The bowls players still competing in their 90s

"Sprightly" Alan and Carl have a combined age of 187

They may have a combined age of 187, but two veteran bowls players plan to carry on competing until they can no longer roll their woods.

Friends Alan Hill, 92, and Carl Hawksworth, 95, still regularly represent their St Peter's Park club in competitive matches.

Fellow club members at Derbyshire's Little Eaton Bowls Club say the pair are both surprisingly sprightly for their ages, which they believe is as a result of still taking part in their sport.

Alan and Carl have joked they have set up an academy which prospective crown green bowls players can only join once they've turned 90.

Carl said: "I just like bowling. You get out in the fresh air, exercise, what more could you want really?"

"We hope it's going to keep us going," he added. "But it's not the winning, it's the taking part."

Alan said: "That's what it's all about. You win some, you lose some and that's how it goes.

"It's the same with any ball game. You have good days and you have bad days."

Little Eaton Bowls Club has 55 members of all ages

Alan said their participation "definitely helps" to keep the pair sprightly - with each match requiring about 4,000 steps per player.

He added the social side of the game is another reason they have carried on playing.

"It's the comradeship and the different people that you meet all the time, at every club," he said. "It's very sociable.

"Years ago, it was off the bowling green and into the pub because quite a lot of the bowling greens are where pubs are.

"As long as we're able to get out and roll those woods, that's what it's all about."

Little Eaton chairman and captain Phil Bonser said the St Peter's park club currently has 17 teams.

He said: "It's a great game. We've got about 55 members in our club and everyone enjoys it.

"Anyone from the ages of eight years old can play the game."

The chairman of the club said bowls is "a great game"

Phil added that Alan and Carl stand out not only as nonagenarians, but also for the contribution they make to their club.

He said: "We played in a vets' quarter-final cup competition and they handsomely beat Rykneld, which was incredible.

"They look a lot younger than they actually are and I think that's down to bowls.

"They're very agile. It's surprising at their age, what they can do and how good they are as well."

Additional reporting by Kacper Misiarz.