For season-long Federation leagues – see Leagues

Date	Day	Event	Cost	Code	Manager	Venue
19/5	Fri	Charity one-ball	£10		Debbie James	York
25/5	Sat	SC teams	£32 a team	YSC	Philip Jay	York
19/6	Wed	GC level play doubles	£16 a pair	YGCD	Lionel Stock	York
7/7	Sun	GC advantage team trial	£6 each	RA	Ted Flexman	Ripon Spa
10/7	Wed	GC level play open singles	£16 each	YGCS	Anna Giraud	York
24/7	Wed	GC restricted doubles	£16 a pair	BMD	John Feeny	Bishop Monkton
21/8	Wed	GC C level singles	£16 each	BMS	John Feeny	Bishop Monkton
31/8 01/09	Sat Sun	AC full lawn	£16 a day	YACF	Philip Jay	York

Further details of above events.

Charity one-ball. Director: Debbie James. Cash on the day + GiftAid.

SC teams. Short croquet. Director: Philip Jay. Teams of 4.

GC level play doubles. Director: Eugene Chang.

GC advantage team trial. Director: Eugene Chang. Singles and doubles following standard YCF match format with scratch teams.

GC level play singles. Director: Eugene Chang.

GC restricted doubles. Director: Eugene Chang. Combined handicap 10+.

GC C level singles. Director: Eugene Chang. Handicap 7+.

AC full lawn. Director: Philip Jay.

How to enter:

• Use the Google Form https://forms.gle/aFnrQHPYVXcBFApYA to book a place (except Charity OB – contact Debbie directly)
  • Allocation date: 6 weeks before event
    • Default to CqE allocation criteria (replacing ‘Croquet England Subscriber’ in Priority Group 2 to ‘Member of YCF Club’) unless stated in Special Event Conditions below
  • Closing date: 2 weeks before event
  • Entries before allocation date are considered to have the same entry date; entries thereafter accepted in order of receipt.
  • Late entries accepted at managers discretion.
• Key contacts:
  • YCF Treasurer (Aileen Hingston aileen@amhinja.net)
  • Tournament managers (in event order)
    • Debbie James charity1ball@gmail.com
    • Philip Jay philip4jay@gmail.com
    • Lionel Stock revlstock@hotmail.com
    • Ted Flexman tedflexman@yahoo.co.uk
    • Anna Giraud ag.giraudnet@gmail.com
    • John Feeny jfeeny44@gmail.com
• If you have been notified that your entry is accepted, make a payment to secure your place. BACS transfer preferred:
  • Name: Y&H Croquet Federation
  • Sortcode: 09-01-51
  • Account number 29781304
  • Use event code (code column) + player surname as reference
• Event special conditions:
  • The CqE Allocation criteria wording is adopted for all events, replacing ‘Croquet England Subscriber’ in Priority Group 2 to ‘Member of YCFClub’
  • Short Croquet Team Tournament:
    • Team or individual entries accepted
    • If oversubscribed at allocation:
      • Priority Group 1: Teams that are in the YCF SC League
      • Priority Group 2: Other full teams
      • Priority Group 3: Part teams and individuals

Other CA Fixtures Calendar events at YCF clubs
8/9 Jun – York – Heart of Yorkshire AC 18pt (min handicap 6)
20/21 Jun – Huddersfield – Annual Full Lawn Mid – week Open Singles
10/11 Aug – York – White Rose AC Advanced
7/8 Sep – York – Viking challenge Short Croquet Singles

Misc events
Inter fed – TBC
Intra fed – TBC

19th May YCF heat of Charity one-ball 2024

Report by Debbie James

Members of YCF clubs -York, Beverley & East Riding, Huddersfield and Ripon Spa – gathered on the York lawns for the annual heat of the Charity 1-ball. Six rounds were played in distinctly chilly conditions. The morning play was further enlivened by a live broadcast interview on Radio York. Well done to David Young from York for holding his game together as he had both a microphone to navigate and a mallet to control in the course of his round 3 game! The clothes were a colourful red for this year’s charity, the British Heart Foundation. Best costume of the day was that of Simon Young from York, a Christmas pudding woolly jumper that kept the cold at bay. Cake was consumed, chat was enjoyed and competition was focused. The clear winner was Cathie Dance of York, with 6 wins from 6, closely trailed by Callum Johnson, also of York, with 5 wins from 6. The £200 raised entitled the YCF to send three players to a regional final.

