Frinton croquet club celebrates first ‘Women’s Weekend’ with champions

Frinton croquet club celebrates first ‘Women’s Weekend’ with champions

After the turbulence of Covid, it’s been an exciting year for the Frinton-on-Sea Croquet
club. In April 2023, they celebrated the opening of their new full-sized Croquet lawn – the
first for over three decades – with an Alice in Wonderland themed event and Mad Hatters
party.

Despite being part of the original line-up in the establishment of the Frinton-on-Sea Lawn
Tennis Club in 1899, croquet had rather fallen out of fashion until John and Susie
Anderson shared their passion for the sport and rallied support to ensure their legacy and
love continues for the next generations.

Since the opening of the new lawn, they have welcomed new members and are topping
off their eventful year with a Women’s Croquet Weekend event, the brainchild of
Samantha Flaherty part of the team has also enticed not just one, but three world
croquet champions Alison Maugham, Annabel McDiarmid and Gabrielle Higgins.

Samantha Flaherty shared her passion of equity and equality in sport with the team and Stephen
Mills who is their top player, shared his contact Alison Maugham with Samantha and Ann.
Samantha said, “It’s an honour to have such special guests, to highlight our passion in
supporting women and girls in sport and to put our club on the map in Frinton-on-sea”.
Ann Evander, the woman’s croquet teams Captain at the club said, ‘This is such an
exciting time in the history of our croquet club. We have gone from playing on an under-
utilised grass tennis court to now having our own official lawn and hosting a women
event including three world champions.

The weekend of the 7th and 8th October kicks off on the Saturday with the Women Frinton
Croquet team enjoying a friendly tournament then the day progresses to the champions
giving a display and showing their skills. The next day will be a Sunday lunch including
with the Champions’ Q & A at the fabulous Frinton lawn tennis club James Max the
chairman of the club has welcomed the event and will be present on the 8th October.

Saturday 7th
10am | Warm up
10.30am | Women’s Club Tournament
1pm |  Informal Lunch in Gazebo
2pm |  Champions’ Exhibition Match
4pm |  Drinks and Social in the Gazebo
5pm |  Further drinks in the Club Bar

Sunday 8th
Open to All
10am | Champions’ Tips and Exhibition Match
12.30 for 1pm | Sunday Lunch in the Club House
Lunch will be followed by Q&A’s and a Trophy Presentation