A group of 50 enthusiastic croquet players drawn mostly from the Yorkshire Federation went to the new Countryfile Live at Castle Howard to give visitors to the four day event the opportunity to “give croquet a go”. Two small croquet lawns were set up on the Castle Howard front lawns with the magnificent house in the background, and 1500 people tried their hand at running hoops with some expert guidance. All the visitors seemed to enjoy it; any serious interest was captured and links are being made to clubs for follow up.
The BBC Countryfile Live team of presenters get in some hoop running practiceThe weather was variable and as the show lasted from 9 am to 6 pm on each day the volunteers worked hard, with some time off to enjoy the rest of the show themselves.
It is always difficult to assess the long term impact of this sort of activity, but 1500 is a “serious” number of players, and there is no doubt that the team of volunteers raised the public profile of croquet amongst the tens of thousands of visitors to the show. As a result of the relationships built up at Blenheim, the BBC Countryfile Live stars turned up en masse for an early morning publicity shoot and Matt Baker, Ellie Harrison and Adam Henson came back to hone their croquet skills, watched by many of their fans. Some activities were shot on camera: we shall have to wait to see what footage makes it to the Sunday night show.
From the Croquet Association website, August 2019