The Croquet Association recently held their annual Charity Fundraising competition and we were really excited to be chosen as this year’s charity. They have very kindly written us a piece about the competition…
Each year Kevin Carter, a member of the Croquet Association, organises a Charity Fundraising Croquet competition and this year, Peter Gunn of Merton Croquet Club nominated the Down’s Syndrome Association.
Nationally there were 37 heats and 497 participants – because of the awful weather, there were some cancellations and postponements but this was still an excellent record for the Croquet Association. For the heats and the finals, players were encouraged to dress in green, to reflect the Down’s Syndrome Association.
Very sadly Peter, who nominated the Charity, died suddenly at the end of February. Nonetheless, the heat at Merton Croquet Club was attended by Peter’s daughter and granddaughter, Leia. A raffle was held which was drawn by Leia,
who also tried her hand at croquet.
The final was held at Surbiton Croquet Club on Sunday 13 May where there were 40 participants. The Surbiton club had the courts in great condition and the kitchen even better – a band of volunteers fed and watered 50 people and then donated a large part of their food takings to the charity fund.
The Finals Day was a great success, with triple-banking across all of the clubs seven lawns. Because of the numbers involved, there was a lunchtime ‘cut’ – a bit like in a big golf competition. The top twelve, who had
lost no more than one game during the morning, went into a separate section to compete for the main trophies, while the remainder continued for a ‘Best of the Rest’ prize.
Soon after teatime, we had the two finalists: Tom Weston (East Dorset) and Margaret Murray (Bath but who qualified at the Camerton & Peasedown heat). It was a nail-biting finale, watched by over 30 spectators.
In the prizegiving, Margaret collected this year’s engraved decanter, and Tom the runner-up’s goblet. Chris Roberts (Phyllis Court, and also well known for being the editor of the Croquet Gazette) won the ‘Best of the Rest’ goblet and a bottle of bubbly went to Jonathan Lamb (Punta Del Este, Uruguay) for the best break: ten hoops.
The prizes were presented by Leia, who had prompted her grandfather to nominate the Down’s Syndrome Association as this year’s charity.
The total amount raised for the Down’s Syndrome Association was £4471, which will be supplemented by £903 of Gift Aid – another record, and the first time that our nominated charity will benefit by more than £5000.
The DSA are incredibly grateful for all of your wonderful support and for sending these great pictures to us!
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