Work continuing

Ahead of laying a concrete base between the Fortress and the clubhouse the tree and Rose Bush needed removing. The Rose sustained some damage but was replanted in a secret location.

When the concrete has set Shed3 will be reassembled and the electricity reconnected. Three sets of robust shelving have been donated and these will be assembled inside the fortress.

8th December 2012

Now that's what i call storage

Congratulations to the donors and the doers on an early start on this crisp morning. Much more to do of course. Any plans for a roof balcony?

28th November 2012

Shed Report

Our Chairman's letter to the membership explains how we are moving forward with a replacement for the workshop storage previously known as Shed 2. The plan shows how the old Changing room (Shed 3) will be relocated next to the Clubhouse. A future project may be to extend the clubhouse canopy bridging the space between.


Spot the new ball stops

The lawn group have been hard at work clearing the ground for the new 'Fortress Garage'. Shed 3 has been dismantled and shed 2 (the big middle one) has been demolished and removed from the site (Mainly by burning!). The new fortress garage is being delivered on Monday 26th November and will go at the far end of the site near the ditch.

18th November 2012

Lawn report

Using a cassette on loan from Liverpool CC the lawns were scarified removing over 50 cubic feet of thatch. Then the Winter Dressing was applied. Conditions were perfect for both these treatments. The Ditch was cleared of blockages and the extension was worked on. The ball stops have been taken in. The pavillion cleaned and emptied.

27th October 2012

Ramsgate Report

Alan reports on his experiences at the All England Final.

Cath and I arrived in Ramsgate after a 7 hour (including stops) journey. We visited the lawns on Friday evening and found them beautifully maintained and situated on The Royal Esplanade overlooking the English Channel/Thames Estuary.

Saturday
16 players reported to Trevor Longman, Manager (didn´t we win his cup twice?) on a beautiful sunny day. The Competition was 4 American blocks with winners going through to semi-finals and final. In my block I had to play Robert Thompson (Nottingham), Robin Barry (Watford) and Ian Fugeman (Guildford). Bob did not ingratiate himself with the Catering Ladies of the host club when he demolished some crockery with a ball whilst warming up before our match.

The lawns were playing fast with balls continuing to roll much further than anticipated. All players were finding long take off´s difficult to judge with several out of play incidents. One of mine was so close that I had to summon the Referee, Ashton Hulme to adjudicate. He duly placed two mallets either side of the ball and then lay down to see if any part of the ball could be seen over the line. The ball was ruled out. However, Ashton was unable to get to his feet without strong arm assistance from myself. This additional player duty continued throughout the Tournament for other players who needed the Referee.

Results
Lost to Robert Thompson -16
Beat Robin Barry +22
Lost to Ian Fugeman -2T

Ian won our block so no semi-final for me.

Sunday
Overcast and blustery. The wind was a problem with balls occasionally moving and roquet shots being adjusted to allow for the wind direction. A new experience for me.

Beat Alan Slade (Reigate) +2T
Lost to Peter Balchin (Dyfrryn) -2T

The final was won by Charlie Martin (Ramsgate) who beat Stephen Stuart-Matthews (Guildford) +16. I finished joint 6th.

I really enjoyed playing at Ramsgate. The lawns were excellent and conditions particularly on Sunday were challenging. The players were very friendly as were the host Club members. Unfortunately, I couldn´t follow Betty´s triumph but the Fylde Haka was mentioned in the speeches. There are a few more players in the South who now know about our great Club.

To recognise the effort and achievement, FCC gives Alan a wild card entry to the Area Finals in 2013.

15th & 16th September 2012

Liz wins the advanced

An Indian Summer day at FCC saw many club games played including the final between Liz and four times winner Lee. Liz took an early lead with both balls ahead, Lee fought back but in this interactive game Liz held her nerve for two further breaks when they came her way to peg out and take the title for the second time.

9th September 2012

Alan in All England Final

Qualifying in second place Alan has booked a place in the finals of the All England Handicap Tournament. Alan follows in the footsteps of FCC members, Leonard (2001), Ian (2010) and Betty (2009) who also went on to win the Final.

2nd September 2012

Peter wins the Midgeland

Three short lawns were available for double banked 13 point GC rules games after heavy rain in the morning produced puddles. Ten players entered: Cath, Alan, Philip, Catherine, Ian, Terry, Betty, Ken, Liz & Peter. Lorna Ndawarda's flight from Alacante was delayed. She had a good view of the final as she landed three hours late. As play started the rain stopped and conditions were warm and pleasant for the duration of four rounds Swiss. The final was contested between Alan and Peter and they both produced several great shots during the game. Peter had his ball in front of Rover leading 6 - 5, Alan shot at it from 5 yards and was unlucky to rush it though to give Peter the match.

27th August 2012

New Far country member

Gail Curry has joined us from now to the end of the 2013 season. Based in Tyneside the opportunities she will have to visit us are limited but if FCC were to be involved in a match in the NE she would be available. Apart from editing the Gazette, her acomplishments in Croquet are amazing and she has played for many years at the highest level. She is acknowledged as the first lady to complete a Sextuple, (in fact +5sxpo, a rare example of the sextuple-on-opponent Ist August 2001). For more about Gail click here.

