My late husband Clive and I started playing after a holiday at Scarborough. He won the tournament there, and half an hour after arriving back at Llanfairfechan we were out and about, looking for a flat area on which to play.

We got our home patch because of the A55. They demolished the old railway station and built a smaller one on the present site, leaving a small slice of land. After many letters to the council we got permission to put a croquet lawn on it.

The season starts every Easter Sunday. If the weather's fine we have an outdoors game; if not, we enjoy a hot cross bun and a cuppa. We play until the weather worsens in the autumn.

We hire a room at Horeb every Friday afternoon to play indoors, since we have a croquet mat.

The public are welcome to play on the lawn - it costs £2 for two hours, and the Brownies, the WI and the Rotary are regular visitors.

There's an attitude that croquet is refined, and Rupert Moon came here once to record a programme wearing a straw hat, a striped blazer and white trousers. I was in my crinoline, serving him cucumber sandwiches. But we don't dress up like that all the time!

People tell me that croquet is a bit like snooker. The aim of the game is to strike the balls through six hoops. First you must strike the balls through the four corner hoops, then you finish with the centre hoops.

There are different versions of the game - we play two versions. Golf croquet is the easier, especially for beginners.

The more dedicated members play in England's North West Croquet League.

We obtained special permission to play in this league because the closest club to us in Wales is in Cardiff. So we play against Bury, Fylde, Chester and even Kendal - though we meet half way, at Southport.

Also, all our members compete for the various cups we have, such as the one given in memory of my husband.