Our Club Captain PETER BATCHELOR was awarded Life Member at our 2023 AGM!!!

Peter commenced his croquet career in the early 1980s and over the following 40 years scaled the heights in both codes of play, proudly representing the New Plymouth club, the Taranaki region and New Zealand in the process. He has an extensive list of competition successes to his name and the 31 entries on the New Plymouth Club honours boards give an initial indication of Peter’s dedication to the sport. Here are some facts and figures regarding his playing career:

  • Club achievements include 19 AC Championships, 12 GC Championships.
  • Winner of numerous club and association competitions (AC and GC) throughout NZ.
  • Winner of 12 CTI Annual Tournament titles, both AC and GC.
  • Won his first national titles in 1986 (NZ AC Junior Championship & Junior Handicap Championship, singles) - within two years of taking up the sport!
  • In 1990 he was invited to be part of the NZ AC Representative squad to face Australia.
  • The 2000s saw Peter’s playing career hit the heights as he transitioned from AC to GC, at this point he’d reduced his AC handicap to a world class -3 and had a GC handicap of 0.
  • He has: 1 NZ GC Open Championship title; 3 NZ Open Doubles Championship titles (1 AC, 2 GC); and 3 NZ GC Open Singles / Doubles Championship runners-up titles.
  • He received CNZ invites to 8 AC Invitation tournaments and to the GC equivalent on 3 occasions – at a time when top players were invited as opposed to applying to play. In 2005 he took part in the inaugural CNZ GC Invitation event held in New Plymouth, he had a world ranking of 13 at the time. And in the same year he was selected to play in the prestigious AC MacRobertson Shield squad.
  • He has played in major tournaments in Australia, England, South Africa, Switzerland, Egypt and of course New Zealand, and accumulated nearly 600 GC and 460 AC ranking games.
  • In AC, between 1990 and 2005, he was constantly ranked in the world top 160, and in NZ the top 30. In GC, between 2004 and 2011, he was always ranked in the world top 100 and in NZ the top 15. He has played against the best AC and GC players in NZ and the world!

On the international stage he competed in:

  • the 2002 AC World Championships in NZ (lost to 3 times World Champion Reg Bamford in the knock-out stage)
  • the 2004 GC World Championship in England (where he had 17/30 wins);
  • the 2005 AC World Championship in England;
  • the 2006 GC World Championship in NZ (finished 13th);
  • the 2008 GC World Championship in SA (Plate runner-up);
  • the 2010 GC inaugural Over 50 World Championship in Egypt.

Off the lawns, Peter has always been a proactive member of the club and has been involved with many aspects of the club’s and regional association’s administration.  At club level he was involved in committee roles from the very beginning, his first elected post being Lawn Marker (!) in 1984. And looking back through the club’s historic meeting minutes, even in those early days he was a regular contributor with proposals as to how competition and tournament formats could be improved, players’ abilities enhanced, and encouraged coaching for all grades.  Within two years he was elected President and went on to be Club Captain for four years in the late 80’s, followed by a stint as Vice-Captain. Alongside these senior roles he was often carrying out other responsibilities such as Accommodation Officer, committee member, lawn maintenance duties etc.

Peter is currently serving as the club’s GC Captain, that’s 8 years and counting! His vast playing experience in competitions at all levels means he has acquired all the know-how and skills necessary to organise, manage and supervise all the tournaments that are hosted by the club or association. That’s everything from advertising the tournaments, creating the draws, ensuring the lawns are adequately prepared, overseeing the running of match days, posting the results on Croquet Scores etc – a considerable amount of time and effort on each and every occasion. And over the years, he’s managed everything from the in-club singles and doubles championships, club tournaments, Interclub, CTI’s tournaments including the Annual Tournaments, through to national (CNZ) tournaments, such as the 3+, the Invitations, LNITE, etc.


Peter is also one of the region’s most trusted and knowledgeable referees and has been for a long time – at both codes. He was an AC referee for many years in the 90s and later, and has been a GC referee since 2010. He recently sat and passed the five hour Senior Referee exam and was subsequently appointed Examining Referee too – he is currently the only Senior Referee in both the North and South Taranaki associations. 

Croquet Taranaki, or the Taranaki Croquet Association as it was called when Peter took up the sport, has also greatly benefitted from Peter’s expertise in tournament play and its management. Since 1985 he’s spent over 25 years serving on the Association’s committee in a number of roles (sometimes dual roles), including: New Plymouth Delegate, Match Committee member, GC Selector, GC Tournament Manager, Association Handicapper (a position he held for 16 years in total!) and also had brief stints as Publicity Officer and joint TSSSA Coordinator. And in 1996 he added a national role to his croquet CV when he joined the NZ Croquet Council’s (CNZ as it is now) Handicap Committee.

A few other croquet related accolades that most members might not be aware of:

  • Peter was nominated for Taranaki Sportsperson of the Year in 1986
  • he attended a Governor General hosted Reception at NZ Government House in 2002
  • and in 2004 Peter was appointed an Honorary Ambassador of the District by the NP Mayor.

All the above listed achievements surely make Peter a most deserving recipient of a Life Membership award and the Committee hopes that that sentiment is shared unanimously by the wider membership.                                    ​​​​​​​