Many thanks for your kindness

A very generous Blewbury member has made the club a donation of £5,000. And the same donor has promised the club that another £5,000 is on its way, specifically to maintain the lawns in their present excellent condition.

This follows an earlier donation of £2,000 from another pair of members, plus other smaller donations plus Gift Aid and it means we have received more than £11,000 in the last month.

Treasurer Edmund Shirley said: “My understanding is that all these donations are for maintenance of the lawns, rather than proposed projects. These donations should therefore cover summer and autumn maintenance for 2-3 years.”

Secretary David Long said: “This means we no longer have an urgent cash-flow problem. But we still need to balance our books going forward.”

Scammers target our coffers

On the subject of money… spare a thought for our hard-working treasurer Edmund Shirley, who has borne the brunt of a fraudulent campaign to target Blewbury’s bank account. 

On four occasions recently a scammer has tried to set up direct debits to withdraw cash from our coffers. Through Edmund’s diligence, however, not to a penny has been lost. “It just causes grief and takes up a lot of my time,” he said.

Dealing with banks on matters like this is never a speedy procedure. Typically you get transferred from the people who deal with direct debits to the fraud department, then to the customer services operatives and then back to fraud department. All this interspersed with interminable waits to be transferred. 

Like all financial institutions, the custodians of our cash, Lloyds Bank, live in mortal fear of breaching data protection. So they will never tell you what they know.

Meanwhile Edmund (above) has plenty of better things to do with his time, such as our 2025 accounts.

“Whoever was trying this on wasn’t looking for big sums of money,” he said, “but if it happens again I will be straight on to the police.”

Say hello to the new members 

Let’s give a warm welcome to the four new members  who have joined our club in the last couple of weeks, as well as huge kudos to Tim Leverton for heading up our recent highly-successful recruitment campaign.

Three of the new signings are from Caversham — Jane Probitts and Anne and Tim Small. Having them on board means we are getting a return on the money we have spent on the new irrigation system; they want to play on very good courts instead of, er… not so good courts.

Jane has stood down from the Caversham committee but will keep her membership of Phyllis Court, where she is a GC doubles partner of Croquet England’s coaching committee chair, Ruth Raunkiaer (pictured right). 

Tim Small joins us as a qualified coach and referee and has already put in a substantial shift with our lawn maintenance team. 

When not on the croquet lawn he sings in the Riverate male-voice choir alongside our treasurer Edmund Shirley. Now we only need Placido Domingo to complete the Three Tenors. Tim’s wife, Anne was — like her husband — a long serving officer in the Thames Valley Police.

Our other new member in August was Howard Arnes, a former Lloyds Bank manager who lives in Cumnor and is a member of the same bridge club as Sandy Millikin.

The club membership has now risen to 57, with more strong prospects in the pipeline.

Victory at last… that’s Andy!

Here’s a happy picture to cheer up those who have been  following our GC teams in the SCF Leagues this season.

Blewbury’s A team lost all their fixtures in the Open League and then B squad in the 3+ League are not doing much better, having only this week’s 4-4 with High Wycombe to show for their efforts.

The top side finished their matches with a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of champions Phyllis Court, Andy Jones grabbing our only win by beating the Henley Club’s international star Chris Roberts. 

No wonder Andy (pictured right) looks happy. He even got a glowing reference in the Henley Standard, penned by the man he conquered!

Those who have been following the club news feed will know that our David Vincent-inspired C team has fared much better, winning the Advantage Central Division. They wait for a date for a play-off final against the other divisional champions. 

One confirmed date for your diaries is September 23rd, when Carol Jamieson’s successful doubles squad, having won the south division, play off against north champions Eynsham for the overall league title. We’ve got the home advantage for that one.

And Blewbury will stage an even bigger event on September 26th, when Nottingham take on Roehampton in the final of the AC Mary Rose inter-club competition.

Don’t be a mug… buy one! 

This tasteful coffee mug is the latest addition to the Blewbury merchandising campaign. On sale at a bargain £9, it can be purchased from the clubhouse.

You can order one through the blue file along with clothing such as polo shirts, zip fleeces and beanie hats for winter croquet.

Tim Leverton, who is heading up the sales pitch, said: “It’s a good time to get your orders in for cold weather gear. Buy now while stocks last.”

Some samples of the clothing will be available at the Fun Day on August Bank Holiday Monday. Tim can be contacted on 07515 955098.

Farewell to a Blewbury hero

This week we mourned the passing of former Blewbury president Coral Richards, a long-serving member of the village’s parish council. A speech therapist, mountaineer and keen tennis player, she was hugely active in village life.

As a parish councillor for 24 years, Coral was instrumental in creating the various sports facilities on both sides of Boham’s Road, including our croquet grounds and the skatepark.

She sat on several croquet sub-committees during the 2000s and her husband, John, project-managed our WC. Coral personally funded the over-run on that project’s costs and officially opened “The John” in his memory after his death in 2011.

Having tragically lost a son in an accident, Coral is survived by two daughters and seven grandchildren.

Sunday roll-ups on the way

We’re starting Sunday afternoon roll-ups from October 4th, with one court each for AC and GC. Keep an eye on the TeamUp calendar for details.

These weekend roll-ups constitute a trial over the winter and are not guaranteed going forward. They will only happen on Sundays when there is no priority booking, such as for proposed winter competitions and coaching activities.

There are also a couple of weekends earmarked for private lawn hire, so members are urged to check the calendar — and sign up — before turning up on this assumption that it’ll be happening.

Also, both courts are likely to be out of action from October 12th to late November for autumn maintenance. An announcement will be forthcoming.

• Stop Press: This week’s other committee decisions include…

• Roll-up clashes: Prebendal matches CAN be played during a roll-up, but only using one of the two courts. GC matches booked to start after a roll-up could be started earlier if a court is available and other players present agree.
• GC bookings: Competition and friendly matches should expect to be double-banked.