21st August 2012

Lawn Report

Having had almost two years on sabbatical leave, our rovin reporda, Lorna Ndawarda returned to FCC to review the situation. Lorna reports that like most clubs North of Watford we have received a lot of unusually heavy rain and that many parts of the local community have suffered flash flooding in places which have never before been affected. The water tables seem to have moved. This has been evident at Midgeland Road where flooding has reappeared and caused the cancellation of several matches and club games.

The flooding has however appeared in new places while parts of the area continue to drain well. The core team, King of Spades, Pugwash, Prof and Boss have all been working to establish a solution to the problem.

21st August 2012

Get back to work

A great turn out for fix it day number one, preparing for our first CA tournament. The empty chair belongs to Liz who is behind the camera.

24th July 2012

Nothing to report

Two months since the last piece of news is too long but the prolonged spell of rain continues. It has caused many tournaments all over the country to be cancelled or cut short and many league fixtures to be postponed. Although for many a year we have braved dull cold weather for the Mid-Summer BBQ this year it was just too much and we postponed it. Even so, many FCC Members have played in some tournaments. The doubles final at Pendle is still to be played and it is between Liz (FCC) & Gally (Southport and Birkdale) v PeterW (FCC) & Rossy (Southport and Birkdale) . The Festival of Croquet was the best ever. The North Lawns in great shape and we won the Advanced for third year running. Various reports can be seen in the match reports sections.

20th May 2012

Liz wins Pendle Advanced

Liz won the event with a perfect six out of six. Players from Edinburgh, Bear of Rodborough, Penrith, Edgbaston and Nottingham and Terry from Fylde were all swept away on her path to victory. When it came to the presentation the cup could not be found. Who could have been responsible for the heinous crime of failing to return their trophy? On returning home Liz discovered it on the mantelpiece, Peter having won it the year before.

More...

20th May 2012

New Far Far Far Country Member

Pat Lawson from Brighton croquet club, Victoria, Australia, has joined us and will be playing a few games for the Golf team this summer. Please contact her and arrange to play some friendlies when the sun come out.

9th May 2012

National Tournament news

In the Secretary Shield against Nottingham to be played before 31st May the venue will be Nottingham, courtesy of the evenness of bonus ball.

7th April 2012

Free Pint and Brunch at the Tennis Club Today

To mark our lawn opening day SSLTC are offering us all a free pint and a brunch meal consisting of Rabbit and Goose Kebabs, Grilled Tomatoes (grown under glass) and of course Croquet Potatoes (te-he) and Carrots. Each meal will be cooked to order on the radically designed metallic Wilson Tennis Racquet used by John You Can´t Be Serious McEnroe to win his fifth Wimbledon men´s doubles title in 1992 with Michael Stichup.

To partake in this never to be forgotten celebration SSLTC ask you to arrive at the lawns wearing a hat made of today´s newspaper which you are recommended to read very carefully before you arrive since it will be used to serve your meal in.

1st April 2012

National Tournament news

In the Secretary Shield we have a preliminary round against Nottingham to be played before 31st May. There is no history between us in that tournament other than final last year, so we will toss a coin for venue. In the Longman Cup we have a first round match against Bowdon by mid July. That will be at Bowdon .

31st March 2012

Lawns Open

Ian Hit the first ball to celebrate the opening of the lawns watched by a group of members drinking Pimms No1 on a wonderfully Sunny day. Come on Ian, it must go through eventually.

25th March 2012

Don't they look grand!

The hoops have all been repainted and are now sitting at the club ready for lawn marking tomorrow.

This means the lawns will open this Sunday the 25th and with a wonderful day forecast why not come along and run some of them.

23rd March 2012

looking back...

Just in case you think we have not made progress why not revisit the archives: December 2005

After the panarama picture loads do take the time to zoom in and scroll around to have a good look at the lawns!

25th March 2012

Website design

The website has expanded with new pages for prospective members, club officials and tournaments. Please note that nothing has been deleted but a few items have moved.

With the need for a new menu system I have taken the opportunity to redesign the pages dynamically to give the best result whatever your screen size, shape and resolution.

I hope you enjoy exploring the new design and grow to like it. Remember to use RSS each time you visit, it is in News, bottom left.

The 2009 and 2010 match reports have been kept as they were originally published. Apart from that PLEASE let me know of any errors or any problems viewing the pages.

10th March 2012

Liz Takes the NW Fed Chair

Following a stint in the past as Treasurer, Liz has been voted in as the Chairman of the NW Federation. Technically this happened last November but she has just called the first committee meeting which has now taken place.

21st January 2012

Members´ calendar opens

A new calendar has been added to the Members' Page.

In this calendar Members may create their own events and have reminders sent to themselves or others. The primary use is to co-ordinate and share the clubs maintenance activities. Click Login in the right hand menu to go to the page. Please contact the webmeister by email if you need the password.

8th January 2012

CA Handicap Tournament

We have posted notice to the CA Fixtures Book of our first Handicap Tournament to be held on 28th & 29th July 2012.

28th November 2011

Lawns Closed

Working parties have been at the lawns yesterday and again today. The Hollow Tiner and Scarifier have behaved themselves and all lawns will receive Lawn Feed today.

The lawns are therefore closed.

21st October 2011

2011 League Summary

Handicap - 1st
Midweek - 1st
Advanced - 2nd
Golf - 4th
Short - 8th

1st October 2011

ARCHIVED

The 2011 news was archived.

24th December 2011