Jiminy Wicket Launches New Programs for Spring/Summer

For 15 years, Jiminy Wicket, a 501(c)3 organization, has been creating inclusion and friendships for people of all ages and abilities. “Play is our passion and croquet is our game,” says Founder and CEO James Creasey. “We have played croquet with people from 129 different countries, from three years old to 103 years old, on three continents, some using walkers or wheelchairs, and everyone goes home with a pocketful of smiles.”

The organization has hosted croquet events in Honolulu, Chicago, Toronto, Dublin, London, Budapest, Brisbane and some unusual places like Denver’s Union Station, New York City’s Rockefeller Center and the famous London Eye. After playing her first game of croquet, Cathy, a Special Olympics athlete in the U.K. says, “This is so much fun! Can we do it again tomorrow?”

Building on the success of Through Hoops to Hope, its award-winning inter-generational school program, on both sides of the Atlantic, Jiminy Wicket is branching out in 2023 to train and equip high school and middle school students to play Special Olympics Unified Croquet with their peers who have intellectual disabilities. Their metric is “s.p.h!” Which translates to “smiles per hour!” Over the next three years, they intend to bring croquet to 500 of the 6,500 Unified Champion public schools across America that already partner with Special Olympics.

This work will be funded in part by net proceeds from the Jiminy Wicket Collection of Five-Star Luxury Croquet Trips: Castles & CroquetTM in SE England; Whisky & WicketsTM in Edinburgh and Gleneagles, Scotland; Colleges, Codebreakers and CroquetTM in and around Oxford, including Bletchley Park (the site of the topsecret codebreakers, where Creasey’s mother worked during World War II); and closer to home, Mansions & MalletsTM among the Vanderbilt ‘cottages’ of Newport, R.I.; and Wine and WicketsTM in the vineyards of the Napa Valley.

Creasey is a USCA GC Eights National Champion. His simple, concise curriculum 7 Skills to Play Like a ChampionTM gives guests and students alike, the tools to improve their croquet through seven self-scoring drills and easily track their on-going progress at home.

The new Castles & CroquetTM trip last summer was a huge success with their guests. When asked what they might change to improve the experience, Michael Albert, USCA Vice President, replied, “In a week of superlatives — not a single thing!” Of those guests, 60 percent are rebooking for more trips this year.

During the Jiminy Wicket Castles & CroquetTM trip in 2023, guests can indulge in six days of croquet, afternoon teas, fine dining and luxurious accommodations. Enjoy tours of historic English country homes, castles and glorious gardens. Experience the Elizabethan splendor of the Relais & Châteaux Gravetye Manor with their Michelin Star restaurant and the outrageous, palatial elegance of Cliveden House, with door-to-door transport by Range Rover.

Guests will play with the locals in a Tell ’em that the Yanks are Coming! match with the Royal Tunbridge Wells Croquet Club and enjoy some relaxed and fun croquet in gorgeous settings such as Hever Castle, Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle), Penshurst Place, Cliveden House and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison. Tour Sir Winston and Baroness Spencer-Churchill’s country home and garden at Chartwell and even play on their croquet lawn! Celebrate wins at a Roaring ’20s Great Gatsby-styled Dinner and Awards Ceremony in your striped blazers, bowties, flapper dresses and fascinators.

“Traveling with us supports our mission, and a portion of the cost of these trips may be used as a tax-deductible contribution in support of the Jiminy Wicket programs with Special Olympics,” Creasey says. “Croquet is the most age-friendly, gender-neutral, inclusive game in the world and my two favorite four-letter words are ‘Let’s Play!’”

For a brochure or more information to arrange your trip, email: info@JiminyWicket.org.