Category: News

This is an event that is open to all FEMCC clubs, and will be held at Ashby on Monday 10th August with a 10am start time. It is primarily aimed at players relatively new to AC, but anyone in a FEMCC club is eligible to play.

Please contact Arthur Rowe our AC league manager at acleagues@eastmidlandscroquet.org.uk, if you would like to enter

We had ten competitors for this year’s FEMCC/ACC Veterans GC Tournament, including one all the way from Gainsborough and two from Long Eaton. For the first three rounds competitors were drawn against random opponents.

The top four finishers, based on the number of wins then hoop difference, progressed to the semi-finals, while everyone else played a consolation round.

The games were all played to a 45-minute time limit.

In the semi-finals Ormond Hooper beat John Picken 6-4, and Rupert Knapton beat Chris Jackson 7-6.

Luckily, the rain that was forecast did not arrive until near the end of the final. Ormond Hooper played with skill and craft throughout the final making a number of hoops from acute angles to win the tournament by 7 hoops to 5. The photograph below shows Ormond receiving the trophy from last year’s winner Martin Wroughton.

Winner: Ormond Hooper
Runner-up: Rupert Knapton

Report by Rupert Knapton (manager)

Six croquet clubs from across the East Midlands competed in Ashby’s annual Dixon Shield tournament for teams of three, sponsored by Dixon Engineering Ltd of Swadlincote. This competition often results in a close finish, and this year was no exception with Ashby narrowly emerging as winners in a tight contest.

In the first stage of the competition, the Ashby team of Colin Carr, Christine Mounfield and John Picken finished top of their block after 8 wins and a draw from their 12 singles games. They were followed by Leicester on 7 wins and Derby with two wins and a draw.

Meanwhile, the other block was topped by Bakewell with 7 wins, just ahead of Long Eaton with 6 wins and a draw. Nottingham finished with 4 wins and a draw.

In the final session, each team faced the team finishing in the equivalent position in the opposite block. Ashby won 3-2 (with one draw) against Bakewell, giving Ashby 11 wins and 2 draws overall.

Leicester, despite a late rally, finished the day just behind Ashby on 11 wins and a draw, which secured the Dixon Shield trophy for the home team for the third consecutive year by the narrowest of margins.

The concurrent individual competition for the Dixon Cup was equally close. Ashby’s captain John Picken started well with four emphatic wins, However he failed to maintain his form in the latter stages and in the end had to settle for fourth place after a narrow 4-5 defeat in a crucial final-round game to closest rival Tim Spray of Bakewell.

Tim Spray finished unbeaten with 5 wins and a draw to claim the Dixon Cup. Incidentally, he is the third Tim in a row to win the cup, following victories for Tim King in 2024 and Tim Ash in 2025.

Ashby’s Christine Mounfield performed well throughout and finished as runner-up with 5 wins, followed by Owen Pugh (Leicester) in third place on hoop difference.

Dixon Shield results
1st Ashby (11 wins, 2 draws)
2nd Leicester (11 wins, 1 draw)
3rd Nottingham (9 wins, 1 draw; hoop diff +4)
4th Bakewell (8 wins, 3 draws; hoop diff -11)
5th Long Eaton (7 wins, 2 draws)
6th Derby (3 wins, 1 draw)

Dixon Cup results (top 5)
1st Tim Spray, Bakewell (5 wins, 1 draw)
2nd Christine Mounfield, Ashby (5 wins, hoop diff +18)
3rd Owen Pugh, Leicester (5 wins, hoop diff +11)
4th John Picken, Ashby (4 wins, 1 draw, hoop diff +18)
5th Celia Billau, Nottingham (4 wins, 1 draw, hoop diff +9)

Report from Richard Sanville manager of the tournament

The winning Ashby team of Colin Carr, Chris Mounfield and John Picken

Date: Monday 1st June 2026  

Time: 10.00am start

Venue: Ashby Croquet Club, Moira

Entry Fee: £10 – pay on the day

Format: Level Play singles, 6 rounds. Open to members of FEMCC clubs. No handicap restrictions.

Eligibility: Age 65+

Limit: 16 players

Please bring any food and drink you will need.

Entries to Rupert Knapton: rupertknapton@gmail.com 

Closing date: Friday 29th May (or earlier if fully subscribed) 

The 2026 Dixon Cup and Shield will be held at Ashby Croquet Club on Saturday 16th May, start time 10.00am. The entry fee is £30 per team of 3 payable on entry and closing date for entries is 25th April 2026.

Click here to see the Dixon Cup and Shield 2026 flyer

Applications open on 1st January for this Doubles Golf Croquet competition organised by Southwell Croquet Club. Further details are on this flyer.

On 19th August four teams contested the 26pt AC league event: Ashby, Leicester, Nottingham and Pinchbeck. It was the first time the event had been held at Leicester, and with only two lawns available the format had to be adjusted somewhat. Each match consisted of a doubles and a singles game, with 3 rounds of the teams playing each other. Different doubles pairings were used for each round, with the teams free to choose to play conventional or alternate strokes doubles. One substitute was allowed for each team, and Ashby and Leicester took advantage of this in the last round, to allow a player to attend an evening commitment, and to give a new player a chance to play competitive AC.

The result was decided on match wins (ie both singles and doubles game won), game wins, who-beat-who, then net hoops. The rounds were run with set finish times, which meant that the event finished roughly when expected – and before it was dark! At the end, every team had 3 game wins, but only 3 teams had one match win (Nottingham finished 1-1 in all their matches). The three teams had all beaten each other, and so it came down to net hoops and Ashby emerged as the winner after a few minutes checking the results.

Ashby will therefore represent the East Midlands in the Secretary’s Shield national competition next year.

The winning Ashby team of (L to R) Andy Sherwood, Arthur Rowe and Richard Sanville

The team of David Bell, Mark Buckley and Alison Murray all of Leicester were joined by Keith Pound (Ashby) and John Carrington (Broadwas – his mum was born in Leicester) at Cheltenham to represent Leicestershire in Division 2 of the inter Counties. The aim was not necessarily to win but to ensure promotion to avoid travelling to Southwick in 2026.  The lawns lacked grass and the hoops were rock solid which was testing most people. At the end of day one Leicestershire were in 5th position so still in with a chance. Some teams dropped away but the overall winners were Croquet England Select but as composite team they cannot officially win, followed by Northamptonshire and then Leicestershire with the same number of test wins but a few less games. Leicestershire attained their objective with promotion and back to Cheltenham next year. Good job done!

The Leicestershire team Keith Pound, David Bell, Jon Carrington, Alison Murray and Mark Buckley

Four players contested this FEMCC 14pt handicap event on Saturday 2nd August, in an all-play-all format played to base 6 (meaning that everyone with a handicap above 6 got some bisques). This worked well with all the games being completed within the 90 minute time limit, although only just in some cases. Half the games were close, with a difference of 4 or less. Andy Sherwood from Ashby won all his games and took home the trophy, with Tim Ash from Nottingham runner up with 2 wins. Andy also earned a handicap reduction to 6.

Arthur Rowe our AC leagues manager presenting Andy Sherwood (Ashby) with the Jim Kirby Cup

Ant Graham, Peggy Dellar and Mark Innes – the winning Nottingham team

14pt AC league report 5th July 2025 by Richard Sanville