STOURBRIDGE croquet players believe they will have to abandon part of their season to make way for new facilities.

Borough council bosses plan to demolish their existing clubhouse on Mary Stevens Park and replace it with an improved building.

But the work, which is scheduled to start on May 25, cuts into a key part of the croquet season.

Chairman Phil Bate said: "The building has been there since the 1960s and I would imagine some people consider it a bit of an eyesore.

"It has no water or electricity, but it's very important to us because we use it to store our equipment.

"It has been suggested that we use one of the offices in the house, but the mallets, balls and hoops are quite heavy and I couldn't really see our members, most of whom are quite elderly, carrying the equipment any distance.

"I did suggest we store them in the nearby Sons of Rest building, but they said there wasn't enough room.

"It leaves us in a very bad situation. Because of the car parking issue, we cannot offer visiting clubs any parking facilities."

Numbers have dwindled in recent times to the point where games are now played on Monday and Tuesday afternoon or Thursday and Friday mornings.

Mr Bate added: "We've had a number of issues to contend with over the years. Players have been subjected to low level abuse and we've had our clubhouse damaged on several occasions. We had to pay £900 for a new metal door after vandals tried to smash their way in.

"When Stourbridge Croquet Club was first formed 47 years ago, they were very strong, but in recent times we've had to drop out of the league as we've struggled to get teams out.

"Instead we've just played the odd friendly fixture."