MR Gorrill's letter (January 30) about our croquet club requires that we rebut yet again the assertions of the former Coronation Park bowlers.

In 1996 they decided to abandon the bowling green. At the end of the 1997 season, the croquet club had an urgent need to re-locate and the council's officers gave us the chance to restore the facility.

We employed a professional with equipment to make it once more available for rolling-ball use. Some hundreds of turves were transplanted with his aid, and the work of our members over a weekend. Within days, vandals scattered many of the turves and so we could not feel comfortable until a fence was installed.

We contributed £2,000, our total cash resources, towards the task and also raised, by donation, almost as much again towards the cost of refurbishing the club house and the purchase of lawn care and interior equipment.

The club is on a self-management arrangement and members still spend considerable sums each year on maintaining a surface as good as any in the region.

We will be running seven teams in five leagues this year and are one of only three croquet clubs in Greater Manchester while there are many more bowling clubs within about a mile of our site. We are grateful for the vision of the council in making this possible and feel we have absolutely nothing for which to apologise.

G. A. YOUNG,

secretary,

Bury Croquet Club.