Indoor Croquet begins tonight (12 November2025) in the Clubhouse at 7-30pm.

Further evenings are scheduled as follows:

Wednesday 10 December 2025

Wednesday 14 January 2026

Wednesday 11 February 2026

Wednesday 11 March 2026

All at 7-30pm in the Clubhouse

AC ‘S’ League home match vs Reigate Priory CC

With Reigate’s confirmation of the early August fixture only the previous week, we had a scramble to prepare the lawn and gather a team (it’s challenging in holiday season…), needing to double mow the day before, paint the lines, and seek volunteers to help with lunch. So, thank you to Roger Stearn for captaining us, to Peter Coleman and Simon Charrington for making up the team with him, and to Denise Freestone and Pauline Bramworth for beautifully arranging the team lunch in the club committee room, and for clearing away afterwards – all essential help for the tea Thank you!

The match was Peter Coleman’s first competitive croquet match against another club, and with Reigate Priory CC fielding low handicappers Phil (7), Lucy (8) and Simon L (9), Ember were going to have their work cut out. The morning round saw Ember’s Simon Charrington play Reigate’s Phil in the singles, and Roger Stearn and Peter Coleman play Lucy and Simon L in the doubles. Simon Charrington (9) burned his two bisques in rapid fashion for no gain while Reigate’s Phil stormed into a commanding lead. Simon at last found some form with several long hit-ins and made good progress to challenge the lower handicap Reigate player. After slip-ups on both sides, Phil regained the initiative and from an unpromising position was able cleverly to engineer the final peg out of both balls to win 26-18. In the doubles, meanwhile, Ember’s Roger Stearn (10) and Peter Coleman (22), were making better progress with good use of bisques and tactical play, eventually catching up with the Reigate pair on the last turn of the match, making it 21-21, and then winning on the ‘golden hoop’. In the afternoon singles, Reigate’s Lucy got into her stride in a way that Roger Stearn was uncharacteristically unable to match and secured the second singles win for Reigate 26-12. In the doubles, Simon Charrington and Peter Coleman were keeping the initiative over Reigate’s Simon L and Phil throughout the game, and when the bisques had run out for the Ember pair, newcomer Peter Coleman executed some excellent mid-distance to long hit-ins to enable Ember to secure the second win.

Match result: 2-2.

AC ‘S’ League away match vs Cheam CC

Later in August, Ember still looking for their first match win of the season fielded an unchanged team to meet Cheam’s Andrew (7), Brian (7), and Debbie(20).

With only a bisque or two in it, these were well matched teams resulting in four very closely fought games. Roger Stearn had the clearest singles win (in the afternoon vs Brian) 23-17 and provided the strategy for the doubles victory with Peter Coleman in the morning 21-7. Simon Charrington’ match against Cheam’s Andrew in the morning singles ebbed and flowed with Simon always ahead except at one point when Andrew drew level, but the Cheam player failed to capitalise, giving Simon the opportunity to move ahead again and peg out both balls to win 26-22. In the afternoon doubles, Cheam’s Andrew and Debbie held the initiative for most of the game with Simon Charrington and Peter Coleman struggling to make any kind of impact. However, eventually, the Ember team’s moment came, and they didn’t look back, forging ahead to secure the fourth win for the day for the away team 17-11.

Match result – 4-0

Ember Croquet Club’s season so far: W1, L1 and drawn 1 with one match to play.

Winter

Small Lawn Roll-ups for remainder of the winter – Thursdays from 12 Noon subject to lawn condition and confirmation each week via the WhatsApp group, or any other day/time you choose, and message the group accordingly.

New Season

New season roll-ups starting as listed below, continuing each week until the end of the season September/October:


Sundays 2pm – AC, with GC or SC (Short Croquet) on the small lawn


Tuesdays 6pm – GC

Wednesdays 5pm – AC, with GC or SC (Short Croquet) on the small lawn

Thursdays 2pm – GC

GC Fun Sundays  

4 May

8 June

3 August

21 September

BBQ Sundays

18 May

22 June

20 July

17 August

Just to let you know, we play indoor croquet once a month during the winter in the Clubhouse. It’s fun and everyone is welcome to join in. Next session is Wednesday 18th December 7.30pm start.

A tightly contested final finished in a well-deserved victory for Sue and Tom after just under three hours of play. Each of the three games went to 5-5 and both teams ran 19 hoops showing how very close it was. Tom hardly missed a run; Sue was on fire; and Roger skilfully guided Louise through a tactics masterclass to keep them in close contention.

Roger and Louise took the first game 7-5 with some good play from everyone and some very close hoops. The second game was even tighter and went to a Golden Hoop with Sue and Tom inching ahead. The lead in the final game changed hands several times and a wonderful shot from Sue clinched victory in the final Golden Hoop. So, 5-7  7-6  7-6  was the score after a very exciting but extremely enjoyable final.

Dodging the rain another successful fun day was held on Sunday 22^nd September with a strong turn out of both members and guests, despite the weather. Thanks to Simon for setting it up and for bringing a new format.

This time we were all playing to win as many hoops as possible in every match so that the eventual winners would be the couple with the highest cumulative total of hoops. Three matches of 35 minutes were played giving a possible 21 hoops to play for.

Roger and Lena triumphed with a total of 16 hoops followed closely by Louise and Tony with 15.

It was another really fun occasion with tea and cakes throughout the afternoon and then a few finished off with a drink in the bar.