Almost 100 years have passed since Mrs Clay was accompanied by four other croquet players to Mrs Hickmott’s Riwaka abode, to play in a Motueka versus Riwaka return match.
“Beautiful weather favoured the occasion, and the visitors were most hospitably entertained,” the match report notes.
Many of that match’s participants live on in local street names – “Mesdames Atkins and Rowling”, for example, as well as Mesdames Wallace and Boyce.
The Riwaka Croquet Club is celebrating its centenary with games and a high tea in November, and the current members are searching for more snippets of history to help mark the occasion. Memories, write-ups or photographs from past or present players are being welcomed.
The club has produced its share of world-class players, including Arthur Ross, “the father of the triple peel,” who was inducted into the World Croquet Federation’s Hall of Fame and has a national tournament played annually in his name.
Club president Eileen Wilkins says the membership has grown and contracted over the years, with numbers dropping as low as five at one stage – “we’re an ageing population,” she laughs. They are now sitting at a comfortable 27.
More players are always welcome, says Eileen, who reckons it’s a sport that anyone can play.
“It’s not an aggressive game, but it’s tactical,” she says. Club vice-captain June Ferguson adds that it is “quite social, which is lovely too”.
The club is also utilized for end-of-year functions, work events and hens’ parties, with the club members laughing that they collectively have enough decades under their belts to make them pretty hard to scandalize.
Monday is Riwaka’s club day, with games also being played on Wednesday and Friday mornings and Saturday afternoons.
The centenary is to be held on Saturday, 8 November, with a postponement date of 9 November if wet. The club would love any memorabilia sent to ejwilkins@xtra.co.nz by 20 October.
