EVENTS 2026
Lawn Opening Day Saturday 25th April
Join us at the lawn for afternoon tea and the Golden Mallet Competition to see who can run six hoops with the fewest shots.
AGM 23rd October 2025
The AGM was held at the Village Hall and was attended by 36 members. A cheque for £2665.75 was presented to Viv Carter of the Honeypot Children's Charity by Patrick Szell. Prizes were awarded to our cup winners and a Croquet England Diploma was awarded to Alistair Proctor and presented by our new honorary member Richard Carline.
Jean's 99th Birthday Party 11 September
We celebrated Jean's 99th birthday in style, but as the weather had been so bad and the lawn was unplayable, the party was held in the Committee Room of the Village Hall. A large number of volunteers brought food along and the table was groaning with Mediterranean themed food. Jean treated us to tiramisu with 99 flakes on top and Jo baked a huge cake decorated with home made meringues. Jamie made a welcoming speech and congratulated Jean on her birthday and Monica spoke on behalf of Alistair who was unable to be there. The club gave Jean a poloshirt with her name and 99 on the back which she proudly wore for the rest of the evening.
Charity Fun Day 16th August
Despite the rubbish weather yesterday the feedback I've had so far has been extremely complimentary.
Thank you to Monica for making (and donating) the Pimm's, Jane and Stewart for sourcing the delicious kebabs and making the potato salad, John for his meaty sausages and to our chefs, Stephen and John for cooking the food to perfection. Paul for sitting patiently and collecting all the money for our charity. Stephen for the fun auction and raising another £240. Also thank you to the serving wenches and clearing up girls, and lastly to Jo and Peter for organising the great lawn games.
A fantastic day all round. Sandy
Club Supper 24th July
Libby Milling and Sue Buckingham treated us to an excellent supper of tarragon chicken and Eton Mess at a drizzly lawn last night. In spite of the weather, almost 40 members came along and as the weather improved we had the pleasure of a few games of short croquet in the evening sun. Many thanks too to the washer-uppers Anne, Maggie and Monica.
13 July Charity Picnic at Fairfax Farm
The Wilsons very kindly invited all club members to their beautiful lawn in Milland, for a Sunday picnic with Pimms. Over £300 was raised for the Honeypot Charity and a very happy group of players enjoyed several games of croquet as the heat began to fade and the starlings came home to roost. Huge thanks to Mike and Elaine and to Jo for offering a bottle of Wimbledon champage for charity auction!
19th June 2025 Cheese and Pate evening
On such a beautiful sunny evening, we were pleased to have so many members come along to enjoy each others' company, play a few games of croquet and enjoy the delicious spread laid on by Sandy.
15th May 2025 Pizza evening
In spite of the nip in the air after days of warm sunny weather, around 35 members turned up to enjoy Faretti's pizzas - pepperoni, margherita and onion and pepper to suit all tastes, with accompanying salads. Dessert was soft, chewy brownies with raspberries and creme fraiche. Many thanks to Sandy and John, Libby and Maggie for all their help.
7 May 2025 Coaching with STEPHEN MULLINER and RICHARD CARLINE
All of the club members who signed up for a morning of tuition from Stephen Mulliner and Richard Carline experienced coaching from the highest level. Stephen won the Association Croquet World Championship in 2016, and has been British Open Champion 3 times. In Golf Croquet he was World Champion semi-finalist 3 times and British Open Champion 8 times, English National Champion 4 times, and he plays for England.
Richard’s expertise is in coaching and refereeing, and having started to play the game in 2013 is now a GC Championship Referee, and refereed the World GC Championships in 2019. In 2024 he received Coach Of The Year Award for his outstanding contribution to golf croquet. Stephen and Richard could not have been more generous with their comments and encouragement. Fingers crossed we have come away having learnt a great deal and will now put it into practice!
26th April 2025
We also had an afternoon of croquet fun with the Golden Mallet competition - the lowest number of shots to run six hoops.
The men's competition was fiercely fought by Mike Wilson, Hugh Brown and Andrew Mills, each of whom took 18 shots. A shootout at the end with the closest to the centre post from the corner was won by Mike Wilson. Jean Farguson won the ladies competition with 19 shots.
