MEMBERS of Pendle Croquet Club are today facing a nailbiting wait to find out if the club will be able to move home.

The club has embarked on the mammoth task of trying to raise up to £100,000 for a new home after it was asked to leave its current base at Nelson and Colne College.

Members were told earlier this year it would be able to set up home in Victory Park, Barnoldswick, but the site has proved unsuitable and the club is waiting to hear whether the council will allow it a different site in the same park. A decision is expected on Thursday.

The club has played the sport on lawns at the college since 1986 but has been told it must move out by the end of this year to make way for development of the site.

Members have been searching for a new home since the college gave them notice in early December 2001.

At a meeting of the West Craven Committee, councillors approved plans for four croquet courts close to the tennis court in the park, but the club said it had been asked to share facilities, which would not be suitable. The club will receive some funding from the Croquet Association and Awards for All and is hoping several other applications for grants will be successful in the bid to raise the expected £100,000 cost of the move.

The club held a coffee morning earlier this month and hosted the national Easter Handicap tournament over the Easter weekend, to help boost funds.

The club's John Beech said: "It is very frustrating waiting to hear what the council's decision will be but we just have to keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully once we have heard about the grants we have applied for the money should not be a huge obstacle."