SHARING OUR CROQUET CLUB WITH U3A MEMBERS GUILDFORD AND GODALMING CROQUET CLUB
Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club (GGCC) has a sound membership base as a result of open days and evenings, but was wanting to expand the membership base into new areas of the demographic and had settled on a two-pronged method - firstly working with young people through schools and youth groups and, secondly, making contact with local U3A (University of the Third Age) groups (of which we have a large number). One of our Committee members had experience of working with U3A in Yorkshire which gave us a basis for our approach; this may prove useful to other clubs wanting to go down a similar path. Each U3A group needs a course leader who is a member of that U3A for insurance purposes. That person can then get access to the Branch circulation lists and newsletters. We offered a couple of free Taster Days in May 2025, which some 30 plus people
attended. We ended up with a group of about a dozen from a range of U3A local groups. The aim was to create a friendly group atmosphere, so coffee and biscuits were always available at some stage of the session. We ran a U3A session every Thursday morning until the end of September 2025 when we had an end-of-season tournament and lunch. There were always the same 3 or 4 club members around most weeks, including one qualified coach, playing with and helping the members of the group. On the last day of the U3A season we had a mini tournament with prizes for winners and runners-up, managed by the Club President with the presentation of prizes by the Club Chair. They said that this all made them feel like proper members of the Club. Ginny of Farnham U3A said: “I have enjoyed the sessions immensely; everyone at the Club is so friendly and has encouraged and supported us newcomers. As a complete novice I was quite surprised how much I have enjoyed the sessions, and I can participate to a reasonable standard.” Helen from Guildford U3A said: “The U3A croquet sessions have been great. Each week I learn a little more and laugh a lot!”
The U3A players paid Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club a flat fee which covered them for the 5 months when the group met and allowed them access to all club equipment and facilities. The net effect has been that 10 of the 12 regular U3A players have now joined our club (about 10% of the current membership). We then started encouraging them to go together to one of our three times weekly roll up sessions. They all now have handicaps, regularly attend our roll up sessions and some have entered our winter internal tournaments. We plan to repeat the process in 2026 with croquet now included as an option in the prospectus of 4 of our local U3A groups. The most significant part of the process was the formation of a supportive group of learners who all started together and spent lots of time laughing and learning. The motto of U3A nationally is “Learn, live, laugh” and we did all of those. Hopefully we will welcome another group next April, which will lead on to another 10 new members!
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 21
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease