Camden News: Hampstead Heath | Croquet | Golders Hill Park

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Camden News - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 22 May 2008

Roger Reynolds, Leon Stone, Tanya Cottee, Maurice Gardener and Henry Brown on the lawn

OK croquet! Old game is a big hit on Heath’s lawn

Enthusiastic beginners pick up mallets to take a shot at traditional pastime

MALLETS thwack giant coloured balls around but this enthusiastic game of croquet is not taking place in the grounds of an exclusive countryside retreat, a private members’ club or Dorneywood, the diplomat’s Buckinghamshire escape.
It’s Hampstead Heath, and it turns out it’s not just former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott who likes to wind down with a game of croquet. The great unwashed, or reasonably well-washed as it turns out, do too.
Enthusiasts kicked off the first games of croquet on the new lawn in Golders Hill Park, in the north-west of the Heath, on Sunday afternoon.
A free taster session saw complete novices get a run-down of the rules from experienced croquet players and their first taste of bashing the balls through the hoops.
It follows the New Journal exclusive in February that croquet would be brought to the Heath on what is the only dedicated public lawn in London.
The facility, just off West Heath Avenue, is on trial to see whether croquet will be a hit but the City of London, guardian of the Heath, is hoping to establish a club to look after the lawns. A further taster session will take place on June 4 between 6 and 8pm. Anybody interested in joining can email: heathcroquet@hotmail.co.uk

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