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Croquet Taster Day 2025
28 South East members attended the latest of our Taster Days and this time it was Croquet. After a brief period of instruction pairs played against each other in the beautiful surroundings in this Sussex venue. Some fiercely contested matches saw 2 pairs remain unbeaten throughout and it was decided that they should have a play-off final.
The finalist were Liam Cann and Tim sharp (team 3) and Caroline Holloway and Dave Philp (team 11). After Team 3 took an early 2-point lead Team 11 came back to win the match 4-2.
A great way to finish the event in the sunshine. The Croquet club presented both the winners and runners up with a bottle of wine and looked after the participants all day with lunch and various cakes.
Everyone had a great time and enjoyed celebratory drinks into the evening, so thank you to all that took part and made it a day to remember for everyone.
Trew Cup 2025 Success
The annual triangular golf match between South East, London and East of England Regions took place at The Burstead Golf Club in Billericay, Essex hosted by East of England. A baking hot day saw our Region win the trophy by one point from London. There were 10 players from each Region battling it out. This was a tremendous team performance with every player contributing towards the final outcome.
The team comprised of Wayne Catlin (captain), Mark Harrop, Paul Fuller, Mark Dunn, Mark Creswell, Carlo Barbieri, Steve Stockham, Richard Mole, Gavin Hall and Alex Jack.
Congratulations Team, well played!
Bowls Pairs 2025
The regions flat green bowlers were looking forward to a record turnout in the Pairs event with 5 pairs ready to play and a reserve standing by. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as anticipated and on the day we were reduced to four pairs and no reserve. Further problems on the morning of the event meant we were left with just three pairs and one stalwart (Keith.W) agreeing to drop out. The above resulted in just one match being played in each of the three sessions. Teams were drawn from the hat this year with three players ‘seeded’ so that no two seeded players played together. This was to encourage the newer players to come again (and not potentially) get walloped. I say potentially because the one ‘newbie’ who turned up produced some splendid bowls and was unanimously voted ‘player of the day’ (Suzanne.M).
The winning pair was Chris.P and Suzanne.M who drew the first match 9-9 with Mick.A and Paul.W and won their second 20-5 against Chris.R and Ray.A. The game between Chris and Ray against Mick and Paul resulted in a win for Chris and Ray by 18 - 7. It is hoped that the singles event to be played on August 7th will attract a few more people and give us a full days bowling.
Our small friendly group would love to hear from you if you play bowls or would like to learn with a view to joining us in the future. Anyone interested please contact Chris on curryhoop@googlemail.com .
Gravesend hit the lanes!
Thank you HASSRA for the free Ten Pin bowling taster day, Gravesend had their evening on 22/05/2025. Here's a few photos of the evening spent with brilliant colleagues!
Southampton Go Bowling!
Thanks so much HASSRA for our FREE bowling. For the second year running we were able to enjoy bowling with colleagues and friends. A chance to chat and have fun outside work, to get to know new colleagues and enjoy each other’s company.
As Southampton has 5 affiliated offices, we are so grateful to HASSRA SE for allowing us to book 3 venues, 3 days and 3 times. We were able to send the top scores to Dave for the chance to have the honour be included in the team to represent HASSRA SE but whatever everyone had such a great time! Any chance of a repeat next year?
Some quotes received “We had a great afternoon bowling; we laughed and had a thoroughly entertaining time. Looking to organise another ten-pin bowling outing later in the year. Thank you HASSRA!
“We all had a great time , lots of laughs, especially without the lane bumpers! We can’t believe it’s free, thank you HASSRA!
Darts - September Festival Qualifier 2025
The annual London & South East Darts qualifier for the September Festival took place at Rileys, Victoria on Friday 25th April and was attended by Carl Mayhew, Matthew Willing, Ray Allen, Louis Pearson, Dave Philp, Teresa Connarty and Hannah Young.
The men took part in a round robin competition which was fiercely contested over 3 legs a match. Louis showed his dominance throughout scoring highly in every game and even hit a few 180’s across the day.
Louis (left) with the London winner, Alan Graham.
The final standings for the Men’s tournament are as follows:
- Louis Pearson
- Ray Allen
- Dave Philp
- Matt Willing
- Carl Mayhew
For the women’s part of the draw only 2 attended from South East and 1 from London.
All 3 played their own round robin competition which was won by London’s Marjorie.
She was followed in second place by Hannah Young with Teresa Connarty in third.
To finish off this day we decided that the London Winner should play off against our winner Louis.
After dominating the first leg but not being able to finish on a double Louis found himself 1 down. He turned this around quickly and before you had time to breath, he was in total control winning the match 2-1.
Louis will hopefully take this form to the Festival giving South East the best chance we have had in the male competition for a few years. Other festival places will be confirmed shortly.
My thanks to all who took part and made this an enjoyable day for all.
Cheers Dave, a good day and great fun!
Pool - September Festival Qualifier 2025
Another good day, co-organised with the London region.
Congratulations to our winner, Paul Jenner and to Dhanesh Ramdoyal who finished as the runner up.
Matt Willing was also runner up in the joint regions plate competition.
Great fun, played in a lovely sprit all day so thanks to all involved.
Footgolf Taster Day
On 11th April 2025, on a hot sunny day in Copthorne 31 HASSRA members and 2 guests took part in the annual Footgolf Festival Qualifier and Taster Day.
The course was perfect, and everyone was in good spirits looking forward to the experience ahead.
The Men’s side of the competition was won by Joe Johal with a brilliant score of 58, closely followed by Colin Tyler on 61 and Dave Philp on 62.
The Women’s side of the draw was won by Mary Struthers with an incredible 63 followed by Marie McCormick on 68 and Robyn McDonald with 72.
Click here for the full score list
The winners and runners up will be given the chance to represent HASSRA South East in the July Festival and have really earned their place with these great scores.
For the rest it was an enjoyable Taster Day, and much fun was had by all.
Please look out for more Taster Days being launched by HASSRA South East in the next few Months.
Indoor Climbing Taster Day
On Friday 21st March 2025 there was yet another HASSRA South East first as we staged a new taster day for our members, and this time it was Indoor Climbing.
23 intrepid members gathered at the Castle Climbing Centre in London to commence battle with the many obstacles put in their way. With climbing and bouldering to name a couple they stuck together and accomplished so many feats of bravery and skill, pushing themselves well past their comfort zones in the process.
With two solid hours of climbing, all really deserved some time out afterwards to refresh themselves at the local hostelries. I must say that so many of those involved had a fantastic time and all had pushed through and accomplished so much on the day. A massive well done to all that took part.
I look forward to seeing more and more of you at these amazing taster days that we at HASSRA South East continue to provide for our lovely membership.
Well organised Dave, and here's what one of the climbers had to say:
"The HASSRA day at Castle Climbing centre was fantastic. I never thought I would be able to achieve what I did and I loved every minute. The staff there were fantastic and really encouraged us all. I met some lovely people from different areas in DWP and had a great day all round. My new mantra is ‘you’re never too old!" Shelley Hunter (above 3rd image on the right).