Swanage’s most successful – and perhaps least well known – sports club is celebrating a remarkable national victory after lifting a major croquet trophy against one of the UK’s elite teams.
Swanage Croquet Club in Dorset defeated hot favourites Phyllis Court 4-3 to lift the national Federations’ Shield at Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire on Saturday 12th September 2026, after beating Southport and Doncaster on its way to the final.
Action from the perfectly manicured croquet lawns of Phyllis Court, Henley on Thames
A tense seven rubber final
The victory came after a tense seven rubber contest which began at 10 am and was not decided until shortly before 7 pm, with the final game eventually settled at hoop 14.
It is the first time Swanage has won the national title and comes just a year after the club won the South West Federation Handicap League for the third time – and the result is all the more remarkable given the gulf between the two clubs.
Phyllis Court, founded in 1906, has around 300 members and plays on four top quality croquet lawns beside the River Thames, with a substantial pavilion overlooking the finishing line of the Henley Regatta.
Swanage’s non-playing captain Keith Southern is presented with the national Federations’ Shield
Members include Dame Mary Berry
It has more than 300 members, including Dame Mary Berry who attended the finals with her husband, and made a point of chatting to the Swanage team, but disappointingly didn’t bring any cake with her!
Membership costs £1,760 a year – as opposed to Swanage’s £80 a year fees – and the club has won the national shield three times in the past five years.
It’s a far cry from Swanage’s croquet lawns on Bon Accord Road, the playing field of Swanage Primary School.
Its open air clubhouse is a second hand gazebo rescued from a gale, while a member’s motorhome has been pressed into service as a makeshift kitchen.
Swanage Croquet Club’s winning team of Ron Barker, Helen Diconimos, non-playing captain Keith Southern, Simon Parvin and Mike Wells
“We weren’t given much of a chance”
Chair of Swanage Croquet Club Simon Parvin said:
“When we reached the final and had to play at the home ground of Phyllis Court, one of the very best teams in the country, we weren’t given much of a chance – they have won the competition three times since 2021.
“They have 300 members, we have 60, they had home advantage, which is well worth having in a croquet match, and so they were in a very strong position.
“We were definitely up against it when it came to the final, which is seven rubbers, each played over three games and by the time we got to late afternoon the score was three each.
“Left over from the morning was an unfinished rubber which stood at one all, so there was one game to play at the end of the day to decide everything.
“It was played by Mike Wells, and it got to the point where he and his opponent each had two hoops to get to be the winner and Mike came through!”
Swanage Croquet Club’s home has a secondhand gazebo as a clubhouse and a motorhome as a kitchen
Coaching for Year 5 pupils
Simon added:
“We used to play on the outfield of a cricket pitch until 2022, and then we were homeless for about nine months until we found the field at Bon Accord which was a football pitch at the time and full of stud marks.
“We had to buy a shipping container, mowers and all sorts of ground preparation equipment, and finally managed to convert the field into something that vaguely resembled a couple of croquet lawns and we have been playing there ever since.
“But we have no security there, it’s owned by Dorset Council and leased to the academy which runs the school. We make a contribution to funds for being allowed to play there, but we also provide coaching to their Year 5 pupils as part of their curriculum.
“That is really appreciated by the school, and some of the pupils have stayed on after Year Five for extra coaching and joined the club with their parents. We hope they will go on to play in some national competitions, they are so good.
“Most people take up croquet in retirement, but we are getting them when they are ten, and they are fearless. In the space of six months they become very good and can beat half the adult members of the club!”
A tricky jump shot is carried out to perfection by Swanage
Sowing the seeds of success
The triumph is another chapter in an extraordinary story for a club which began in Swanage in 2005. Founder Roy Smith, a keen cricketer, had seen croquet being played at Sidmouth and realised that Swanage Cricket Club’s outfield was largely unused during weekdays.
An open croquet day in September 2005 attracted around 40 people and the club began creating lawns on the cricket outfield.
Among the early members was former England international player William Ormerod, of Corfe Castle, who helped pass on his knowledge of the game to players, which is believed to have sown the seeds of Swanage’s success at the highest level.
But now the croquet club wants to find a permanent home somewhere in the town where they are able to build a clubhouse with plumbing and power, and continue to grow the club in size and success.
The club’s second competitive team, the High Handicap players, won the South West Federation competition in 2024, were losing finalists in 2023, and are in the final again for 2026, playing Bristol and hoping to win a second trophy for the club, on Saturday 26th September 2026.
Club treasurer Greg Vaughn, pictured left, wants the club to find a permanent home in Swanage
“We’d love a permanent home”
Treasurer Greg Vaughn said:
“I stood down as chair of the club last year to focus on raising funds and to my frustration, even though I argue we are the most successful sports club in Swanage in terms of results, we are the only sports team that doesn’t get any financial support at all from the local council.
“We are trying to raise money to further the club’s ambition, but because we don’t have a permanent ground, it is difficult to access funds as people ask what is the point of giving us funds if they don’t know whether we will still be there in a few months – which is a fair point.
“Really we would like to have a permanent home. At the moment, we have a tent as our clubhouse and we got that second hand because it blew off Weston super Mare’s ground onto someone’s roof in a gale. We have a composting toilet because we can’t afford to have plumbing there.”
A study in concentration from one of Swanage’s 2026 fixtures
“Top teams expect us to fail”
Greg added:
“We don’t have any grandiose plans, but we would like to buy a second hand caravan so that people have somewhere to sit between games that isn’t in the wind or the rain and we would like to buy some better equipment, as a lot of our equipment is quite old now.
“Sadly, all croquet equipment is quite expensive – a set of hoops alone would cost about £600 and a reasonable mallet would be about £300.
“Ideally, we would get a permanent home at some point and then we could apply for grants, but until that happens we have to rely on the local community to help us get by.
“In the meantime, at least our modest club means we are always the underdogs when we play in competitions, because the top teams expect us to fail, and that is the motivation to do well – success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success!”
Captain Keith Southern proudly shows off the national shield won by the Low Handicap team at Henley
Further information
- More about Swanage Croquet Club – and to join up
