On a spectacular summery day in the middle of winter 20 players split up the courts into half-size and laid out the wider hoops for 4 games of Irish Croquet organised by Vernon Tomes, his two sons Grahame and Paul accompanied by their wives – Mary-Clare to assist with the huge potjie, and Sharon as our photographer.

Rules were explained over glasses of Guiness so it took quite a while to get the balls rolling. Irish Croquet is a combination of Golf and Association Croquet – all four players are on the court together and each of their balls must run the hoops in sequence.
Free-shots can be claimed after hitting another ball, in defence or to assist one’s partner. Running a hoop brings all the balls back to “life” and they can be used again to manoeuver around the court.

Irish stew par excellence, well laced with Guiness and pepper, spurred us on to hone our new found skills throughout the afternoon.