CROQUET players in East Lancashire wanted to hammer home the point that Sport Relief is not all about young folks.

So a quartet of players from the Pendle and Craven club are embarking on a 24-hour marathon session so ‘the oldies’ can do their bit for the nationwide fundraising effort.

Usually, the Earby-based players can declare a winner after 26 points is reached in a singles or doubles match.

But marathon organiser and club member Gary Wilson, from Kelbrook, said their doubles tie will only end when the 24 hours is up - or one of the pairings reaches 1,000 points.

Gary will be joined by Paul Rigge, the sport’s North West federation secretary, and they will take on club chairman Roger Schofield and Liz Wilson, the north-west federation chairman.

He added: “Sport Relief is usually associated with young people but we wanted the ‘oldies’ to have a go. We don’t think that something like this has ever been tried before.”

The stamina-sapping game on March 21 will be floodlit, at their Cemetery Road home, thanks to a Skipton hire company, and members have issued an open invitation to anyone interested in finding out more about the ancient sport.

Gary added: “We have members of the club who come to us from all over Pendle and Burnley and as far afield as Keighley and Skipton.”

The club has five ‘courts’, alongside its pavilion in Earby, and is currently undertaking drainage works on the field, which was badly hit by flooding two years ago.