A group of self acknowledged "hit and giggle" tennis players who are still going strong and playing weekly 50 years later.

But thrive they do.

To be fair, the youngest member of the group, which plays at Thornton club every Monday morning, is 70, so the days of chasing the ball all over the court, or rushing the net for a volley, are well gone.

"A couple of the girls still chase, but most of us don't. We used to play most of the day, but these days we all konk out before then so we call it off at midday," organiser Carol Brogan said with a giggle.

The group started back in 1969 by a chance meeting. Carol had just formed a small group to play socially when three women happened to wander past her Beresfield house and asked if she was interested in playing tennis.

"It was a coincidence - it was a new estate back then with only a few houses, and there were no fences. These women were walking the street looking for players," Carol said.

"I asked them if they wanted to join up with us and that was the start of it - we suddenly had a tennis group and we've never looked back."

In the early days they played at Beresfield, but now call Thornton courts home.

"We've had about 50 players all up over the years, and now we have 13," Carol said.

"It's a good number. We can all get a game, especially as there will be people away at any given time, and we only need the one court.

"We just go out and have fun."

The club also has social members who don't play, but participate socially.

"We put a lot of time into little things like acknowledging birthdays and anniversaries, that sort of thing," Carol said. "It takes a little extra effort, but it's worth it."

Carol is the main organiser, a role she happily accepts.

"It gives me something to do, and while it takes a bit of time, I get a lot more out of it than I put in. Besides, none of the others want to do it," she adds with a laugh.

"We've had people drop out for years to have children and then return years later.

"And we've also been lucky in that there has never really been any tension in the group. The girls get on and we have become lifelong friends.

"I was 24 years old when all this started, but here we are all these years later ..."