welcome to
NELSON BAY CROQUET CLUB
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Nelson Bay Croquet Club has been established for 26 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:
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 David_Wilson@internode.on.net
Also, if you have photographs of members and/or Club events, please e-mail them to Karen Lilly at chaz.kaz@bigpond.com
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
PRESENTATION BBQ
The Club's trophies will be presented at a Social BBQ on Sunday 18th December 2022 at the courts, starting at 12:30pm.
CLUB COMPETITIONS IN 2023
The dates for club competitions in. 2023 are as follows:
Autumn Doubles
Autumn Singles
Winter Doubles
Thompson Trophy
• A Grade
• B Grade
• C Grade
• Novice
Ricochet Knock-out
Spring Singles
Blowes Shield
President’s Cup
Sunday 5th March
Sunday 30th April
Sunday 14th May
Sunday 25th June
Sunday 23rd July
Sunday 13th August
Sunday 9th April
June/July
Sunday 17th September
Sunday 15th October
Sunday 29th October
LATEST NEWS
CHRISTMAS BUSH BASH
Saturday 19th to Monday 21st November 2022
64 players from around NSW converged on Nelson Bay for the 3 days, with many extending their stay before or after the tournament. The 32 doubles pairs were seeded into 4 blocks of 8 teams each, with the top pairs in Block A. The tournament comprised a round-robin of level play followed by a round-robin of handicap play, meaning each doubles pair played 14 games over the 3 days. The games were 13-point contests with a time limit of 50 minutes.
215 games were played over the tournament (one pair had to withdraw after the first day due to illness – they were leading Block A at the time). Despite the high winds on Sunday and Monday, the tournament was completed on time with keenly contested games.
Kate Washington and Philippa Brooks
at the presentation
Block Winners and Runners-up
Christmas Bush at the courts
Kate Washington MP, State Government Member for Port Stephens and Club Patron, and Philippa Brooks, representing sponsors PRD Real Estate, were on hand at the end of play on Monday 21st November to present the awards and prizes. In Block A, three pairs finished with 8 wins with the winners and runners-up decided on net hoops – former Australian representatives Ros & Ron Johnston (Sutherland / Cooks River) were 1st with Stephen Thornton & Michael Anear (Maitland) 2nd. In Block B, Bill Munns & Laurie Lawson (Toronto / Nelson Bay) were clear winners with 9 wins with Julie Thornton & David Smith (Maitland / Nelson Bay) runners-up on net hoops from 3 pairs with 8 wins. In Block C, three pairs finished with 9 wins with the winners and runners-up decided on net hoops – Liz & Phil McDonald (Toronto) were 1st with Jim Muxlow & Ann Barrett (Maitland) 2nd. In Block D, Judy & Hans Szubert (Toronto) were clear winners with 11 wins with Margaret Myers & Martin Wooster (Toronto / Mount Sugarloaf) runners-up on net hoops from 2 pairs with 9 wins.
With visiting players from as far away as Blue Mountains, Orange, Smithtown and Young as well as croquet clubs in Sydney, the local clubs from the Hunter region fared very well.
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Thanks to Trevor Black, Tournament Manager, Derek Bull, Tournament Referee, Kerry Sprigg, Kitchen Supervisor, Rob Batho, Maintenance Officer, and the many other members who assisted over the 3 days.
Players at the start of the tournament
CELEBRATING OUR SENIOR MEMBERS
Monday 7th November 2022
All the Club's senior members were invited to a morning tea to celebrate their continuing playing of croquet. 12 members came along to enjoy goodies with a cup of tea or coffee.
Thanks to Liz Friend for organising the morning.
Enjoying the morning tea
MOSMAN PRIZE
Friday 4th to Sunday 6th November 2022
Liz Friend and Rae Uptin entered the annual Mosman Prize, played at Mosman Croquet Club 4th to 6th November.
Liz was seeded in the Black Block finishing 3rd with 4 wins. Rae was seeded in the Red Block finishing 2nd with 5 wins and qualifying for the finals. Rae beat Jaki Gaskell (Manly) 7-1 in the quarter-final and Denis Edleston (Mosman) 7-3 in the semi-final.
In the final, Rae beat Wendy Herbert (Marrickville) 7-5 in a close game.
Rae receives the 1st Prize
GLOUCESTER MASTERS
Saturday 5th November 2022
Rob & Faby Batho, Barry Elliott and Laurie Lawson traveled to Gloucester Croquet Club to play in the inaugural Gloucester Masters on Saturday 5th Nov ember..
Rob was paired with Peter Pittard (Foster) - they were seeded in Block A and won the block undefeated.
Peter Pittard & Rob Batho
PRESIDENT'S CUP
Sunday 30th October 2022
The inaugural President’s Cup was held on Sunday 30th October 2022. 16 members entered and were seeded into 4 blocks for a round-robin qualifying round with the winners of each block advancing to semi-finals and a final. In seeded order, the blocks were: Block A: Trevor Black, Rod Peet, Allen Lees and Ralph Harrison; Block B: Peter Gordon, Rob Batho, Barry Elliott and Jan Puckeridge; Block C: Karen Lilly, David Smith, Col Chalkley and Marion Graff; Block D: David Wilson, Rae Uptin, Les Guzowski and Faby Batho.
Trevor Black won all 3 games to top Block A with Rod Peet runner-up. Peter Gordon won all 3 games to top Block B with Barry Elliott runner-up. David Smith won all 3 games to top Block C with Karen Lilly runner-up. David Wilson won all 3 games to top Block D with Rae Uptin runner-up. Club Captain Rae Uptin and President David Wilson played the closest game of the qualifying round with David ahead 6-5 when time ran-out, meaning he topped Block D.
In the semi-finals, Trevor beat David Wilson 6-5 in a tight contest while Peter beat David Smith 7-4. Trevor played brilliantly in the final to run-out 7-3 winner over Peter, becoming the first winner of the President’s Cup.
Trevor receives the trophy from the President
Action from the President's Cup
Semi-finalists David W, Trevor, Peter and David S