BASINGSTOKE and Deane Mayor Sean Keating and Maria Miller were special guests at the Thornycroft Bowls Club in South Ham to celebrate the new link-up between the bowls club and Basingstoke Croquet Club.

Both clubs will be sharing the bowling green and clubhouse for their respective sports, although not usually at the same time.

The croquet Club founded in 1986 has been seeking an alternative venue to its Down Grange site for some time and the link-up was suggested by Council Officers.

Both clubs are delighted by progress so far which has seen a strengthening of the ties between them and the likelihood of a permanent arrangement.

Both the bowls and croquet clubs play in local and regional leagues and are looking to develop their sports in the town. Thornycroft Bowls Club celebrates its centenary in 2019.

Martin Brandt, Chairman of the Croquet Club said: "We are very grateful to the Thornycroft Bowls Club for being willing to share their green and facilities with us. This is an unusual arrangement and it is working very well. We can see how the two clubs might become even closer in the future.

"We are also grateful to the council officers who made the suggestion for the link-up and to the grounds staff who have helped to make sure that the two sports can mesh together so well.”

The croquet club has about 25 members. The croquet section of Basingstoke-Old Basing U3A is effectively part of the club and uses their equipment and facilities.

This section has about 60 members and is divided into six groups and plays golf croquet, but several members have joined the club and made the transition to playing match croquet.

The club is a member of the Southern Croquet Federation and plays league croquet in both codes against other Clubs in an area ranging from Poole and the Isle of Wight northwards to the Milton Keynes/Aylesbury area.

As well as the normal programme of internal and external matches, the Croquet Club has an annual tour and this year’s is to Canterbury, Maidstone and Ramsgate in early July.

Here they will be joined by members of the croquet club in Boras, a town near Gothenburg in Sweden, with whom they are twinned.

Anyone interested in participating in the sport can find out more about croquet on the club's website basingstokecroquet.co.uk or come along to the Thornycroft Club, off St Andrew’s Road, on a Saturday morning from 10am to 1pm for croquet or for bowls on a Tuesday evening from 6pm.