A POPULAR community group for retired people has been forced to close after just over 30 years because there are no longer enough volunteers to run the organising committee.

The Leonard Stanley Monday Club has thrived since 1983 offering members an opportunity to socialise and enjoy days out.

However, there are no longer enough people to run the organising committee and the group held a final ‘Ritz tea’ themed meeting on Monday, April 14 at Leonard Stanley village hall.

Monica Cook, who has been attending the club since she retired in the early 1990s, has also been helping organise meetings every week for the past few years.

“The club won’t be continuing because we can’t get a new committee,” said Ms Cook.

“Several people have been organising the club every week for several years but since we are all getting older and we wanted to stand down this year, we warned the members in advance.

“But the trouble with an ageing population is that it is difficult to find someone to take over the responsibility of running the club.”

The five to six people who have now left the committee were in charge of organising musical afternoons and entertainment such as bingo, card games and quizzes for members.

The small committee included founder Lorna Niebryzdowski, who has been in charge of the kitchen for the last 31 years and continued to stay active within the club.