The forecast rain held off for most of the day when the club held it’s annual short croquet internal competition, writes Richard Thurlow.

Twenty-two intrepid players, attired (what a splendid word), in their full white competition regalia, glinted in the early morning sun.

The introductory instructions by Philip Harris galvanised those not already excited by the instant coffee in the clubhouse, as they ambled onto the lawns, to play the first of their four matches in the day.

Each match was played over 80 minutes and 12 hoops. Ten points were added to a base of a 100 points for a win and 10 points deducted for a loss.

With two matches being played before lunch, those with 120 points glowered at each other over their sandwiches, whilst those with 80 points, wept into their soup!

After the lunch, the excitement was almost uncontainable as Peter Hills swept into a 140 point unassailable lead, followed by the runners up, Jon Ball, Penny Ball, Kelvin Dent, Muriel Philpott and Richard Wood, all on 130 points

Richard managed to improve his handicap from one peel to two peels, (an arcane term which I will not bother to explain, but which will give him considerable angst in other such competitions).

A good day; what could be better than a day by the seaside playing croquet!