Sidmouth Croquet Club (SC) recently hosted the Exeter Retired Clergy Association for an informal gathering, writes Richard Thurlow.

A dozen members of the association from around East Devon, four already being members of SCC, got together for a social game in fine sunny weather on a sun-kissed Monday afternoon.

Many of the others hadn’t played croquet for many years, but they soon found their form. The ability to play the game is not a requirement of being clergy, and many found that trying to run hoops was more difficult than threading a camel through the eye of a needle.

A number of ‘Golf’ croquet games were played with the players improving all the time in their skills, concentration and competitiveness. Unfortunately, though, there was not as much charity being exhibited as might have been expected from men and women of the cloth, although no-one was actually injured during the afternoon. The highlight of the afternoon was a splendid last supper, provided by Gill Hodge in the Fortfield Pavilion.

The organiser, Canon David Scrace, a member of the Croquet Club, said that he hoped to make it a regular annual fixture and maybe attract some of the retired clergy to join the club.