It’s the start of a busy season for Sidmouth Croquet Club, writes Richard Thurlow.

We field three Golf Croquet teams and four Association Croquet teams in the Southwest region leagues, playing at home and away, as well as numerous internal and external club tournaments, and three Croquet Association three day events.

Our lawn manager, Andrew Thomas, is kept very busy, moving hoops to avoid grass wear and changing their clearance settings for the different standards of tournaments

The final weekend of April saw the club hold its annual Open Golf Croquet Championship.

Sixteen players played for the Haste Cup, a qualifying tournament for the Croquet Association English National Singles Championship.

As usual, this tournament attracted excellent players from clubs throughout England whose handicaps ranged from minus four to four.

With eight players in each of the two blocks, everyone played seven matches on the rain-free Saturday against the other players

Many of the players hit the balls very hard, to the amazement of some of the club’s newer players who were watching. The top four players in each block qualified to play in the deciding matches on Sunday, unfortunately none from Sidmouth.

On Sunday, although with only a few spectators due to the continuing rain, Ian Burridge, ranked ninth in the UK, and Jonathan Powe, ranked 25, entertained them with what was a good, fast and entertaining game.

The result was a 7-4, 7-4 success for Burridge who received the Haste Cup, presented by Amanda Haste, visiting the UK from her home in France.