Croquet

Croquet at Club Tamborine

A Message from the Tamborine Mountain Croquet Club President

 

We are a warm, friendly group of people who love the game where males and females can play on an equal level.

The game is low impact and involves strategy and skill rather than brute strength. Some have likened it to a cross between chess and billiards/snooker the way the strategy unfolds during a game.


Played outdoors on a level green, it is a fun game to play and is the perfect way to get exercise, enjoy the sunshine and partake in the camaraderie that comes from playing a team sport.

The club is eligible to participate in pennant competitions with other affiliated clubs through Croquet Queensland.

Instruction and coaching are available for croquet novices and equipment costs are low. Croquet mallets are available for free for a few weeks when trying out the game.

We are always looking for new members. If you would like to come and see what our sport is all about, please drop in to Club Tamborine on Monday mornings and see us in action. You will be made most welcome and we will happily answer any of your questions and show you the game.

Alternatively, please contact us using the link below.

Hope to see you soon.



Heidi Taylor

President

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Croquet HIstory

Croquet is an important part of the history of Club Tamborine. Pre WW2 (year unknown) the site of Club Tamborine was originally used as a croquet court. An excerpt from the Beaudesert Times in 1975 recounts the history of the site as follows:

“Mrs Blanche Bayne, who lived in Long Road, bought land in Beacon Road and later gave it to the Croquet Club. She helped finance the provision of the court and continued her interest in the game as patroness. The area was known as Bayne Court. The club attracted a good following until WW2 began to involve the Mountain womenfolk in patriotic activities. Croquet faded out”.

With the return of service personnel after the War, the Croquet Club donated the land to the RSL to become a lasting memorial centre in honour of those who served, and for those who did not return.

In the late 1990s, Katherine Wheildon, a croquet Club Captain from Eildon Croquet Club, moved to the mountain and began to make inquiries around town to see if there was any interest in forming a Tamborine Mountain Croquet Club.

A group of 15-18 locals (both male and female) responded and an incorporated croquet club was formed in 1999. Their home ground at that time was the centre of the oval at the local show grounds. This ground proved unsuitable for croquet and they soon moved to Geissmann Oval with the assistance of the Beaudesert Shire Council.

Unfortunately, this ground also proved to be unsuitable for croquet. Out of the blue, the croquet club received an offer from the Chairman of the Board of the Tamborine Mountain Bowling Club (the ancestral home of croquet) to use one of their bowling greens for croquet on Monday and Thursday mornings.

The croquet club readily accepted the offer and were installed at the Bowling Club (now Club Tamborine) in April 2000.

Today, the Tamborine Mountain Croquet Club offers players what is known as golf croquet and continue to call Club Tamborine their home.


Where did Croquet originate?


While stick and ball games have been played throughout history, records of ball and hoop games are more contemporary. In the middle ages in England and Europe one game known as "Pall Mall" was played in London and from which the well-known street is named. This involved hitting a single ball through very wide hoops.


The origins of the modern game though are vague.

The modern game is reputed to have started in Ireland in the 1830s and taken to England during the 1850s. It became an instant success, one reason being because it provided the first opportunity for women to participate in an outdoor sport on an equal basis with men. (Ref: oxfordcroquet.com)


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