If the photograph is any indication, they gather across the plains of the Camerton & Peasedown Croquet Club. With many clubs hibernating for the winter, the thought of no croquet is too much for some.
Throw in a watering hole, offering lunch and even a pint followed by tea, and you have a mass migration that chases away flamingos.
While storm Brian raged, swirling his skirts and blowing over the marquee, they gathered from seven clubs around the South West and Wales.
This is the third year the club has run the fun-laden 64 Challenge, characterised by shouts of “Look out”, as a ball from a neighbouring half lawn rockets across the field of play of two other games. “Sorry.”
Even under these conditions, Sarah Melvin from Dyffryn Croquet Club played a shot even she could not believe. Called a bouncing bomb or a Barns Wallace, her ball, bouncing repeatedly, jumped over two balls on its way to scoring the hoop six yards away. It is not only ankles that are in danger in such a melee of players.
Although played as doubles, a high handicapped player always supported by a lower handicapped one, the pairings change as the result of each game. Hence prizes can be awarded on an individual basis.
This year there were 44 players on the lawns at the same time. CPCC members, less than half of the 49 taking part, some playing a half day only, made up the required number (a multiple of four).
The winner was David Christie of CPCC, who started only this year attending the club’s beginners’ course. He won four of his games, drawing the other. The second was Kate New from Bath, followed by the CPCC pairing of Pam Skeet and Marie-José Oldland, beaten on aggregate hoops only.
Camerton & Peasedown Croquet Club continues playing stalwartly through to next season.