Kind Words from Australia
On the other side of the world The Chatswood Croquet Club in Willoughby, Australia has, like us, a quarterly newsletter. It is called The Mallet and this is an article which appeared in their October edition (which hits the news-stands a bit earlier than Clang does).
PLAYING CROQUET ELSEWHERE - BOWDON CLUB'S "NORTHERN WEEK"
The leafy green suburb of Bowdon lies about 40 km south of Manchester in England, and is host to a thriving croquet club. It was my good fortune to be travelling in England in July 2010, and to be allowed to play in one of this club's most popular annual events. The clubhouse is not the usual tiny make-do affair - it is attractively set in the surrounding urban landscape and has a spacious ground floor with separate male and female dressing rooms, an open kitchen and bar area, and a dining room for at least 20 people looking directly onto the 4 lawns.
For the 6 days that I was present, there was always a constant buzz of activity and animated conversation going on. The tournament manager Lorna Frost set the pace with her loud and confident manner, and she ran all the various competitions with marvellous clarity and good humour. No-one was uninformed or left without a game - and she herself managed to compete very successfully. Three matches of 3 hours each were scheduled each day, with a break between each match for a meal. These were no ordinary meals laid on - there were several tables all groaning with delicious food - hot and cold, meat and vegetarian, savoury and sweet. After one of these royal repasts and a glass or two of wine, it was well-nigh impossible to get up from the dining table and do proper battle on the lawns.
At one point I commented on a marvellous caricature of the famous croquet-playing Lord Tollemache, framed and hanging on one of the clubhouse walls. Someone overheard me, and mentioned it to another member, who walked to his home a mile away, ran me off a high-resolution copy on his printer, and presented it to me within the hour. I said how pleased I was with it - but had some qualms about transporting the vulnerable paper image in my suitcase all the way back to Australia. I went back out to play - and within another hour the charming President Martin Granger Brown had dashed back to his home, found a very sturdy cardboard envelope, and casually presented me with that. For those not in the know, Bentley Lyonel John, 3rd Baron Tollemache (1883-1955), was a superb croquet player who dominated the scene in the between-war years, and wrote two classic croquet books (now very scarce and valuable). The artist was the well-known croquet writer and Punch cartoonist H. F. Crowther-Smith. It is my hope that members will soon be able to appreciate his caricature in our clubhouse.
As I made to leave the tournament after 6 days of hugely enjoyable play, not only did the President present me with a Gold Medal (for my first triple peel under the CA aegis) but he also invited me to sign the very special Visitors' Register. In browsing through the heavy historic tome - now some 100 years old, I happened upon the signature of Lord Tollemache. Dated 1 June 1924 and having turned to a pristine page, he had signed at the top with a flourishing and majestic single word - Tollemache. I felt honoured to even have my name in the same book as this virtuoso.
Martyn Prins
