welcome to
NELSON BAY CROQUET CLUB
(Remember to scroll down each page to see all the content)
Nelson Bay Croquet Club has been established for 27 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
CLUB COMPETITIONS IN 2023
The dates for club competitions in. 2023 are as follows:
Ricochet Knock-out
Spring Singles
Blowes Shield
President’s Cup
​
June/July/August
Sunday 17th September
Sunday 15th October
Sunday 29th October
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM will be held at 2:30pm on Wednesday 8th November in the Crows Nest Room at Nelson Bay Bowling &Recreation Club, Stockton Street, Nelson Bay
LATEST NEWS
SPRING SINGLES
Sunday 17th September 2023
A modest 4 entries, but an enthralling competition regardless. Gary Allan, Lynn Banbrook, Greg Long and Frank Orton played a 3-game round-robin to determine the winner
​
Greg Long won all 3 games to win the competition with Gary Allan runner-up.
​
Thanks to Club Captain, Rae Uptin, for running the competition.
Rae Uptin presents the winner's prize to Greg Long
Greg, Frank, Gary and Lynn
RICOCHET KNOCK-OUT COMPETITION
July-September 2023
The 2023 Ricochet Knock-out Competition was able to proceed with 12 entries. After the early rounds, the semi-finals saw Peter Gordon play David Wilson and Jim Ball play Cheryl Lloyd.
​
As 2021 champion (essentially the defending champion as the competition was not played in 2022) and a State RC champion, Peter was favourite for the 2023 competition, but David used his 3 shots wisely to qualify for the final with a 14-4 win. In the other semi-final, Jim played well to beat Cheryl 14-6.
​
The final was played on Tuesday 12th September and Jim could not get his game going with David running out the 11-5 winner in a close contest.
Jim congratulates David
at the end of the final
PORT MACQUARIE GC CARNIVAL
Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th September 2023
Port Macquarie Croquet Club
The Port Macquarie Golf Croquet Carnival was held from Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th September 2023. 24 players from around NSW travelled to Port Macquarie to play in the singles competition. They were allocated into 4 blocks of 6 players based on handicap and played a double round robin of 13-point games with a 50-minute time limit. The first round was level play and the second handicap play.
​
6 Nelson Bay members played in the competition: Ann Barrett, Faby Batho, Liz Friend, Brenda-Lee Peet, Rod Peet and Rae Uptin. In Block A, Brenda-Lee won 6 of 10 games to win the top pool on hoop difference, +14, from Liz Woods (South West Rocks) +1 and Wendy Forbes (Urunga) -1. In Block B, Liz also won 6 of 10 games to top the pool on hoop difference +8, from Lynda Toms (Hurstville) +6 and Lyn Baker (Maitland) +4. In Block D, Faby won 7 of 10 games to top the pool on hoop difference +14, from Ann Barrett +11.
​
A great carnival for Nelson Bay, winning 3 of the 4 blocks, including the perpetual trophy for winning Block A. Of particular note, Faby won all 5 games in the handicap round.
Nelson Bay Block Winners
Liz & Faby receive their awards
THOMPSON TROPHY C GRADE
Sunday 20th and 27th August 2023
With a record 22 entries, the 2023 Thompson Trophy C Grade was played over 2 days. The qualifying round was played on Sunday 20th August and the final round was played on Sunday 27th August.
​
The qualifying round was played in 5 blocks of 4 or 5 players, a round-robin of 3 or 4 games each. In Block A, Ralph Harrison was the narrow winner with 3 wins and +10 hoops over second placed Charles Gerussi with 3 wins and +6 hoops. In Block B, Faby Batho won 3 games out of 3 to finish top from Chris Bult with 2 wins. In Block C, Gary Allan finished top winning 4 games out of 4 from Col Chalkley who won 3 games. In Block D, Frank Orton won 3 games out of 3 to finish top from John O’Shea with 2 wins. In Block E, Pat Edmonds finished top winning 3 games out of 3 from Lynn Banbrook who won 2 games. A great first round with many new members playing their first competition.
​
The final round played on Sunday 27th August saw Gary Allen, Faby Batho, Pat Edmonds, Ralph Harrison and Frank Orton play a 4-game round-robin to determine the winner. Gary Allan was on fire winning all 4 games 7-2 (Ralph Harrison), 7-3 (Frank Orton), 7-0 (Pat Edmonds) and 7-1 (Faby Batho). The other games were tightly contested with Faby narrowly finishing 2nd with 2 wins and -1 hoops from Ralph in 3rd place with 2 wins and -4 hoops.
​
A great competition played in a tremendous spirit - congratulations to Club Captain, Rae Uptin, and thanks to referees Trevor Black, Barry Elliott, Peter Gordon and Margaret-Rose Thompson.
The finalists
Gary Allan receives the trophy
from Margaret-Rose Thompson
Rae Uptin with Gary Allan & Margaret-Rose Thompson