Club News 2020

1st October 2020 - Close of the season

We have closed for the winter and, pending coronavirus restrictions, will reopen for a full season in 2021.

1st June 2020 - We are back open for play!

With thanks to Sheffield City Council, and the Sport England grant (detailed below), we have been able to put in measures to reopen for members. This includes:

• Purchase and installation of a secure storage locker for our equipment - which has allowed us somewhere to store our equipment whilst Hillsborough Pavilion remains out of bounds due to COVID-19. A major benefit to this has been the ability to offer keys to our entire membership so they can play in their own time; we previously relied on key holders.
  

• Implementation of a Court Booking System - this has allowed members to book court time and allows us to effectively track and trace who has been playing. This has also meant that courts are being used more regularly, compared to previous years where courts were in use primarily on club playing days.
  

• Court maintenance work - we switched lawn maintenance contractors - appointing John Illingworth to be our lawn contractor.

We are awarded £3,520 from Sport England's Community Emergency Fund

SHEFFIELD CROQUET CLUB, BASED IN HILLSBOROUGH PARK has been awarded £3,520 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund towards LAWN MAINTENANCE during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

The outbreak of the virus and the consequent shutdown of businesses as of March 23 has left the sport and physical activity sector facing a period of uncertainty. In response, on March 31 Sport England announced a £195m package to help the sport and physical activity sector through COVID-19. Within the package is a £20m Community Emergency Fund, of National Lottery money to deliver immediate

funding to those who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but are experiencing short-term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus.

The grant will allow Sheffield Croquet Club to fund ongoing maintenance and improvement to their lawn at Hillsborough Park over the remainder of the season, and to purchase and install a secure storage facility for their equipment. Reduced income from membership and increased costs of lawn care were threatening the viability of the club. Without this funding, the club would be in a precarious financial position. We were delighted to be given this funding which will enable us to secure our future in Sheffield.

2020 Season start date

Our new season has been postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Secretary's Shield

As winners of the Yorkshire Croquet Federation (YCF) full lawn AC league in 2019, we are representing the YCF in the Secretary's Shield Competition this year!