A New Trophy for the Short Croquet
Competition
This season, those of us competing in the Short Croquet Competition have an extra incentive to be determined in our pursuit of victory. In memory of Professor John Larmouth who died last summer, Carol Larmouth has donated to the club a fine plated cup (shown above) to be presented to future Short Croquet winners.The cup will be known as the John Larmouth Short Croquet Trophy, and is engraved as such. The names of winners since 2000 have already been engraved on the plinth.
John won the trophy in 2005, and always enjoyed the tactical challenge set by Short Croquet, which is especially intolerant of any error. Failure to run a hoop, or miss a roquet, invariably offers your opponent a good chance of hitting in. The short lawn wiring rule means that you must pay more attention to placement of your opponent’s balls, even during an innings, than you would in the full lawn format. Good leaves are particularly difficult to set up.
A new sheltered bench has also been provided as a memorial to John by close friends. It is entirely fitting that the bench overlooks our usual venue for Short Croquet, lawn 4, from the ‘lawn 2 corner’. Although already in use, the bench will be formally opened on 3rd April, the first Wednesday competition day of the season. This means that when you are unfortunately watching your opponent play an innings, at least you will have the comfort of an excellent place to sit.
John Lucas