welcome to
NELSON BAY CROQUET CLUB
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Nelson Bay Croquet Club has been established for 24 years. It is located in the Blue Water Paradise of Port Stephens, just north of Newcastle, NSW. Membership is open to all who are interested in the game, and visitors are warmly welcomed.
Members play all the three internationally recognised forms of Croquet – Golf, Ricochet and Association. The Club plays both social and competitive games five days each week on four professionally maintained full sized courts and has a small clubhouse on-site. We also have an active program of social events.
Playing schedule available here:
URGENT NOTIFICATION
With the permission of Port Stephens Council, the Club is able to resume play under very strict guidelines and on a carefully managed level.
Details of the current Club calendar of play are available at:
NEWSLETTER
We need YOUR help!! If you have items that need to be communicated to other members of the Club, please e-mail them to David Wilson at
Also, if you have photographs of members and/or Club events, please e-mail them to Karen Lilly at
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
2021 CLUB COMPETITIONS
The Club competitions have been scheduled as follows:
Thompson Trophy
- B Grade - Sunday 25th July
- C Grade - Sunday 15th August
Ricochet Competition June/July
Blowes Shield - Sunday 10th October
Further details nearer the date of each competition.
NSW State Pennants 2021
Monday 26th July (12:30am)
Saturday 31st July (12:30pm)
Sunday 29th August (12:30pm)
NB Fingal vs EDSACC White (away)
NB Fingal vs Newcastle NP (away)
NB Fingal vs EDSACC Red (home)
OPENING CEREMONY FOR NEW COURTS
Saturday 16th October 2021
The Club is organising an official opening ceremony for the new courts. This is scheduled for Saturday 16th October 2021 and will be followed by a "Come-and-Try" day for the local community.
Put the date in your diary. - further details to follow in due course.
LATEST NEWS
NSW STATE GC DIVISION 3 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Doubles Wednesday/Thursday 14th/15th July 2021
Singles Friday to Sunday 16th/18th July 2021
The NSW State GC Division 3 championships are hosted by Ballina, Byron Bay and Lismore Croquet Clubs in Northern NSW. Barry Elliott entered the doubles and both Sherry Gordon and Barry entered the singles.
In the doubles, Barry was partnered by Richard Buxton (Byron Bay). 15 doubles pairs were seeded into 3 blocks with Barry & Richard finishing 2nd in their block to qualify for the finals. They lost in the first round to Marilyn & Royce Wilson (Coutts Crossing) before finishing 7th, beating Maurice Russell & Diana Shilton (Ballina Cherry Street/Byron Bay) in the 7th/8th play-off.
Both Barry and Sherry made the final 16 play-offs in the singles, with Sherry making the semi-final. Both lost to Penny Scott (Ballina Cherry Street) who lost in the final. Sherry finished 4th, losing the 3rd/4th play-off to Shane Hambly (Lismore). Barry finished 11th, beating Jan Brodie (Coutts Crossing) in the 11th/12th play-off.
Well done, Sherry and Barry.
Sherry Gordon & Barry Elliott at Ballina
NEWCASTLE GOLF CROQUET DOUBLES COMPETITION
Saturday/Sunday 3rd/4th July 2021
8 members from Nelson Bay entered the Newcastle Golf Croquet Doubles competition: Cheryl Lloyd & Sandy Tawa, Peter & Sherry Gordon, Liz Friend & Rae Uptin, Trevor Black (with Steve Dilley Jr from Maitland), and Jan Puckeridge (with Scott Davis of Newcastle).
The 24 doubles pairs were seeded into 4 blocks based on handicap, with each block playing a round-robin of level play and a round-robin of handicap play - each pair played 10 games over the 2 days.
Liz Friend & Rae Uptin won Block C with 8 wins, winning all their level play games.
Peter & Sherry Gordon finished 3rd in Block B and Scott Davis and Jan Puckeridge finished 3rd in Block D.
Newcastle President Chris Gill presents awards to Rae Uptin & Liz Friend
THOMPSON TROPHY A GRADE
Sunday 27th June 2021
The recent rain relented and clear, bright weather greeted the A Grade contestants. There were 6 entries: Trevor Black, Derek Bull, Barrie Carter, Peter Gordon, Cheryl Lloyd and Sandy Tawa.
Sandy lost her first game to Cheryl but then won 4 games straight to win the competition. Trevor, Derek and Peter finished on 3 wins each but Trevor was awarded 2nd place on hoop count-back. Well done, all, for exhibiting great skills and sportsmanship.
Thank you to Margaret-Rose Thompson and Barry Elliott who refereed the games.
President David Wilson with
Sandy Tawa (1st) & Trevor Black (2nd)
President David Wilson presents the awards
GALA DAY
17th June 2021
17 visitors and 35 members attended the annual Gala Day to celebrate the Club's birthday. A brilliant winter day made for a great occasion.
Visitors came from local croquet clubs Maitland, Mt Sugarloaf, Newcastle National Park and Toronto plus 2 members from the Canberra Croquet Club. The day started with morning tea which was followed by a series of games that tested mallet skills. The traditional BBQ was followed by the ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake and the awarding of prizes for the various games.
Congratulations to Margaret-Rose Thompson as MC and Kerry Sprigg who was in charge of the catering - a great effort. Also, many thanks to all the members that helped setting-up the day before and during the event itself.
A beautiful day
A fun day
Margaret explains the games
Games of mallet skills
NSW STATE GC OPEN SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
Tempe Croquet Courts
28th-31st May 2021
24 of the State's best croquet players were at CNSW Headquarters at Tempe for the State GC Open Singles Championship. The first round was a 3 block round robin with the top 16 players progressing to the main Competition knock-out and the remaining 8 contesting a Plate knock-out.
Pam Barnwell, Derek Bull, Cheryl Lloyd and Sandy Tawa entered the competition. Pam and Derek progressed to the main Championship but lost in the first round. Cheryl and Sandy played in the Plate with Sandy winning all 3 games and beating Karen Tieck (Jamberoo) 7-6, 7-4 in the final.
Sandy Tawa