Cathie, as winner of the heat, went on to represent the YCF at the regional final in Nottingham. She was accompanied by other YCF players: Dean Morton, winner of the Sheffield heat; Chris Atkinson, an eligible 2022 YCF heat finalist who missed his chance to compete that year due to catching Covid; Philip Jay of Huddersfield and Malcolm Tingle of York, next best-placed players from this year’s heat as Callum was unavailable to compete. Commiserations to Simon who missed out on the trip to Nottingham by one point!

The weather was glorious for the day of the Final at Nottingham where the finely manicured lawns stretched to infinity. From a field of 18 both Cathie and Chris reached the quarter finals, while Philip went one stage further to the semis, narrowly defeated by the high bisque eventual winner, Philip Bell from Bristol. Dean enjoyed his second time at the northern final, and Malcolm made his debut and got to grips with the lawns to score 3 wins from 6.

Well done to our finalists on representing the YCF so creditably, and thanks to all who competed in the heats this year.

YCF short croquet teams

Report by Philip Jay

YCF Short Croquet Team Event – Saturday 25th May 2024

This years Short Croquet Team Event was exceptionally well supported by the Federation Clubs – all the AC League Teams were represented, York managed to field an impressive three teams and there were more players wanting to play than places available. In all, six teams and 24 players assembled at York Croquet Club.
The teams had a wide range of handicaps – at the low end were Sheffield with an aggregate
handicap of 9½ bisques & 1 peel and at the high end were York 3 with 28 bisques between them.
The preceding few days of torrential rain had left everyone with a sense of trepidation as to what conditions would be like on the day. However, Saturday morning was bright, warm and sunny; the lawns were green and lush after a good watering and well prepared, as usual at York. The afternoon turned cloudy and cool, but remained dry, so it was a case of jumpers and coats for warmth but we were all grateful, none the less, for the better than anticipated weather conditions.
After a day of friendly but intense and competitive croquet, fuelled by copious scrummy cakes, the results turned out to be very much in favour of the high handicappers, both in the team and individual events.
York 3 were clear winners of the team competition with two wins and two draws in their four matches – congratulations to Richard, James, Philip and Tom.
There were three players on four wins from four games in the individual competition, who had to be separated on hoop points – the winner was Philip from York 3 (with a handicap of 8), second was Pete from Huddersfield (with a handicap of 10 and playing in his first competitive games outside of his club) and third was Robin from Beverley.
Many thanks to all at York Croquet Club for hosting this event and for all the hard work behind the scenes that made it such an enjoyable day for everyone.

GC level play doubles tournament

Report by Lionel Stock

The tournament was held at York on Wednesday 19th June 2024.

“What will you do if it keeps on raining?“I’ll still be there,” I mumbled, not quite sure what I would do.

After weeks of biting cold and drenching rain, it was a fair question a few days before the tournament. But the sun had decided to shake of its winter slumber, and we had a bright, fresh and, most importantly, dry day for the Tournament. Eight pairs from six clubs (Ripon Spa, York CC and York U3A, Brodsworth Hall, Bishop Monkton and Auckland) gathered at York. Competitors were assured that the electric fencing around Lawn One was not to prevent them from leaving before the tournament was complete, but only to deter the foxes, which had wreaked havoc the previous season.

