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2nd January - Deadline approaching for GC League entries (it's 12th Jan)

GC Leagues manager Frances Colman today circulated enrty information Clubs' Gc contacts as the deadline of 12th January approches.

See the GC League Rules button for the IMPORTANT 2014 amendments

28th February - Littleton added as late entry for GC Level League

Today Littleton were accepted as a late entrants for the SCF's GC Level League following unanimous agreement from the other participating clubs.

This brings the league up to five Clubs for only the second time since its launch.

6th March - Double Silverware for Ryde

Ryde Croquet Club have been celebrating double success in two of the Regional Federation Leagues in 2013.

Having collected the trophy for Southern Federation Golf Croquet Level League at the AGM at Winchester, Ryde's Croquet Secretary and team captain, Roy Tillcock received the South East Croquet Federation Level play Golf Croquet trophy at the AGM in Surbiton last week.

Accompanied by team members Alan Truckel and Richard Harris, he is pictured here accepting the trophy from the SECF chairman, Bill Arliss.

Although losing 4 rubbers to 3 against Sussex County, they scored 6 - 1 wins over Woking and Compton (Eastbourne) and a walkover against Dulwich to put them top of the table.

Ryde players were Tillcock, Truckel and Harris with Robin Thornton, Dave Willett and John Sim.

An entry has been put in to defend both titles in 2014.

28th February - Hamptworth's Stevens wins in scorching South Africa

Hamptworth's Richard Stevens (below right) won the inaugural Southern Cape Federation B-Level AC tournament at Somerset West CC, near Cape Town, South Africa this week.

And he was runner-up in the Doubles event too, on a croquet holiday with fellow SCF players Frances Colman (below centre) and Chris Roberts (below right) of Phyllis Court.

The trio 'warmed-up' for our home season with a challenging temperatures that reached 42 degrees on court.

All three players won more than they lost during the week long event and also enjoyed hospitality at the wonderfully manicured Helderberg Village CC, also in Somerset West.

16th March - SCFs GC Coaching, Laws and Referee's courses prove big hits!

24 players attended Cliff Jones's GC Coaching single day course, organised by the Southern Croquet Federation, at Hamptworth this week, in preparation for the season ahead.

This was followed up by a Laws and Referees two day course which attracted 19 'students', 11 of who took the exam.

The SCF are indebted to Cliff for lending his expertise to these courses and those who participated are fortunate indeed to have shared the wisdom of one of the counties foremost croquet tutors.

1 April - Entries coming in nicely for SCF Solstice but Armada needs YOUR support please

The SCF's GC Doubles Tournament 'The Solstice' and AC tournament 'The Armada' have been moved to Hamptworth this season in the anticipation of greater numbers applying to enter.

The GC Solstice should be entered with your club's backing as an initial restriction of two entries per club is again being employed for this popular event.

The AC Armada can be entered directly by players, as there is no restriction in place while we attempt to grow the event.

SCF Tournaments manager Richard Jenkins distributed entry information a few weeks ago and reports that entry numbers are good for the GC Solstice but poor so far for the AC Armada.

Calling all AC players - come on everyone - please support the Armada Tournament

2 April - Team Line-up confirmed for SCF's new AC B-Level Advanced League

An update now on entry numbers for the SCF's new AC B-Level Advanced League.

Aldermaston, Blewbury, Phyllis Court and Winchester have entered for the inaugural staging of this new League.

Meanwhile SCF AC Leagues Manager Martin Brandt has canvassed for support for continuing with the SCF's A-Level Advanced League, following an approach to re-consider abandoning the event that has struggled somewhat in recent seasons.

30th April - Winchester win first league match of season

Phyllis Court 'A' squandered a 2-1 half-time lead at Winchester today when the hosts came back to win all four of the afternoon singles matches.

Ian Harrison was Winchester's star man in winning both his singles games, while Keith Mackenzie-Ross, Nigel Hind and captain Roger Barnacle all won once each.

11th May - Oxfordshire qualify for National Inter-Counties Finals

Oxfordshire sneaked qualification today, for the County Championships Tournament in September.

They tied for the second qualification place with the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire (G/W) combined team, in a three sided series of play-off matches at Hamptworth.

Phyllis Court players Chris Roberts, Helena and Mike Fensome, together with John Spears of Surbiton won eight games overall, matching G/W's tally behind the clear winners Middlesex.

Fortunatly for Oxfordshire, they had a better (27 points) net hoop score than G/W and so will now be in the line up for the Championship at Southwick, near Brighton on 13 &14 September.

25 May 2014 - Barnacle takes Wiltshire Open title at Hamptworth

A two year lay-off from the GC Tournament scene did Dogmersfield’s Roger Barnacle no harm at all, and he arrived back with a vengeance, to win the Wiltshire Open in late May.

Unfortunately due to the bad weather, this year's event at Hamptworth was reduced to being a single day affair on the Sunday, writes Richard Jenkins.

The Semi-Final between Simon Carter (Dulwich) and Nick Cheyne (Surbiton) was a very close and hard fought match indeed, with Carter just managing to gain the upper hand in the third game: 7-6, 6-7, 7-4. This despite an amazing angled ‘dam-buster’ jump shot from Cheyne from level with the centre peg to hoop 6 in the final game.

Barnacle recovered from a very close 7-6 win in his first game of the day against Keith Southern (Swanage), to progress all the way to a semis match with Richard Brookes (Sussex), which was rather more one-sided, despite Brookes fighting back well, but to no avail.

The Final between Barnacle and Carter swung one way then the other throughout the whole match, before the former pulled away in the deciding game: 7-3, 5-7, 7-3.