Lawn usage and booking

Our range of activities for visitors and potential new members can be found on the website Visit and Join menus. Members: read on!

Members may book lawns up to a week in advance (subject to availability in the booking system) and may also turn up at any time to use the pavilion facilities or to play on unoccupied lawns. On weekdays there are usually at least two lawns reserved for “casual” (i.e. not pre-booked) play. If these are full, you may use an unoccupied bookable lawn, but you must give way if someone has or makes a booking. If you have a phone or tablet with you, it’s worth making a booking there and then in case someone else books the slot and  comes to the club to use it.

Lawns 2, 3, 7 & 8 have sideways hoop holes allowing each to be used as two half sized lawns. Please be willing to move your booking if someone needs these.

The lawn booking system can be found here:  Croquet Lawn Booking System. It can be used from desktop or laptop computers or tablets or any device which supports a web browser and has a screen large enough for you to see the content. Guidance notes have been circulated and can be accessed here: Lawn booking system user guide.  We will continue to use the registration feature of the lawn booking system for Club Social Doubles days and perhaps for other events. This isn’t covered in the guide above, but a brief online demo can be found here.

If you are having difficulty getting a booking which you want, need or deserve, please contact Euan Burridge, or in his absence Rob Edlin-White, or in both their absences, Ian Vincent and we will do what we can to help.

Please always check the lawn booking system before you travel to the club in case something has changed.

Please use vacant lawns in preference to double-banking. If you must double-bank, it is courteous to ask first, and the answer should usually be one of welcome.

The groundsman may sometimes need to close lawns on weekdays for work such as verti-cutting, fertilising, sorel rolling etc to maintain turf quality. Where possible we will indicate this in advance on the booking system, but sometimes it is weather-dependent, and will be indicated on the whiteboard in the trolley store and notices on the trolleys. If you have bookings on a lawn which is closed for maintenance, you have priority over casual players on the lawns available for casual play.

We have club roll-up sessions scheduled, the main one being Tuesday afternoons and evenings, when members are invited to turn up at any time, socialise in or around the pavilion or play anyone who is waiting for a game. We also have hosted roll-up sessions, mainly for the benefit of newer members, when an experienced member should be available to help with putting out equipment, organising games, answering any questions about rules and maybe to offer some informal coaching.

The balance between bookable and casual slots will be reviewed based on usage levels and feedback.