Hall of Fame
Andrew Hope
Born: 1946
Inducted: 2007
Andrew was born in 1946. A farmer married to Caroline, they have a son and daughter, Sophie and James.
He joined the Cheltenham club in 1970, and played regular competitive croquet until the early 90s. He has represented Scotland since the beginning of the Home Internationals and was in the winning team in the inaugural year. He has also represented Great Britain and Ireland in the “MacRobertson Shield” in Australia in 1982 when he was team manager and again in 1986 in the UK. He is much traveled, having played competitive croquet in England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, The USA, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
He joined the Croquet Association (of England) Council in the mid 1970’s and was Chairman of Council in the min 1980’s when he was instrumental in forming the World Croquet Federation and reforming rules on professionalism in the home countries.
He was an active member of the Cheltenham Committee for many years and promoted one of the first (probably the first) “big prize” events after the rules on professionalism were reformed. £500 of prize money for the Coles, a weekend open tournament.
However his biggest contribution to the sport was assisting in the birth of the World Federation for Croquet. It had been mooted several times but in 1985 it was Andrew Hope who decided that the time was right for a thorough exploration of the possibilities. He took the initiative in contacting the Australian and New Zealand Croquet Councils suggesting that a meeting between representatives should take place at the end of the 1986 MacRobertson Shield Tour being held in England.
The meeting took place on 17th July 1986 and as Chairman of the Croquet Association (of England) at that time, he took the chair. Representatives from Scotland, Ireland, United States, South Africa, Japan and Switzerland attended by invitation.
Andrew had prepared a draft constitution assisted by Stephen Mulliner. This was discussed in detail and a number of issues raised, including the stated objectives, eligibility for joining the WCF, voting rights, officers and committees, subscription and frequency of meetings. It was agreed that a steering committee with the responsibility of producing further drafts of the constitution and preparing the way for the formal setting up of the WCF.
The WCF owes much to the vision and foresight of Andrew Hope, whose steadfastness and patience overcame all the difficulties that were encountered.
Andrew still continues his work for the WCF today by acting as its Treasurer.