[First published in the Croquet Gazette August 2022]
By Rena Souten
Secretary, Huddersfield Croquet Club
2022 dawned as the year our croquet club, Huddersfield, would be 30 years old. We decided to celebrate and hold 30 events in our playing season. The height of our celebrations would be a croquetathon when we would play croquet continuously for 30 hours and raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.
We decided on the dates in mid June so that there would be a full moon and near the summer solstice; we would play continuous golf croquet. We play on a crown bowling green in one of our local parks. Yes, they said, you can play on those dates but not overnight. ( The park gates are locked at 10.00pm). Brainwave; one of our members has a field next to his home and he agreed we could play all night there. So, we will play 10.00 to 22.00 in the park, 22.00 to 08.00 in Patrick’s field and 10.00 to 16.00 in the park. ( Mobile phones to be used to check all were in the correct place and playing when they should be.)We bought two rechargeable LED work lights, which when mounted on poles, provided lighting at night, combined with light sticks on the top of hoops.
We wanted folk to join us because we only had 8 members to play; we decided to encourage the public to book slots on Eventbrite and donate to BHF. As the dates approached we had few bookings but high hopes of the public deciding to donate and play on the days.
Why did I worry? Friday 17 June dawned warm with a hot weather warning. Councillor Cahal Burke, Deputy Mayor of Kirklees, played the first ball and scored hoop one. All our club members, both playing and social, and 8 new members all rallied round. Folk who had been members years ago and croqueting friends from around the UK came along; 31 people joined us in all over the 2 days. Saturday dawned bright and dry but the thermostat had gone to an arctic 12C.
Yorkshire Federation President, Eugene Chang played all morning on Saturday, as did Colin Rogers from East Fife. Anna Giraud, our long-time founder member, had devised a method to record hoops scored
521 in total. Blue and Black scored 277 hoops, and blue scored the most hoops 148. At the time off writing we have raised £965 for the British Heart Foundation.
30 hours of fun, friendship and CROQUET. What more can you ask?
