TURNING 90 hasn’t stopped golfing granny Joyce Callaghan from swinging...and winning.

Evergreen Joyce, who lives off Harwich Road, Colchester, only got into the sport after husband Kenneth died.

Nearly three decades later she’s still playing twice a week at Birch Grove Golf Club and adding to her collection of silverware.

Joyce, who has 18 greatgrandchildren and is expecting her first great-great grandchild in May, said: “They transferred his membership to me because he was a golfer there and I have been there 28 years. I used to go up with him sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, just for a knock about really, but I never thought I would like being in the outdoors.”

But Joyce soon found playing with others, sometimes as often as three times a week, was a great source of comfort.

Even a heart attack four years ago, which left her needing two stents, couldn’t keep her off the course for long.

“I was back within a month,” Joyce said.

“I enjoy the company. It is lovely to get out. It is such a nice club up there. I can go up there on my own and someone will always be there to talk to me.

“I think it does you good to get out and walk and I also have a dog I walk twice a day.”

Joyce has a handicap of 36, but at her best said it was 28.

The trophy she is proudest of was awarded to her for being winning lady in a Silver Jubilee match in 1996.

While she insists she’s not got the swing she used to have, Joyce managed to win the Ladies Section Texas Scramble competition, on her 90th birthday.

Slotting in some crucial putts, Joyce’s skill meant her team finished with a score of 61.3. A party was held with family to celebrate her special day although it is only daughter Sharon, who turns 65 next week, who has followed in Joyce’s golfing footsteps.

Joyce said club members have urged her to continue her membership.

“While I can get around the golf course I will still do it,”

she said.