From the President

Welcome everyone. 

As I missed out on sending you a Newsletter for October I am going back in time slightly. 

 Labour Weekend: A time when many of us manage to get away and relax with family or friends. 

This year it was slightly different for some of us at Kelburn. Hosting the CNZ AC Club Championship, organised by the WCA, with 24 players from Auckland to Christchurch was an honour I appreciated being involved with and my very sincere thanks go to the helpers who were part of getting up early and being there before the players to set up the lawns – Jim Brough (also with a lovely plate of food for the players from Margot each day), Colin, Brian and Scott – not to mention Jane who was there from the start of the day till the players left. My fantastic supporters in the kitchen, especially Lisa who gave up two days of her weekend, after working all week, and Lyn who came to my rescue on the BBQ evening, thank goodness, that was a relief: Joan with your “oh so popular” freshly baked focaccia bread every lunch time – my team of ladies who arranged to come for several hours: Marion, Barbara, Janice, Colleen, Gaynor, Jeannie, Judith, Alverie and Alison. Then there were the willing hands who provided the morning and afternoon tea treats – thank you to you all - without all your help we could not have given the players the good standard of catering they needed and very much appreciated. Kelburn has always had a good reputation for looking after their guests on occasions such as this and my aim is to keep that standard high. Our congratulations also go to the winning team – Whakatane which our young club member, Callum, was a part of.  Well done everyone. 

We had no sooner finished looking after the AC players, when we turned our attention to the Wellington Heritage Festival - which Jane did an incredible job bringing Kelburn Municipal Croquet Club to the fore, displaying our 110 years. On her own initiative Jane worked tirelessly away, seeking a little help from Deidre and Wendy, two of our older members, as well as Mary Morris who has been part of heritage work in a different direction in the past and now we are opening our club doors to the public to peruse the many photos and croquet memorabilia over the 110 years of the Club’s heritage. Also Lisa who was able to arrange help from a printer friend. Congratulations Jane and well done for persevering quietly on a difficult task. Our club rooms were quite transformed for a couple of hours on the public open days.

Our Interclub GC tournament is still going till the end of November and our teams are doing well. Our congratulations to the Wednesday team – David Robinson, Denise Ongley and Ron Rosenberg for winning this section of the competition.  Our Sunday teams still have a couple of weeks to play.

We have many activities coming up this summer and starting very shortly is our first corporate event.

Denise is in charge of getting helpers for all the events and again there are plenty of them, she will be asking for your support and it is greatly needed, so please, check your diaries and when you are at the club next, let Denise have your name. If she is not there, then look for the list on the main notice board and fill your name in on the date which suits you best. You don’t need to stay for the full length of time, one hour is better than nothing but two hours gives you a bit of fun and pleasure as well as our visitors. All Thursdays and Fridays in December are booked but we still need helpers. Our first company rang in July to book a place in December, so it shows how popular these fun croquet Christmas events have become for the corporate firms in Wellington. Without these events and funds and YOUR HELP our club would struggle and have no option but to increase the annual fee to a very high level.   

Our Christmas lunch will be on Saturday 16 December. As usual it will be “please bring a plate of food to share” plus something for the food basket for the City Mission as has always been our custom, and also the Committee have made the decision that, instead of giving a gift to each other we will give a small gift for the people less fortunate than ourselves. These will also be given to the City Mission to distribute at Christmas. I’m sure adults or children’s presents would be gratefully accepted. 

This is all for now, but remember the Christmas lunch on the Saturday 16 December and also, please check your diaries for lending a hand with the corporates. 

Best wishes, 

Mary Egley
President

Wellington City Mission - items most needed at Christmas

Toys, food, baby needs … below are links to the items most-needed at Christmas.

• https://lightupchristmas.wellingtoncitymission.org.nz/toy-store/
• https://lightupchristmas.wellingtoncitymission.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/10/Most-Need-Items-Christmas-22_compressed-1.pdf

From the Club Captain

Interclub update

Thank you to all those who supported our club by competing in the interclub competitions. We had six teams in three competitions. For some, the results on your AHS cards may not have been quite what you were intending but I hope you enjoyed the experience of playing people from other clubs and visiting other clubs.

Congratulations

• Ron Rosenberg and Denise Ongley whose GC handicaps are now 7.
• David Robinson, Ron Rosenberg and Denise Ongley were winners of the GC Wednesday interclub competition which was level play doubles and singles.
• Ron Rosenberg and Denise Ongley, who have won their group in the GC Sunday interclub competition which was handicap singles and doubles. Details of the play-off yet to come.
• David Robinson and Pádraig O’Connor just missed out on second place in that pool while, in the other pool, Jim Brough and Colette McKenzie finished second.
• Alison Robinson and Kathleen Coleridge came second in the AC Monday handicap doubles competition.
• Alison Robinson, runner-up in the CNZ Women’s AC invitation event. 
• Callum McKinnon, fourth placing in the CNZ GC Top 10 invitation event.

And thank you to our referees, Wayne Gair, Alison Robinson and Sandy Lawson.

Sunday play, club competitions and competitions elsewhere  

Pádraig O’Connor has created a Sunday WhatsApp group – contact him to be added to this group if you want to play on Sundays. Also contact him if you want more information about GC club competitions and GC competitions elsewhere.

GC handicap challenge ladder - singles handicap

This will be starting soon; contact me to be added – you can join this during the season. It will be Advantage handicap.

Don Reyland handicap singles – club competition

Contact me by 25 November if you want to enter. This needs to be completed by the end of January as the winner plays the representatives of other clubs at Kelburn in February. The Match Committee will decide on the method of play after entries have closed. It will be an extra strokes handicap competition.

Junior GC challenge ladder

This is a new competition for those in the 12 – 16 handicap range and will be level play. See me for more details.

110th season event – Wellington Anniversary weekend

Any ideas for format? It was suggested that it could be GC doubles playing side style. 
 

Jane Norman
Club Captain

News

Mulched!

If your croquet balls manage to bounce over the new higher wooden border along the north fence, they should be easier to find on this nice bed of mulch, which was spread by a fit and speedy gang of helpers last week. Thanks to Dougal Ongley for the solution to keeping the mulch from escaping around the sides of the shelters, and to Brian Black for the photos and help.