Play was in a single block, all-play-all. Fitting in seven games, four in the morning and three in the afternoon, required tight time-scheduling. Games were limited to an initial period of 40 minutes, when a rasping air-horn marked time, players then had a further two turns each before the end of game, win, lose or draw. Double banking for all games increased the time pressure, but players responded well by starting games promptly and playing with due despatch. About half of the games concluded with the winners achieving seven hoops within time. At lunch, three partnerships (Sue I’Anson & Marcia Henderson, Robert Strover & Robb Wainwright and Robert Mumford & Kerry Macreavy) shared the lead with three wins each. The result was not decided until the final round, when the game between Robert & Robb and Sue & Marcia determined first and second place, with Robert and Robb proving worthy winners, with six wins out of seven. The least said the better about the performance of yours truly, in my first GC tournament, despite the heroic efforts of my partner Aileen Hingston. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Many thanks to Michael Franklin for acting as Referee, and to all those who helped set up the lawns and refreshments, and tidied away at the end, and to York CC for their hospitality.
Lionel Stock
Tournament Manager

GC advantage team trial

Report by Ted Flexman

Yorkshire Croquet Federation Advantage GC Team Day

Ripon Spa CC           Sunday July 7^th

Ripon hosted this second Federation Day exploring the Advantage system, in particular seeking out the implications within a team tournament.  This report will give details regarding the administration and play and also recommendations for team captains if the Federation wish to create a Handicap League based on the Advantage system.  If any of our players or clubs want to venture into National competitions the experience of playing under the Advantage system will be invaluable even though it can give new challenges to team captains and league managers.

Play on the day.

12 players from four different clubs played today – York U3A, Brodsworth, Bishop Monkton and Ripon were all represented.

Two teams of three were already formed and two more created by mutual agreement during the welcome period, then teams were assigned opponents and courts and so the Avocets played the Bullfinches on courts 1 and 4: the Chaffinches played the Dunnocks on courts 2 and 3, keeping to these courts for 3 rounds of doubles and singles as in a usual Federation match.

We got off to a delayed start because of sorting out teams, handicaps and starting scores so only managed 2 rounds before lunch at 12.30.   After the third round we had two winning teams from those pairings, Bullfinches won 4 -2 against the Avocets and the Dunnocks were impressive winners against the Chaffinches 6 – 0.

The fourth round, in which teams could choose which player played singles, was then a semi-final.  The Bullfinches played the Chaffinches and won 2 – 0 and the Avocets triumphed over the Dunnocks by the narrowest of margins:  the Avocets won the doubles 6 – 5, however,  the singles resulted in a 5 all draw.  The win was awarded to the Dunnocks according to the comparison of scores in an unfinished game but the match went to the Avocets 1 ½ – ½ for the scores on paper.  It would have been fairer to have played the singles to an on court winner probably – one of the strange positions that this system threw up. 

The fifth round then produced a final and 3^rd, 4^th play off in which the Dunnocks triumphed over the chaffinches again. However, the Avocets and Bullfinches finished the doubles 7 – 4 to the Avocet doubles and 7 – 4 to the Bullfinches singles!  Since the Bullfinches had won over the first three rounds they were awarded the prizes of the personal Advantage GC scoring devices – may they use them merrily into the future!

My thanks to Alex Whitfield, Alison Holmes, Bob Strover, Chris Higgins, Eric Mawer, Frank Northfield, Jack Upsall, Jill Barraclough, John Atack, Michael Franklin, Robert Mumford and Sue I’Anson for a sportingly fought team tournament, and congratulations to Michael, Robert and Eric for coming out top of the perch!

Huge thanks to the Studley Royal ground staff  in helping to prepare four courts so there would be no double banking and to the Ripon Spa team in providing refreshments, laying out the courts and clearing up and keeping track of the scores.

What we have learnt from the day.

