LAUGHTER ACROSS THE LAWNS A ‘CROQUET FOR WELLBEING’ PILOT HAS BEEN HERALDED A RESOUNDING SUCCESS.
reasons. Some of them made it the focus of their week, others made it a spur to get back onto public transport and in one case, a client made it along to all ten sessions despite hardly having left the house for a year due to crippling anxiety. “It’s when you put the back stories together with the results that you really get an idea of what this has meant to people” says Club Chairman Sharon De Maine. “We are delighted to have been able to integrate into the community like this, something the Club has been working on this year.”
The sound of laughter ringing around the Pendle & Craven Croquet Club was a sure‐fire sign that this summer’s ground‐ breaking Wellbeing initiative was working just as intended. The club hosted a weekly run of drop‐in sessions in partnership with NHS Social Prescribers who were able to introduce their clients to the sport. “It was all by referral” explains Project Lead Ian Longstaff. “We wanted to offer something different to local people who were struggling for whatever reason, be it with isolation, their mental health or people just wanting to socialise and enjoy something new.” And enjoy it they certainly did. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive as numbers swelled week on week and sailed way past the original proposal to near enough double the target, with 23 participants overall. According to the NHS prescribers the scheme ticked many boxes, not only the learning of croquet itself but also just in the fact of getting out of the house and doing some gentle exercise in the fresh air: “Steps by stealth” as someone christened it. According to James Smith, Lead Social Prescriber, ‘Croquet for Wellbeing’ is the most successful project that he and his team have ever been involved in. “The welcome from the club, the sessions and the feedback from clients were all amazing. It’s like everyone has fallen in love with Croquet!” Looking at the actual results, it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment. Of the various questions posed on the concluding questionnaire, there isn’t an average rating that’s less than 9 out of 10. Wellbeing scores are also up by an average of 1.6 points, ending up at 8.1 out of ten and being positive for 76% of respondents, with over half recording jumps of 2, 3 and even 4 points out of ten. When asked specifically whether the group had helped with their Wellbeing goals, the answers were equally split between ‘Yes’ and ‘Very Much So’. It all makes heart‐warming reading for Ian, who himself was on the books of the same social prescribers a couple of years ago. "The stats are astounding really,” he says, “but it’s the change in the people themselves that you can visibly see, that’s what I will take from it and treasure.” The people themselves ranged from age 27 to 83 and were split 65/35 male/female. They came for a whole variety of
The other knock‐on benefit for Pendle & Craven has been the unexpected boost to membership. At the conclusion of the scheme, nearly half the participants had put their names down for follow‐on coaching with Club Coach Cathy O’Brien and by the end of that, five new members had joined up for 2025. New members include Michael Moore, who says “I never thought in a million years that I’d enjoy Croquet so much but I think it’s absolutely brilliant!” Others say that they just find it “so relaxing” and describe how once you’re out on the lawns everything else just seems to “fade away”. However for Ian, such things are merely the icing on the cake. “‘Croquet For Wellbeing’ isn’t a coaching course and it isn’t a membership drive either. If you tried to run it like that I don’t think it would work, as it would all be too much pressure. For me, looking out for the people comes first and the Croquet is kind of a conduit for all the good stuff to happen.”
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 36
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease