THERE will be two open croquet taster sessions held in the near future in Bude to see if there is enough interest in the town to form a club.

The Post reported two weeks ago that a new resident to the town had sought advice from Cllr Frank Partridge on how the best way to go about starting up a club was and Cllr Partridge raised the topic at the meeting of the recreation committee asking for the town council to allow a free taster session to be held on the Castle grounds, a proposal that all voted in favour of.

Since then, the gentleman in question, Tony Trump, has been in touch with the Post and shared his reasons behind his desire to start a club up as well as the progress he has made so far.

He said: “The nearest croquet facilities from Bude in any direction are at least an hour away — in Barnstaple, Exeter, Plymouth and St Agnes.

“It therefore seems important to establish a new croquet club in the area and Bude not only has the ground available but also a reasonable catchment population to produce, perhaps, 20 to 30 players. With less it would be more difficult to establish a playing core and likely success over a period.

“The Bude Haven Recreation Ground Ltd owns a significant area of land on which, already, are facilities including excellent tennis, squash, bowls and crazy golf/putting. The new croquet lawn and practice area will be to the north west of those, bordered by the River Neet.

“Members of the new Bude Croquet Club will be able to enjoy the existing catering, toilet and changing facilities and the club lawn and practice area will be ‘groomed’ by the permanent ground staff.”

For further information contact Tony Trump on 01840 230091.