From our President – Marjorie Eldon

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you are looking forward to this new croquet season. A big thankyou to Lisa Craven and Janet Peace who volunteered to join the committee at the AGM. As the saying goes ‘many hands make light work “and in a club run by its members that’s very true.

The season’s programme is now being arranged, and I encourage our newer members to join in the various activities and events. The best way to develop your skills and game, alongside practice, is to play as much as possible. For all our members please consider joining the continuous ladder competitions and our competitive league teams.
Our club has always been known as a friendly supportive and inclusive club, so let’s keep that ethos going and make this another successful season.

Huddersfield Croquet Club

We play Association Croquet and our 2026 season will run from the end of March through to the end of September.

We run a ‘Coaching Course for Beginners’ starting in May each year.  The course costs £55 and lasts for 6 weeks , the first 5 of which are different training sessions showing how to play the game, with a match in the last week to pull all the learning together. If you are interested in taking part in this, please send an email to huddscroquetclub@gmail.com to reserve a place on the next course.

We also celebrate National Croquet Day, where everyone is welcome to come along and play.

Our public events for 2026 are shown below, and will be held on the Bowling Greens at Greenhead Park, Trinity Street, Huddersfield HD1 4HR

Event	Date	Times
Charity Competition	Saturday 12 April	10am to 2pm
National Croquet Day	Sunday 3 May	10am to 2pm
Coaching Course for beginners.	Tuesday 12 May to Tuesday 16 June	6:15pm to 7:45pm

We have held our first in-club event and raised funds for the UNHCR. We played ten minute croquet on a less than clement Sunday afternoon. We had a smashing time though.

Listen to a recent promo interview on Radio Leeds here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkzsx1

30th Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated our 30th birthday in 2022. We held 30 events in the season and raised funds for the British Heart Foundation during these events. The flagship event on the 17th and 18 June was a croquetathon when play was held continuously for24 hours whilst raising money.

Why play croquet?

Croquet is one of the finest outdoor sports. It is a friendly game combining ball skills as well as tactics, it’s relatively easy to understand, and it’s fun to play.

We are always pleased to receive new members, of any age or level of experience from beginner to advanced. If you are an experienced club or match player, please click on our club section to learn more about the club and how to get in touch.

If you are thinking of taking up croquet from scratch, please keep reading this section for a brief introduction to the game and its benefits.

Croquet is an enjoyable, sociable game that can be played by people of any age and of either gender.

There are two principal forms of the game – Association and Golf.

Association Croquet is a game of complex strategy and high levels of skill, and is similar in many ways to games like snooker or pool.

Golf Croquet is quick to learn, but requires accuracy and tactics to master.

Both forms of the game may be played as singles or doubles and many people enjoy playing both, as skills learned in one form of the game may be applied to the other.

Croquet’s effective handicap system recognises smart thinking as much as physical skill, so everyone has a good chance of winning.

As with any game, the best players probably start young, but many take it up after retiring from more energetic pursuits. It can be as skilful as you want it to be – advanced players can take it very seriously, but most club members probably see it as a relaxing and friendly way of passing an afternoon.

About the club

The club was founded in 1992 , and is based in Greenhead Park, where we share facilities with the bowling teams.

Our season runs from April to September, and membership is open to people of any age. New recruits are always welcome, and all members have the use of our equipment as well as access to coaching from our more experienced players.

For both formats of the game, there are club events and regional and national leagues and tournaments for those who wish to play competitively. These cater for all levels of player from beginner to expert.

Interested in playing?

Before deciding whether to join the club, prospective members are welcome to try the game. See our taking part section for details, and contact us if you want more information.