• A tournament for four teams of three is great fun but it is far easier to run a match between two teams under the Advantage GC  Handicap system. On reflection a round of 3 singles for the semis and final must have produced a clear decisive result.  If this idea is repeated we’ll know in the future.  I suppose at the back of my mind I was trying to avoid double banking on the grounds of time and all those clips everywhere!
• Team captains and players need to be aware of how the doubles and singles starting scores are calculated and how scoring clips are used.
• Hosting clubs need plenty of scoring clips.  We placed negative scoring clips on the centre peg and positive clips on the court number post.
• Scores should be clearly announced after each hoop run as well as clips being put in place.
• If there are time constraints  ( we played to 50 minutes + 5 ) it is really important that all players are decisive, think ahead and play promptly.  This applies in particular in doubles when prolonged discussion and deliberation can consume far too much playing time.  In many matches more than 13 hoops needed to be run to produce a straightforward result.  Today 12 matches had a clear 7 hoop winner and 8 were cut short by time even with this generous timing.
• We finished play after 5.15pm, then had tea, cake and presentations and for players with distances to travel this can make a long day.
• The benefits of playing freely without having to consider the use of extra strokes are in my view considerable and I would encourage clubs to keep trying Advantage games within their club sessions.
• I think the score sheets will work but it would be good to make the Home and Away starting score boxes smaller and the Players boxes larger so there is room to put the handicaps for doubles and singles against the players’ letters in the central boxes,  but alas I can’t do that!! Help, I’m sure somebody can!

Many thanks to the Federation for supporting days like this, several players had their first team tournament and indeed first tournament experience, it brought players from different clubs together and helps make us a stronger Federation.

Ted Flexman

7^th July 2024

10th July GC level play open singles in York

Report by Anna Giraud

Eight players took part in this Golf Croquet Level Play Singles Competition. Their handicaps ranged from 1 to 12 with four different Clubs represented.
(Pendle & Craven CC, Ripon Spa CC, Sheffield CC, York U3A Group).

L to R: Robert Mumford (RS), Mike Bradbury (P&C), Maggie Crossland (S), Sue I’Anson (RS), Lesley Kemp (YU3A), Michael Franklin (RS), Aileen Hingston (YU3A), Ted Flexman (RS).
Play started with the 8 players in 2 blocks. The rankings after 3 rounds were:
A Block: Sue I’Anson, Maggie Crossland, Lesley Kemp, Michael Franklin
Z Block: Mike Bradbury, Ted Flexman, Robert Mumford, Aileen Hingston.

The afternoon rounds saw Mike Bradbury (P&C) and Robert Mumford (RS) in the final. The victor was Mike Bradbury, staking his claim, 7 hoops to 4. 3rd was Michael Franklin (RS), making a late comeback.

Two handicap changes were applauded. Congratulations go to Lesley Kemp, going from 12 to 10 and to Mike Bradbury for a change from 4 to 3.
Thanks go to the weather Gods (who inflicted only light showers) and to Aileen Hingston for organising equipment and hospitality so successfully. (A chocolate and strawberry cake to remember!)
And my thanks to all the players who followed directions without question even when they were uncertain where they would lead. A Manager’s delight!
Anna Giraud

24th July YCF restricted doubles in Bishop Monkton

Report by manager John Feeny

Eight pairs of players, from Ripon, Ben Rhydding, Bishop Auckland and Bishop Monkton, assembled on a fine day for this tournament.

The format of the day was All Play All, with  2 points scored for each game won, 1 for a draw, and Hoop Difference taken into account in the event of a tied score.

After 4 rounds, it was clear that the main contenders for the title would be Chris Higgins and Mark Summerscales of Bishop Monkton, and last year’s winners Sue I’Anson and Lesley Wood, who had won all their matches. Round 5 brought the reckoning between these pairs, and it was Lesley and Sue who held their nerve, to win 6-4. However, in the next round they were held to a 3-3 draw, while Chris and Mark won. If the same happened in the final round, the match would be tied, and Chris and Mark, who stormed to an early 7-0 win, would win on Hoop Difference. In the event, a sustained effort from Lesley and Sue gained them a 6-5 victory over the Ripon pair of Robert Mumford and Kerry Macreavy, and so won the day by a single point.

Player pairs:

Marcia Henderson and Andrea Widdison

Chris Higgins and Mark Summerscales

Sue I’Anson and Lesley Wood

Anne Clarke and Marion Cofield

Penny Clark and John Green

Robert Mumford and Kerry Macreavy

Michael Franklin and Eric Mawer

Bob Strover and Alan Nutall.