Official Lawn Opening and Charity Launch
Saturday 26th April marked the official opening of the lawn which was celebrated with the Golden Mallet competition and the launch of our charity for 2025 - Honeypot.
Cynthia from Honeypot joined us and gave a short talk about their charity which provides respite relief to young carers at Honeypot House, Hampshire in the New Forest. The charity was recommended to us by our member, Patrick Szell.
Christmas Party 12th December
The Village Hall was filled with festive music, plentiful drinks and Sandy's helpers who passed around a wonderful selection of canapes. To raise funds for the club, Stephen Sankey took over as auctioneer and raised over £1000 with the items all donated by club members. There was a terrific atmosphere and Sandy presented Alistair with a bottle of Dalwhinnie whisky in thanks for all his hard work as Chairman.
AGM 29th October
The AGM was held on Tuesday 29th October 2024 in the Village Hall at 7pm.
Chairman Alistair Proctor presented a cheque for £1522 to Chestnut Tree House, our Charity for 2024 and prizes to the following:
Ladies singles Elaine Wilson (runner up Jean Farguson)
Men’s singles John West (runner up Patrick Szell)
Mixed doubles Mike Wilson and Sue Buckingham (runners up Andrew Mills and Liz Smillie)
Golden Mallet Carole Givan and Stephen Sankey
Vera Baker Cup Jean Farguson (runner up Martin Lester)
Most improved player Andrew Mills
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEAN!!
We all wished Jean Farguson a very happy special birthday and many happy returns 💖
12th September Antipasti evening
Despite the wintery feel to the evening, the club was treated to a culinary delight of delicious antipasti followed by an Italian dessert which warmed our hearts and tummies helped along, of course, with a snifter of Limoncello. A huge thank you to Libby & Dermot Driscoll for hosting the last club supper of the season.
24th August Cheese and Pate evening
Another successful foodie evening hosted by Sandy with her helpers Libby, Penny and Patsy. Many compliments on the excellent array of food.
Thursday 14th August
After several hot and sunny days, our Thursday evening croquet supper was slightly marred by dreich weather - not that it stopped some of our brave stalwarts from playing anyway. Patsy and Andrew Mills provided an excellent salmon salad followed by delicious Lodsworth (Eton) Mess and we all still had a wonderful time despite the drizzle. Stephen Sankey brought along some eye catching courgettes to share.
Sat 3rd August Charity BBQ at Elaine and Mike Wilson's
Alistair thanked the Wilsons for hosting such a fantastic day at their beautiful lawn last Saturday. "Your generosity was so appreciated by everyone. The BBQ was the best and all the games were enjoyed by the players and spectators. I’ve been told by Paul this afternoon that you have raised an amazing £450 Net! So thank you again for Saturday and all that you both do for the club."
18th July
A glorious sunny evening for a change and we enjoyed an excellent Thai curry carefully cooked by Stephen and Anne Sankey.
On a rainy Friday evening, July 5th, to a sell-out audience at Lodsworth Village Hall, we were fascinated to follow Rupert and Jan Grey's trip around India in 2011 in their venerable 1930s Rolls Royce. Geraldine James, who spent considerable time in India filming The Jewel in the Crown and Ghandi, introduced the Greys and set the scene before we watched Romantic Road featuring their epic trip from Bombay through Rajasthan and Nepal to Dhaka, Bangladesh, completing the journey via Bangalore and Goa.
The evening was a huge success and Sandy's helpers provided very substantial canapes from tandoori chicken bites, samosas and bhajis to croustades, spinach filo rolls and more. Thanks to everyone for making the evening so memorable and for raising money for Chestnut Tree House, this year's charity.
11th May 2024 Official lawn Opening - Afternoon Tea
Our fun Lawn Opening Afternoon Tea took place on Saturday 11th May 2024. We were delighted to learn more about this year's charity, Chestnut Tree House, and we look forward to raising as much funding as we can for this well worthwhile children's hospice dedicated to supporting terminally ill children and their families.
Around 30 members took part in this year's Golden Mallet competion - through six hoops in the fewest number of shots, taking handicap into account in the event of a tie. In the men's competition, both Steven Sankey amnd Andrew Mills scored 18 points but Steve won as he has a higher handicap.
In the ladies' competition, Carole Givan was a worthy winner and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her skills on the lawn this year.
