lawns. We had well over 30 spectators during the course of the day, and they were well fed on an almost endless succession of burgers and sausages, beautifully barbecued in the open air by chef-for-the-day Andrew Willis!

Opening up on Lawn 1 was the blue-riband Avon Trophy final – a level-play advanced AC event between David Prescott and Pete Miles.  Pete took an early lead, but David’s accuracy quickly prevailed and he emerged the 26:5 winner after just less than two hours. Meanwhile Clare Fletcher took on Feona Bickley in the GC Handicap league final on Lawn 2, which Feona won in two games in front of what Clare ruefully described afterwards as a ‘huge audience’. Lawn 3 saw Carol Gorvett playing Sue Duncan in the 14 pt fully bisqued Secretary’s Cup. This was timed at 2 hours and was a relatively low-scoring game despite the bisques. After an hour and a half Carol had established a commanding lead but Sue staged an impressive comeback in the last few turns. The final score was 10:8 (T) to Carol. 

Midday saw Carol in action again on Lawn 3, this time in the Whitfield Salver against Adrian Raybould. Both have been rapid improvers this season, coming down to GC6, and the games were well balanced. Adrian won the first 7:3, and Carol won the second 7:5. However Adrian secured victory with a 7:5 win in the third game. David P meanwhile was playing again next door on Lawn 2 against Monica Baker, this time SC in the final of the Chairman’s Cup, which Monica won quite convincingly 14:3 by making effective use of her bisques.

On Lawn 1 the final of the Richard Mills Cup between Tony Curson and Feona Bickley drew quite a large crowd of spectators, all enjoying their burgers with beer from the Clubhouse fridge. Tony had been laid low with a heavy cold but still managed to win in two well-fought and entertaining games; his final shot in which he ran H12 from the middle of the N boundary to rob Feona of the 2nd game will be talked about for years! 

The GC crowd enjoying Andrew’s burgers while Tony and Feona prepare to do battle in game 2…

There was yet more croquet to enjoy in the latter part of the afternoon. Lawn 1 hosted the GC doubles final , with Carol teaming up with her husband Mike Gorvett against Monica & Neil Baker. This was another long three game tussle, with the Bakers eventually winning the third game 7:4 and emerging victorious. On Lawn 3 Huw Thomas took on Nigel Morris in the Margaret Langley Salver and won 7:3, 7:4, while on Lawn 2 David Prescott made his third appearance of the day, this time playing Bob Hart in the final of the Alderwick Cup. Bob led most of the way, with David threatening a remarkable comeback in the final 20 minutes but losing 20:24 in a nerve-wracking finish.   

It was a terrific day, full of entertaining croquet and delicious burgers, with the honours nicely distributed amongst the cream of this year’s players – an extremely satisfactory result all round. Many thanks again to Pete for his excellent organisation, to Andrew for his barbequing skills, to Roger Hayes, Bob Hart and Sue Duncan for their sterling work as referees, and to the many BCC members who came and watched and applauded, and made the whole thing so much more fun!  Croquet was very definitely the winner this year. 

The ever-popular Bath Alternate Stroke Doubles, originally scheduled for June but postponed because of the unrelenting heat, finally took place on August 19th on a warm and blustery Wednesday. It had rained the night before, so the lawns were damp and quite slow initially, but for some of the 16 players taking part this was a great relief, since the surface had been rock-hard and very slick after two months of complete drought, despite the valiant efforts of numerous volunteer waterers.

Carol Gorvett had generously offered to organise this year’s tournament and had gathered together eight interesting and well-matched pairs, rotating round all four of our lawns. The Warminster Warriors, comprising David P and Tony J, established the precedent of adopting a soubriquet when they won the trophy 3 years ago, and this time were grouped with Communication Breakdown (Gary and Barb), The Bathampton Bumblers (Hester and Mike H) and The Hopefuls (Pete M and Mike G). In the other group we had the B Flat Minors (Nigel C and Timothy), against the New Contemptibles (Martin and Peter kitted out in yellow jerseys), last year’s winners The Bath Belles (Lynne and Kasia) and the Drawn Swords (Tony C and Sue D).

The format was, as in previous years, four rounds of 90 minute fully bisqued games, and there was a hefty 7 point bonus for those teams who managed to win with a peg-out. Four teams achieved this at least once, and every team won a game in at least one round, which was very pleasing.

The overall winners, scoring three peg-outs and accumulating a remarkable 70 points throughout the day, were the New Contemptibles (pictured here with Carol) who were rewarded for their efforts with a bottle of Prosecco each. 

The Drawn Swords were in very creditable second place with 57 points. 

A relatively new feature of this tournament was the very welcome presence of spectators. About a dozen people came to watch at various times during the day and one of these was Roger Berkeley. He had been a founder member of the new Bath Croquet Club when it reformed in 1976 and his name is on the Jubilee Cup for 1977 and 1978. He moved to Cheltenham and then to Nottingham, where he still plays. He told us that in his day the only playable court at BCC was down where the old tennis courts are now and that he still remembers Nigel Aspinall and William Ormerod playing an exhibition game on it!

Report by LP:

Bath Intermediate team assembled at Kington Langley for their fifth match of the season.  Our team comprised Kasia Laganowska, Lynne Passfield, Tony Jackson and Sue Duncan.

The morning games of one doubles and two singles matches saw the lead swaying between both clubs across the three hours with the doubles pairing of Lynne and Sue eventually getting over the line on time.  Kasia fought against Robert Corbin but neither took full control and Robert won by three points.  Tony faired better against Ted Crossley and took his win on time.

