An approach from the head coach of Strathfield Croquet Club, Ruth Bridger, led to a croquet reactivation of sorts. A small group of undergraduate Paulines ventured off to the club in August and gained a better understanding of two croquet games after learning the basic skills needed for both. Quite a number of attendees really stood out as natural players. The session was run as a Club Hub activity to provide an opportunity to strengthen croquet community ties between the Club and the College.

Ruth Bridger is writing about the 120 years of Croquet in Sydney’s Inner West and stumbled upon mention of St Paul’s College playing in local tournaments around the time of Federation. She approached Richard Morgan about the College Archives to see what material on croquet was in the collection. So far we have found some mentions, as below, and a number of photos from the 60s and 70s.

If any Paulines have croquet references or memorabilia they’d like to share, both the College and the Strathfield Club would be very interested. 

The earliest mention of members of the College playing croquet dates back to 1878 in the dairy of Arthur Feez, a prolific sportsman of his time (Alan Atkinson, Heats and Minds, 2017, p. 133 ff).  Some great photos are emerging as you can see.

Ted Griffin (at Paul’s 1965-68) joined the undergraduate visitors. Ted was an early, if not the first, Lord Warden of the Mallets and can be seen pictured here with friends at a Mummers Croquet game in the Quad sometime in 1968!