St Albans Croquet Club will have their eyes on more national glory later in 2022 but first and foremost they are focused on spreading the word about the sport.

The Clarence Park-based outfit says the outdoor and, by nature, socially-distanced game, has helped participation increase over the last few years.

They have a wide range of players from beginners to nationally recognised coaches and the first competition of the year will be a heat of the national charity competition in aid of MIND.

They will also play in the Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire League as well as the national Longman Cup which they won in 2021.

There are two forms of the sport with association croquet the one more commonly played at St Albans.

The popularity of the other, golf croquet, a shorter and simpler version, is rapidly growing though and the club will compete for a trophy in it for the first time.

To help with their recruitment, St Albans are running an introductory course on Thursday evenings in May, designed for people who have no knowledge of the game.

Full details are on the club website at www.stalbanscroquet.co.uk