Tournaments

Croquet tournaments are an excellent way to hone your skills and learning, enjoy the ambience of a club at its best, and get to know players from other clubs in a convivial yet competitive atmosphere. Catering and liquid refreshments are usually on offer. Most tournaments are weekends but some are longer. Nottingham’s flagship “Annual Tournament” lasts for six days and has been going since the club was founded. For most tournaments it is good etiquette (and for a few, required protocol) to wear “predominately white” clothing. We hope many of our members will enjoy tournament play, either at our own club, or perhaps sometimes travelling to other clubs around the country.

The Croquet Association website provides details of many tournaments at clubs around the country, and for most provides an online entry form. You can also enter tournaments by sending an entry form to the relevant club’s tournament secretary. John Filsak is our tournament secretary.

As a club we host a range of tournaments each year, partly for the benefit of our own members who might prefer not to travel and stay away for tournament play, partly to engage in the wider croquet world, and partly because tournaments generate revenue for the club (from fees, catering and refreshments) and help to keep our subscription rates affordable.

Players visiting our tournaments may find this page useful.

At the time of writing, we plan to host the following tournaments in 2025:

Dates	Event	Lawns
5 May	One-Ball Club Heat *	4
8-11 May	AC CqE Peels	4
17 May	One Ball Regional Final	4
31 May -1 June	AC B Level	4
7 June	GC Club Doubles Day *	4
11-15 June	AC Mens & Womens	4
21-22 June	Schools & Juniors	4
27-29 June	AC East Midlands Championship	4
5-6 July	AC C Level	3 or 4
8 July	GC D Level	4
9 July	GC C Level	4
10 July	GC B Level	4
12-13 July	GC Championship	4
26-27 July	AC Hallam Doubles *	4
11-16 August	AC Annual Tournament	4
23-25 August	GC Third Eight	4
30-31 August	AC Open W/E	4
6-7 September	AC Handicap W/E	2 or 4
13 September	AC Derek Blow Beginners Event *	4

The four marked * are internal club tournaments for our own members only; the others are promoted nationally by the Croquet Association on its fixtures calendar and will attract players from other clubs.

Most tournaments start at 9:30 am. The number of lawns required is an estimate, and will depend on entries. More up to date information will be available on the club calendar and the lawn booking system.

Sometimes during tournaments, some of the lawns may become free after tea time, but it cannot be guaranteed. Always consult (but never pester) the tournament manager before occupying an empty-looking lawn. It may be needed.

Directions and information about food, drink and accommodation are available for Tournament Visitors.

Social, Community & Workplace Groups

Please note: bookings for these activities will be suspended from 29/7/2024 while our east lawns are being redeveloped. We hope to be able to welcome your group back to our improved facilities from about mid 2025.

As a club, we love to welcome a whole range of social groups, clubs and voluntary organisations and also workplace and corporate groups to come and enjoy some croquet, maybe for an annual outing, or as a special occasion in your calendar. Whether your group are skateboarders or seniors, bell-ringers or board gamers, Samaritans or Soroptimists, or indeed blue-chip corporates, we’ll do our best to make sure you have a wonderful, memorable time. Groups normally stay for around 2 to 3 hours. We provide all the croquet equipment; you just need to come wearing flat-soled footwear such as trainers and dressed for the outdoors. Friendly volunteer club members will be there to host and look after you: to set up equipment in advance, welcome you, show you how to hit a ball straight, explain a quickly learnable form of croquet, answer questions and generally do our best to make sure you have a great time.

“Thank you so much for hosting our away day yesterday – we had a fantastic time. The hosts were amazing with us, the food was delicious and we felt very well looked after. It was a lovely day and much needed for the team.” (NHS group)

“Oh my goodness- it was such a lovely day- everyone had such a great time and the feedback has been brill. The club members were fantastic as always “ (Corporate group)

“Overall, it really was a wonderful day and I’m sure we will be back next year” (Community group)

Some groups like to bring their own refreshments to picnic in our beautiful grounds. If you prefer, for an extra charge we may be able to serve your group with hot or cold drinks or perhaps an afternoon tea. Let us know what you’d like and we’ll do our best to make it a great experience for your group.

This format is generally suitable for groups of between 12 and 40, but talk to us if you’re outside this range – we may be able to help.

Do get in touch using our contact form if your group might be interested, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can, and find a suitable date.

Non-profit community organisations and clubs pay a modest fee for these sessions, to cover the use of our finely tended lawns, club quality equipment, refreshments if required, and the support of one or more of our hosts.

Workplace and corporate groups with a little more budget can sometimes be accommodated with a custom package involving more varied, organised and supported competitive play involving several croquet variations, a team of hosts, prizes for winning teams, and possibly a catering offer. We can sometimes accommodate larger numbers for such events. Talk to us and we’ll create a great event for you.