AGM results - new committee, fee structure

At a well-attended Annual General Meeting today, members of Kelburn Municipal Croquet Club voted in a new committee for the 2024/25 year, approved a new fee structure designed to recognise the way people want to play croquet these days, and approved the draft Club Plan that has been widely consulted on with members and was circulated with the AGM papers.

Officers and Committee for 2024/25

President: Mary Egley

Club Captain: Jim Brough

Vice-President: Lisa Thompson

Secretary: Murray King

Treasurer: John Kane

Committee: Brian Black, Pam Fuller, Alison Robinson, Lyn King

Match Committee: Club Captain, President, Secretary, Janice Gibb, Pádraig O'Connor, Denise Ongley.

Vice Club Captain AC: Alison Robinson

Andrea Goethals is taking over administration and management of the website, general information email inbox, and newsletters, in a non-committee role.

Changes to subscriptions and other playing fees

Annual membership subscription fees will cover both the summer and winter seasons in a single fee for the year of $250 if paid by 30 June. ($270 if late)

A new category of membership fee has been created to cater for members who are in full-time employment and are unable to play on week-day club sessions. Our members who are in this category will pay $175 to play only at weekends and after 5 pm Monday to Friday.

In acknowledgement of the trend evident over the past summer of a number of people wanting to drop in for a casual game of croquet, but who do not wish to play often or to become members, there is now a casual play fee of $20. 

See the full schedule of membership fees and charges for casual play fees by individuals on the Fees page of our website.  

(Fees and charges for corporates and any other non-member group wishing to hire the club's facilities outside of club playing times are on the Hire Our Facilities website page.)

Fees due now for winter players

As decided at today's Annual General Meeting, there is now one single membership fee of $250 for the whole year, including winter and summer seasons.

Those who have started playing this winter, or are about to start, should pay the fee of $250 as soon as possible to the club bank account. One thing that hasn't changed is that members must pay before they play each year.

Kelburn Municipal Croquet Club bank account: 03-0518-0184916-00

Even if you don't wish to play in winter, all re-enrolling members should pay their fees before 30 June at the discounted rate of $250.

See the full schedule of membership fees and charges on the Fees page of our website.  

Look out for your re-enrolment forms, coming soon

As in the past couple of years, all members will receive a secure online membership re-enrolment form within the next few weeks. 

The purpose of sending you this is so that you can check and re-confirm the accuracy of your details in our secure membership database and confirm that you want to remain a member for the coming year.

Your check each year reconfirms the accuracy of our membership database, which is not only important to our club but also to Croquet New Zealand and our legal obligations as an Incorporated Society.

Jane Norman, retiring Club Captain

Not naturally sporty, just smitten by croquet

President Mary Egley paid a heartfelt tribute to retiring Club Captain, Jane Norman, at the Club's Annual General Meeting today, calling her achievements during her three-year term as Captain "exceptional" and "outstanding".

Typically, Jane is more reticent.

She had never seen or tried croquet when she first saw an advertisement in a community newspaper for a Have a Go day at Kelburn and thought “why not?”  … even though she says she is not naturally sporty and doesn’t have brilliant hand-eye coordination.

That was more than 25 years ago. Since being bitten by the croquet bug back then, her abiding love of everything to do with the game has not diminished.

Jane has both seen and initiated considerable change at Kelburn Croquet Club.

Jane and Wendy Harland joined on the same day in 1997. Both the Club and the game were more formal and structured then. She recalls that a new member was expected to wear whites after their first year and buy their own mallet.

These days members are encouraged to wear sports tops bearing the club logo, particularly if they aim to compete in regional and national competitions, and owning a mallet is also a sensible move for competitive players.

Jane was made a Life Member of the club in 2019. She has served three times on the Committee, and became Club Captain in 2021.

She says what she has enjoyed most about the role of Club Captain is that it provides oversight of club play and competitive play and has allowed her to meet all the club members and newcomers.

“It has been a particular pleasure to see new players develop from being unfamiliar with how to hold a mallet to going out and competing. The increase in some players’ skill can be startlingly fast, as when Colin Menzies won a national competition in his first year of croquet.”

Jane has been a constant promoter of coaching opportunities for players, and of learning the rules in order to be better prepared for strategic play at competition level.

She has been responsible for many innovations in recent years, including new ways of promoting the club to potential players via Eventfinda, colourful chalk messages on the surrounding footpaths (which gained four new members), and Instagram (with support from Callum McKinnon).

Our developing relationship with Clifton Terrace Normal School in recent years is also due to Jane’s involvement. She enrolled the club in Wellington’s popular Heritage Festival last year, which gained us considerable prestigious promotion, and we have confirmed we will participate again this year.

Jane’s hope for the future club is that the club continue to be welcoming, inclusive, provide opportunities for people to play at whatever level they wish, and that it consider how to better link with the communities around us.