Establishment of Croquet in Beverley.
By Beverley Hoey
As some members are aware, I've been approached by the Beverley Bowling Club to assist in the re-establishment of croquet here in Beverley as the Bowling Club has an unused grass court that they wish to utilise.
Background- the Bowling Club invited myself and my husband, Jeffrey, to attend their June Committee meeting to discuss the possibility of re-establishing croquet here in Beverley and they were aware that I had played in Esperance and had joined the York Croquet Club. Jeffrey and I agreed to help out, with the assistance of members of the Bowling Club Committee. To this end Jeffrey took on the task of mowing the lawn (weeds) to help re-establish the lawn. My input has been to go down and dig out capeweed and other weeds. An approach to the Beverley Shire to 'tap' into the re-use water that waters the lawn tennis courts (located directly behind the Bowling Club) was successful and this has lessened the cost of watering, which as York knows only too well, can be expensive especially during the summer months.
I approached CroquetWest for assistance in gaining equipment and have been successful in securing some 2nd hand mallets, which should be available by the end of this month.
The York Croquet Club has very kindly donated 2 sets of balls and Jan (from Greenhills) has given me a set of old hoops to use until I can source hoops. Again, I must express, on behalf of the Beverley Bowling Club, my sincere thanks to York and Jan.
Currently – The 'green' is still pretty rough, but playable as the couch is slowly winning over the capeweed. At this point my sincere thanks to Helen and Neville Giles who came up on 8th October for a game with myself and Delia Seabrooke (who lives in Beverley and like me travels up to play with York). Once the mallets have arrived I shall organise a 'come and have a go' afternoon for people within the Beverley community.
I'm also pleased to advise that there has been a fair amount of interest expressed within Beverley of people wanting to 'have a go' as I go down at least once a week and have a practice whilst Jeffrey's mowing so that people can see what is going on.
Conclusion – I would like to very much thank York Croquet Club for their assistance and moral support with this project and to those members who have offered to come to Beverley, once a regular playing date has been established, to show people how the game is played.
Beverley Hoey.