24 HOURS of CROQUET
Front row: Stephen Pearce, Nick Chapman, Trevor Bassett, Alan Honey.
On 8 and 9 February the Canberra Croquet Club held its inaugural Charity Weekend to support the Cerebral Palsy Alliance ACT. The CPA works in the Canberra community to provide support to those families living with cerebral palsy - both young and old. Their programs are based on early intervention, providing therapy, education, facilitating community participation and family support. The organisation is currently raising funds through its Canberra Celebrity Charity Apprentice campaign to support the building of a dedicated facility in the ACT to continue providing support to local families.
One of the Celebrity Apprentices this year is Scott Cass- Dunbar. Scott’s 11 year old son Shea was formally diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age two after being born, along with his twin Tainn, prematurely and weighing only 680 grams. After 53 days, Scott and his wife Janette made the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to Tainn, but there was not time for grief, as Shea needed them. Shea’s cerebral palsy resulted from the severity of the brain bleed and trauma that he suffered at birth. Despite having 15 operations, Shea, thanks to the support provided by organisations like the CPA, is now attending mainstream school and participating in many community and sporting events. Even some croquet!
the Country Bumpkins, who won all three matches.
To help Scott in his quest to become the Charity Apprentice, Nick Chapman, a co-worker at KPMG in Canberra and President of the CCC, suggested an idea to hold a 24 hour croquet tournament. Nick and the Club had been flirting with the idea of holding such an event for a while in order to raise the profile of croquet in Canberra. It hadn’t quite gotten off the ground though as the CCC didn’t really have the resources to pull it all together, including getting the necessary coverage in the media. Scott and the CPA were able though to help with the organisation, and so it began.
The result was twelve hardy croquet players turning out on Saturday, 8 February at 10.00am to play Association Croquet for 24 hours straight to compete for the CPA Charity Shield. They were organised into four teams:
Landrebe Lightning: Nick Chapman (Canberra), Stephen Pearce (Canberra), Chris Lavina (Killara, Maitland, Cammeray)
Country Bumpkins: Jim Nicholls (Wagga), Trevor Bassett (Kyabram), Claire Bassett (Kyabram)
Sydney Swingers: Alison Sharpe (Killara), David Stanton (Cammeray), Stephen Howes (EDSACC)
Aunt Emma and the Tea Ladies: Alan Honey (Canberra), Tim Murphy (Canberra), Stephen Richards (Canberra)
The three teams played a round robin with each match lasting 8 hours. The first game of each match was doubles, and then each game after that was singles. If a match started with less than an hour to go, the game was played as a one ball. Substitutions were allowed at any point throughout so players could sub in and out when they were tired.
He won both sides of the draw and so there was no need for a final.
Most players were able to get a couple of blocks of sleep in through the night thanks to the rotation system, but the night was not without drama. Trevor Bassett found out the hard way that if you fall asleep on the lawn at 4.00am, you might be woken up with a sprinkler starting up right next to you.
Alongside the AC competition, the Club also ran the GC Charity Cup double-life handicap knockout. The winner of this competition was Charles Douglas.
Of course, the CPA was the real winner on the day. Between the AC Charity Shield and the GC Charity Cup, the weekend raised over $12,000 for the CPA. A special thank you to the Sydney Swingers who took the title of the best fundraisers. Between them, the swingers raised over $7,000 - a truly remarkable effort.
The weekend also provided a remarkable opportunity to promote the sport of croquet. Jim Nicholls worked his magic in Wagga and had three articles about the event in the lead up, including a front page of the weekend paper. We had a full page spread in the Canberra Times, 3 separate radio interviews, and a one page spread in a local magazine, the Canberra Weekly. The Club also hosted about 30 people at a ‘come and try’ on the afternoon of the 8th. Most of these people attended after reading about the event.
A special mention must be made of the Hyatt Canberra, the CCC’s closest neighbour. The Hyatt were tremendous supporters of the event. They provided a champagne bar for the ‘come and try’ and on the Sunday they put on a wonderful breakfast for the CPA and families of the players. We were treated to bacon and egg rolls, blueberry pancakes, cupcakes for the kids, complete with chequered table clothes and all the trimmings.
All the players and supporters agreed that we must run the event again next year given its success this year. Planning has already begun to expand the current teams from three to six and the Hyatt have already indicated that they are enthusiastic about supporting the event again.
It is remarkably humbling knowing that we can make such a difference to people less fortunate in our own communities by simply doing something we love.
Nick Chapman
President, Canberra Club