Chris Hudson, the WCF’s first Secretary-General, died on 7 May 2015 at the age of 81.
He became interested in croquet in the early 1970s when he bought a house near Crewe, in the north of England, which had its own bowling green and croquet lawn. He joined the Croquet Association and was promptly approached by the Bowdon Croquet Club to become a member. Chris soon advanced to the A-class as a player and became deeply involved with the development and transformation of the club. He served as Chairman of Bowdon from 1981 to 1983 and as President from 1989 to 1998.
In addition to his club interest, he became the first paid Development Officer appointed by the Croquet Association and funded by a Sports Council grant. THis continued until 1991 by which time he had thrown himself into the task of helping the very recently established World Croquet Federation to take off. He was to serve the WCF as Secretary-General from 1989 to 2001 and played a central role in improving international liaison between WCF Members and ensuring that Association Croquet World Championships were effectively organised and did not clash with the MacRobertson Shield. In 1996, he oversaw the establishment of the first Golf Croquet World Championship.
Chris exemplified the high level of enthusiasm that croquet can evoke and the game benefitted enormously from his willingness to apply that enthusiasm in promoting the national and international development of the sport. He is owed a considerable debt of gratitude and will be greatly missed, not least by his many friends at Bowdon made during an association lasting over 40 years.