Referee: Trevor Wood

GC C-level singles tournament on August 21st 2024

Report by manager John Feeny

A good selection of Clubs – Ripon, Pendle, Ben Rhydding, Bishop Auckland,
Brodsworth and York U3A – were represented on the windswept lawns at Bishop
Monkton for the C-level Singles tournament.
As with the Doubles tournament, the format of the day was All Play All, with 2 points
scored for each game won, 1 for a draw, and Hoop Difference taken into account in
the event of a tied score.
The blustery morning had players reaching for their waterproofs almost from the
start, and the scorers had to retreat under cover for a while. The players persevered
valiantly, and by lunchtime there were still 3 of the 8 within a point of the lead. The
crunch came in round 6, when two of these, Marcia and Robert, came head to head.
At this stage, Marcia was unbeaten, but with one game drawn, whereas Robert had
lost his last game before lunch. Robert won this crucial encounter, and finished the
day with 6 wins, so gaining the trophy by a single point. Then the weather closed in
almost as fast as the players retreated to the Village Hall for some well-earned tea
and cake.

Players : Marcia Henderson, Sharon de Maine, David Carpenter, Robert Mumford,
Kerry Macreavy, John Atack, Alison Holmes, Lesley Kemp.
Referee: Penny Clark of Ben Rhydding CC
With appreciation also for the assistance of Aileen Hingston of YCF, and the cakes
from Lizzie Darbyshire and Hilary Philpott of BMCC

Full lawn AC tournament at York 31^st August & 1^st September 2024

Report by Philip Jay

This year’s Federation Full Lawn AC Tournament was, as in previous years, over-subscribed with more entries than available places. Although it is gratifying that there are plenty of competitive AC players in Yorkshire wishing to test themselves against their peers, it is nonetheless disappointing for organisers and entrants alike that several people were unsuccessful in the ballot for places.

The format was slightly changed this year and was played as a Swiss Event; pairings for the first round are by random draw and in subsequent rounds players are paired, as far as possible, against opponents on the same score. All games were 18 points (both clips starting on hoop 1), full bisque to base 7 and a two-hour time limit with three games to be played on each day.

The final field included players from all the clubs that are currently represented in the AC leagues and was: Jim Gillespie (Beverley); Helen Griffiths (Beverley & York); Patrick Bailey, Anna Giraud & Philip Jay (all Huddersfield); Maggie Crossland (Sheffield); Fiona Crompton, John Crompton, Cathie Dance, Alison Larard & Lionel Stock (all York); and Chris Atkinson (York & Driffield).

The full lawn handicaps ranged from 18 to 4½ resulting in some having a mini-forest of bisques and others having to wait patiently for their turn to come when these were exhausted. However, the majority of games were won with a winning margin of five or less hoops which indicated a good consistency in handicap levels.

The first day was bright and sunny but this was at times deceptive with a stiff and chilly breeze requiring additional layers of clothing! After a full day of action, the Swiss Event format had resulted in only one person being unbeaten with three wins (Chris Atkinson) but there was a strong chasing pack of six people on two wins apiece.

The second day started overcast and gloomy, albeit dry, and everyone had their fingers crossed that the forecast thunder storms would steer clear of York. Fortunately, there was no thunder or lightning but unfortunately there was about an hour of heavy rain following an early lunch during the second round of games. However, conditions soon improved and the final game was played on dry lawns.

Remarkably, prior to the final round of play, there were seven people on three or four wins and, even more remarkable, the pairings for the final round meant that there could be a seven-way tie for the lead depending on the various results. This led to the Tournament Manager consulting the rules on deciding ties and having an anxious two hours anticipating a stressful period of analysing head-to-head results and calculating net hoop points.

In the end, John Crompton, who had saved his best performance of the season for this event, won his final game. This was his fifth win in a row, after only narrowly losing his first game, which moved him clear of four people in joint fourth place with four wins each (Chris Atkinson, Patrick Bailey, Anna Giraud and Philip Jay). Consequently, John Crompton retained the trophy and was also given a handicap reduction.

Many thanks to York CC for their excellent hosting and lawns (which are even better this year), all the competitors for being super cooperative for the Manager and everybody who helped to make the weekend a success.

Philip Jay, Tournament Manager