Ian et al

> We had 15 "working girls" (no - most worked for the Defence Dept) aged
> 25 to 40 enjoying our club facilities yesterday.
>
> They had a great time and enjoyed it so much that they made another
booking.
>
> These may be the players of the future. If only one or two of them
> would join the club and then play not only on playing days, but
> bring friends along on other days.

We have found that our club in Canberra is becoming more and more
popular with groups wanting to come along for team bonding, social
functions (Christmas, birthday, Hens parties, ...). So much so that
people are now booking in July for their Christmas functions. It's a
great way to expose the public to croquet, and fulfills one of our
Club's objectives.

However, the translation into people interested in coming along and
learning Association Croquet is very, very small.

My club has been looking at a recruitment strategy over the past 12
months so see what age/gender groups we will try to actively target in
the next 12 months. We have identified that the 25-50 year age group
is a very difficult one especially with married people who have
children. If we go for the younger people we need to look for those
in the DINK category, or single professional people. Another group we
are looking at targeting will be those approaching/at retirement age,
say 50-55 years.

regards
Stephen Meatheringham
Canberra Croquet Club