THE chairman of a popular croquet club which faces closure unless it finds a new home has issued a heartfelt appeal to Pendle Council for help.

John Beech, chairman of Pendle Croquet Club, spoke out after the club was told it could no longer operate from Nelson and Colne College.

Mr Beech told members of the West Craven Committee the club will close unless a new home is found before the end of the year.

They want to use Barnoldswick's Victory Park, but they need help from the council.

Mr Beech said: "I am very worried about the time-scale. We are now in January and we are still without grasp of a piece of land to be developed. We still have to apply for planning permission which would take about three months and then go out to tender. With all this and everything else we are already on a very tight schedule.

"I am pleading with the council to try and give the club an answer as early as possible. I appreciate that land is scarce, but Victory Park seems to have a lot of land and we would be proud to invest and provide a new sporting facility for the people of West Craven.

"Unless we get an answer soon we are in an impossible situation. We were set to start knocking on other councils' doors, such as Burnley and Clitheroe, but we wanted to stay in Pendle and hope that will be the outcome."

Victory Park was picked from a shortlist of 14 possible new homes and the plan, if agreed by councillors, would be to create four playing courts, a small pavilion, storage and shelter.

The club are keen to get the scheme accepted as they host several national croquet competitions each year and have a thriving membership of about 50.

The club would pay for all the development and maintenance costs, although an exact cost for the scheme is not yet known.

But Craven ward councillor David Whipp, said councillors have to take into consideration the current programme of events Victory Park currently hosts.

He said: "We are very keen to help the croquet club in the best way we can. We do have a fair which attracts a sizable mount of people to the park. We also have a gala and the bonfire is held in the park. It may be possible to accommodate the requests around the pavilion, area but we will need to look into it."

Residents in Barnoldswick will be able to have their say on the future development of Victory Park, including plans for Pendle Croquet Club to use the park as their new home, at a public meeting on Thursday, beginning at 7pm at Barnoldswick Civic Hall.