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:
Gala Day - Thursday 17th June
Thompson Trophy
- A Grade - Sunday 27th June
- 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
Sunday 13th June (11:00am)
Wednesday 23rd June (11:30am)
Monday 12th July
Wednesday 14th July
Sunday 18th July (12:30pm)
Monday 26th July (12:30am)
Saturday 31st July (12:30pm)
Sunday 29th August (12:30pm)
NB Birubi vs Newcastle NP (home)
NB Fingal vs Toronto Tornadoes (away)
NB Kingsley vs Newcastle NP (away)
NB Kingsley vs Newcastle NP (home)
NB Fingal Toronto Torpedoes (home)
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 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
NIGHT AT THE TROTS
Newscastle Paceway
Friday 21st May 2021
33 members boarded the Port Stephens Coaches bus for the 50 minute trip to the Newcastle Paceway for a "Night at the Trots" on Friday 21st May.
Heavy rain delayed the start of the meeting but eventually the track was declared fit to race. By then, everyone was settled into the restaurant with drinks and food on the way. A great night of harness racing followed with a number backing the winners but the majority out of luck.
Trevor and Rae Black took great interest in Races 7 and 9 as their grandson Matthew was the reinsman for one of the runners. Everyone was on. board with the bookies but Matthew failed to salute.
A great night depute the rather late finish..
Thank you, Kerry Sprigg and Len Graff for organising the night out.
Winners are grinners
A "Night at the Trots"
A great night out
NSW STATE GC HANDICAP SINGLES
Taree Croquet Club
14th-16th May 2021
Taree Croquet Club hosted the NSW Golf Croquet Handicap Singles State Championship from 14th to 16th May 2021. 6 players from around the State entered but the Championship was willing contested despite the modest numbers. Peter Gordon entered from Nelson Bay and he won the day.
Peter won 8 from 10 games as did Bernie McAlary (Wollongong) but Peter was declared the winner on hoop count back.
Congratulations to Peter, great win.
Peter Gordon receives his award
WINTER HANDICAP DOUBLES
16th May 2021
The Winter Doubles attracted entries from 28 members giving 14 randomly drawn teams. The teams were seeded into 2 blocks of 4 and one block of 6 with all blocks playing a round of 3 games.
Block A was won by Trevor Black & Jenny Turner with 3 wins from Victor Goodsir & Tony Knife on 2 wins. Block B was won by Kay Smith & Anke Crick with 2 wins but on hoop count back from David Wilson & Ros Slaughter. Block C was won by Rae Uptin & Ian Spight with 3 wins but on hoop count back from Linda Butler & Bob Jackson.
In the semi-finals, Rae & Ian beat Kay & Anke 5-1 while Linda & Bob beat Trevor & Jenny 4-3. In the final, Linda & Bob triumphed 5-2 over Rae & Ian.
Well done, Linda & Bob.
Bob Jackson and Linda Butler
NSW STATE GC HANDICAP DOUBLES
Taree Croquet Club
12th-14th May 2021
Taree Croquet Club hosted the NSW Golf Croquet Handicap Doubles State Championship from 12th to 14th May 2021. 22 players from around the State entered with three teams travelling from Nelson Bay: Cheryl Lloyd & Jim Ball, Sherry & Peter Gordon, and Kay Smith & Rae Uptin.
Sherry & Peter finished top after the round-robin, winning 9 of 10 games and only losing to the Nelson Bay pair of Cheryl & Jim. Cheryl & Jim finished 2nd with 7 wins to also qualify for the semi-final play-offs, while Kay & Rae finished 7th with 4 wins to qualify for the 5th to 8th play-off.
In the semi-finals, Sherry & Peter beat Phil Monds & Darren Warner (EDSACC) 7-6 while Cheryl & Jim beat Lesley Salzmann & Jill Sullivan (Sutherland) 7-6 to produce an all Nelson Bay final. Cheryl & Jim won the final 7-5 to become NSW Golf Croquet Handicap Doubles State Champions.
In the 5th to 8th play-off Kay & Rae beat Lorraine Sheargold & John Reynolds (EDSACC) 7-3 and then Helen Chalmers & Ruth Mulvaney (Toronto) 7-6 to finish 5th.
A great result for the Nelson Bay Croquet Club with 1st, 2nd and 5th positions in a State Championship.
Congratulations to Cheryl & Jim, Sherry & Peter and Kay & Rae.
Sherry, Peter, Rae, Jim, Kay and Cheryl outside the Taree Clubhouse
Cheryl & Jim (left) and Sherry & Peter (right) receive their winner and runner-up awards
AUSTRALIAN GC OPEN SINGLES
CAIRNLEE, VICTORIA
12th-16th May 2021
Sandy Tawa played in the Australian Open Golf Croquet Singles, featuring the best croquet players in Australia. The championship was played in Cairnlea, Victoria from 12th-16th May. Sandy did not make the cut from her bottom seeding, but 3 of her 5 wins (from 16 games) were against the top 3 seeds and she had 5 6-7 losses. A fabulous showing in an Australian Championship.
Sandy Tawa
TAREE WILD FIG CARNIVAL
4th-7th May 2021
Taree Croquet Club organised their club's annual Wild Fig Carnival from 4th to 7th May 2021. The carnival comprises both singles and doubles Golf Croquet handicap play. 36 players from around the State entered the carnival.
Liz Friend, Cheryl Lloyd, Sandy Tawa and Rae Uptin from Nelson Bay travelled to Taree for the carnival. Cheryl and Sandy were seeded on handicap into Block A of the singles and partnered each other in Block A of the doubles. Liz was seeded into Block C of the singles and Rae into Block D and they partnered each other in Block B of the doubles,
Sandy & Cheryl won the Block A Doubles being unbeaten, winning 8 from 8 games, while Sandy won the Block A Singles winning 6 from 7 games. Rae was runner-up in the Block D Singles winning 6 from 8 games, the same number of wins as winner Lyn Gleeson of Smithtown but coming 2nd on hoop count back
Sandy, Liz, Rae and Cheryl outside the Taree Clubhouse
Cheryl and Sandy receive their awards
Rae receives her awards
