A GROUP of Swindon snooker players with a combined age of 420 think they may have scored a maximum break by being the oldest competing team in the country.

Peter Payne, aged 80, Ron Threadgill, 82, Ray McCloud, 94, Robin Phelps 79 and Harry Howlett, 85 play in the over 55s retired league at Jesters Snooker Hall in Greenbridge.

And they do pretty well, according to club owner Brad Baker. The team, which is usually pitted against players a couple of decades younger, has won the league in the past.

Captain Peter, a retired stonemason, told the Advertiser he had searched the internet in a bid to find information about any older teams but without success.

“I wondered if we could be the oldest in the country,” he said.

He started playing the game as an apprentice back in the 1940s when he was living in London.

“Then we moved to Swindon 50 years ago. I’ve always played in local leagues.” When he got older he gave up the game but a chance meeting with another player, Dennis Williams, while he was walking in town with wife Brenda, got him back in to the sport.

“He had got this small team playing at Jesters. My wife said: ‘You’re not playing at the moment. Why not go and play with Dennis?’”

They lost Dennis some time ago, but the team is still active. Ex-RAF serviceman Ron recently made his debut in the Cuestars South of England Seniors, while Ray McCloud, usually known as Mac, plays a round of golf every week apart from his regular snooker sessions.

“Mac, he is brilliant. He gives the team up every year and then comes back.”

At 79, Robin, who used to work in engineering, is the youngest member. Peter said: “He’s the baby – he’s our protégé.”

The old friends are at the tables three times a week and currently sit comfortably in the middle of the league table.

“It is a very competitive league,” he said. “We’re not top of the league these days, but we used to be. It has got more competitive and as we get older we don’t have as much time to play.”

Brad added: “It’s fantastic. I think it’s great, the fact that they are still playing and still competing.”

They were also an inspiration to the younger players.

“Everybody respects them,” he said. “They are not a team to be taken lightly.”