Camerton & Peasedown Croquet Club’s new season exploded with Croquet Association Tournaments and Competitions, leaving some of its key players shell-shocked after daily calls to duty on home and foreign lawns.

One Ball – a new format of croquet devised by the CA amalgamating Association and Golf Croquet – drew players from across the South West. The three leading players, one being CPCC’s Patrick Knight, will go on to play in the National Final in Surbiton.

A three-day AC Short Croquet Competition similarly attracted many four-member teams from the region and beyond. This form of association croquet is played on half-lawns and reduced, so a game usually takes under an hour. The competition was eventually won by a team from Nailsea.

CPCC also held the first of the CA’s 25 Golf Croquet B Level-Play Tournaments. It was won by CPCC’s scratch entry, Marion Button. Two years ago she was playing in the high handicap league. After losing only one game in the morning to a more experienced player, she raised her game to beat all her afternoon’s opponents, leading one to histrionics. She now goes forward to the final in October, to be played on CPCC’s home lawns.

The club’s challenge for the CA’s Murphy Interclub Shield started with a match against Enfield. It was close fought, CPCC eventually winning 5:2. They now meet Watford.

The undercurrent of SWF League matches began on a rain-drenched day against Taunton Deane in the Central South League. Reflecting the weather, it ended in defeat. The second, in the Central North League, was more successful. The sun was shining for once, and CPCC beat Nailsea 13:7, even though the visitors drew on their National Junior Champion, James Galpin.

Back home, the new recruits to the ranks fared well on the club’s Beginners’ Course.

And the season has hardly begun.

Malcolm Evans