Our afternoon session saw a fall in temperature with high winds blowing across the lawns and our lead was swept away!  We were three games each and all watching Sue and Caroline whose game was tied at eleven each when the timer rang out.  Sue approached her hoop with her red ball but it stubbornly stuck in the jaws.  The drama continued as Caroline went to her black ball, some six yards in front of penult, took aim and struck her ball confidently seeing it sail through the hoop to take the game 12 points to 11.

A great day of croquet was rounded off sharing tea and delicious cake provided by our hosts.

Born out of a casual conversation between a few members regarding the two different croquet communities within the club, Peter Hall came up with the idea of devising a game which combined the two codes (AC and GC) which someone labelled ” Okay Croquet”. This hybrid game was launched , after a few test runs, as an internal tournament on Sunday 5th July. The emphasis was on fun and on bringing together the two disparate but friendly communities . 

Four 40 minute games were played, using the format of progressive doubles, in which the pairings, and the lawns they played on, changed with each round. The first three hoops were played according to GC rules, and the next three were played as AC. To the surprise of everyone the day proved to be very popular with the 24 player limit being oversubscribed.

Amanda was the outstanding winner with 23 points overall – 5 clear of her nearest challenger – well played Amanda!

The general consensus seemed to be that the day had been a great success and that it should probably be held again next year.

As the Intermediate team began to arrive lawn 1 was still being cut, and with another fine day forecast we anticipated fast running lawns.  

Our opponents from Cheltenham CC had time for coffee and a chat whilst the order of play and who would play who was finalised. Our visitors could only field a team of three so no double banking needed for the morning session.

The pairing of Kasia and Lynne set a lead with their first hoops of the game and held that place throughout.  They both missed some short roquets (oops!) which gave their opponents hope but they still managed to take a win.

Tony who was playing John on lawn 2 saw the lead swing from one to the other but Tony overcame his opponent to take a further win making the score 2-0 to Bath at lunch.

The afternoon session saw three singles games played and all three Bath players took an early lead.  Lynne took her game by 26-9 going to peg well within time.  Both Tony and Kasia won their games convincingly giving Bath a 5-0 victory for the match.

It had been a very warm, sometimes hot, day and a welcome break before the journey home of tea and cake was enjoyed by both teams.

Hanna and Teddy, members of the club’s U18s Academy, had an early start for their journey to Nottingham.  They were to compete, for the first time, as a doubles partnership in the National Schools’ and Clubs’ Championship.

Their meticulous preparation in the months leading up to the event had been led by Club coach, Nigel Dawson-Cocks.

The pairing played 4 rounds of 45 minute timed games in Block A against teams from High Wycombe, Cheltenham and Nottingham, winning 3 of their 4 matches and finishing second in their block.  They lost only to the eventual winners of their block, High Wycombe.

A placing of second in their block saw them in a playoff for overall third place which they won convincingly.

Teddy in action for Bath CC at the U18s Nottingham Championships

Hanna entered the further Sunday competition of GC singles.  Fifteen juniors took part in the event – 5/6/4 in the U18s/U14s/U11s categories. U11s on half lawns with block and playoff and the remainder on full lawns with 5 block games each deciding order. Again the games were timed to 45 minutes.

In Hanna’s U14s block, Alfie Baldwin from Nottingham won with a very strong 5 wins, with Hanna taking second place with 4 wins.

Congratulations to both Hanna and Teddy for their careful preparation and very creditable achievements. 

There is a further Juniors’ event in September in which we hope more of our Academy members will be able to participate.

The intermediate team travelled to Cheltenham in glorious sunshine for their first match of the 2026 season.  On arrival the mist had cleared and we knew we were to experience another very warm day.  So armed with sunscreen, hats and the enthusiastic words of the captain, the team greeted their opponents and settled on their allocated lawns.

The morning play saw the doubles pairing of Lynne Passfield and Tony Jackson get off to a good start.  They used their bisques well and set a commanding lead which they retained to win the match.  Hester and Mike Henebury both played very close games resulting in Bath being 2-1 ahead at lunchtime.

After lunch the temperature continued to rise and all players were searching for shade when not engaged in play on the lawns.  Again the hoops scored for each side were being fiercely contested and Tony almost gave the game to his opponent by conceding a lift when his own balls were nestled in corner one.  However, Tony was quickly able to regain his lead for a clear win on time.

The final score was 4-3 to Bath which reflected a closely fought afternoon session followed by tea and cake kindly provided by our Cheltenham hosts.

It was a bright sunny day and 16 players gathered to contest the Bath heat of the national Charity One Ball competition. The event started with groups of 4 players of similar handicap playing each other. The top 2 players in each group progressed to play for the One Ball cup, the next two games being played by everyone on a ‘winners play winners, losers play losers’ basis.

After playing five games each, most players then opted to watch the final, contested between the two Mikes (Henebury and Gorvett) on Lawn 1. The spectators settled down with tea and cake, whilst the players gave us an excellent display of croquet, with some very long roquets and hoop runs. The last two hoops of the game were dramatic, Mike H ran both twice but Mike G did not challenge his faults and, as the audience could not intervene, the game progressed, with Mike H being the eventual winner. It was a closely fought contest throughout, the final score being 13-11.

It was a successful day, £170 was raised for Save the Children and everyone was wearing red, the charity’s colour.