Members at the Royal Tunbridge Wells Croquet Club have dusted off the mallets this week.

They are among the outdoor sports returning to action following new coronavirus lockdown measures which have been introduced.

Tennis, golf and fishing are back and Jon Diamond, chairman at the Tunbridge Wells club, was delighted to open up the facilities again for members.

“We have been straining at the leash to get back and play,” he said.

They opened back up on Wednesday after the Croquet Association confirmed the sport was free to resume.

The association produced guidelines for clubs and players and said: “In line with government guidance on the easing of restrictions on some sports, the Croquet Association (CA) is delighted to announce that many croquet clubs are reopening for their members, on or after Wednesday 13th May.”

The association pointed to croquet as ‘the perfect ‘social distancing’ sport.’

Their statement said: “A croquet court is twice the size of a tennis court, so playing against a member of your household, or one other person from outside your household, is no problem at all.

“Members are rushing to book lawn time amid mounting excitement at being able to return to this fun, challenging, and mentally engaging outdoor sport.”

There are 212 member clubs and Tunbridge Wells have one of the main ones in Kent, along with Medway, who play at the Cobdown Sports & Social Club, Ramsgate and Canterbury, who play at Polo Farm, along with Bromley.

Mr Diamond accepts that there will be some concern among members, particularly as the age group of their membership is mostly of the over-50s, but for those that can play, the facility is now back open.

He added: “It is difficult times for everyone and we are obeying the government guidelines. “We are a club that plays in the open air and we don’t socialise fantastically much while we are actually playing, and we have got lots of space, so opening again wasn’t a hard decision to make.”

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