For our Prizegiving Dinner, click on this 'November' button:
24 February - David Bromilow R.I.P.
It is with sadness I have to report the death of our long-standing member David Bromilow who passed away peacefully last week.
David always had such a happy and friendly manner and I remember that so fondly from my earliest days at Phyllis Court until so recently.
He and Mary were amongst the first friends that I made at the Club thanks to her rowing with my late wife Suzanne and David's support for their crew.
In croquet competition, David earned accomplished a handicap of 10, however his interest centred mainly on attending the GC mix-ins at which he was a regular participant.
David's funeral will be a family affair, and there will be a celebration of his life in the Riverside pavilion on 24 March.
Chris Roberts - Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club
07 February - Congratulations to 11 improving players who have earned manual handicap reductions
We have had pleasure in informing the 11 players listed below, that their handicaps had been manually reduced.
Congratulations to you all!
As Club and CA Handicappers, Frances Colman and Chris Roberts keep a close eye on improving players.
For a variety of reasons, the Automatic Handicapping System may not accurately result in an appropriate handicap that is in-line with the skill level recently observed.
In such evidenced cases, Handicappers must to adjust handicaps manually.
We are grateful for Russell Robinson's invaluable recording of game results and record keeping.
Frances Colman & Chris Roberts
Phyllis Court Croquet Club and CA Handicappers
See the current handicaps of every member here:
08 February - Phyllis Court internal GC tournament dates announced
An e-mail went to al members today, announcing the 2023 program of internal tournament dates.
These can be accessed via this button, which is also on the Golf Croquet page accessed form the front page.
25 February - Frances Colman wins in South Africa
Frances Colman scored probably her best ever AC tournament win today at the Western Cape Championships in South Africa.
She made light of her 7 handicap in winning the Restricted (3+) Advanced Singles event at the Somerset West club, about 30 miles east of Cape Town.
Frances beat Alan Clark (High Wycombe) and South African player Sylvia Dreyer, both 3 handicapers, and three other players to be undefeated this week.
She played probably her best croquet ever and her sucesses see her now back to her pre-injury 6 handicap and up to the highest Ranking position of her career so far.
- Congratulations Frances!
Frances and Chris Roberts were runners-up in the Handicap Doubles and Chris ended up with a 50% record in the Open Advanced event.
Flowing a few days off, the Phyllis Coourt pair will contest the 'Rainbow Internatinal GC tournament' starting n Friday.
09 February - Entering Tournaments away from Phyllis Court
An e-mail went to al members today, detailing the joys of playing in tournaments away from Phyllis Court and in the National C-level (7+) Series in particular.
Help and encouragement is aways availabe from Chris Roberts, so call or e-mail him for an enthusiastic chat!
1 March - Season-Long Competition Entry Forms sent out today
Entry forms for our Season-Long Competitions were circulated today, along with an explaination sheet and a guide to playing in your first competion and/or tournament.
Participation is very encouraged for everyone and the programme of competitions has been tailored so that all members can be competitive in relevant classes.
The 2023 offering (below) is the same as in recent seasons, and there are additional 'plate' events (for first game losers) in each catagory except the Open and Advantage.
2023 Programme of competitions
Open Singles
Open Doubles
3+ Singles
3+ Doubles
7+ Singles
7+ Doubles
Advantage Singles
Please support the efforts of your organisers by joining-in and submitting your entry - by the deadline 31 March.
5 March - Croquet in the Henley Standard every week
Chris Roberts has started up weekly croquet reports for the Henley Standard sports pages again, and the edition currently in the shops features Helena Fensome’s CA Diploma for Services to Croquet.
The next edition (on Friday) will cover Patricia Mulcahy’s Most Improved Player Award, and thereafter reports will feature the 2023 competitive croquet season of our teams and individual members in competitions and tournaments at Phyllis Court and around the country (and world!).
This and more internally based news is posted very regularly on the news page of our website, so do keep up to date with that too.
14 March - Ann Clayton R.I.P.
It is with sadness I must report the death of long-standing member, Mrs. Cecilia (Ann) Clayton, who passed away on 5th March.
Ann had been a member of the main Phyllis Court Club for thirty-seven years.
Croquet membership Secretary Hilary Cowley spoke to Ann (as we knew her) about a month ago when she renewed her Croquet membership, and she was hoping to return to the GC mix-ins soon after her successful knee surgery.
Ann returned to croquet from golf in 2000, having played some years previously, and she embraced competition croquet a year later when she supported the inaugural 10+ Singles competition in 2021. But throughout her Croquet Club membership, Ann’s interest was firmly on attending the GC mix-ins at which he was a regular and enthusiastic attendee.
Chris Roberts - Chairman, Phyllis Court Croquet Club
10 March - Colman & Roberts exit South African GC Doubles at semi-finals
Frances Colman and Chris Roberts perfoirmed well again as a doubles pair in the second leg of their croquet trip to South Africa.
Playing in the GC Raindow International at Somerset West, near Cape Town, the experienced duo finaly met their match at the hands of eventual winners Lionel Tibble and Mike Town at the sem-finals stage.
Roberts also played in the Singles event and was unbeaten in the block stage until the final round when he lost 1-2 to former Women's World Champion Judith Hanekom (South Africa).
This meant that he got an unfavourable draw in the knock-out quarter-finals and he slumped out with a poor performance, loing to the eventual winner Tibble again.
 winner South Africa AC 2023 (CCTR) - solo (smaller file).jpg)
 winner South Africa AC 2023 (CCTR) - Group (smaller file).jpg)