THE Witney Silver Threads Club for senior citizens has closed after 23 years.

The club used to attracts more than 100 people to its biweekly meetings, first at Langdale Hall and recently at the Masonic Hall, but that had dwindled to about a dozen.

Each meeting would feature a talk or entertainment, a raffle and bingo, but organisers said falling numbers meant it was no longer financially viable.

It was costing the club £50 for the entertainment and £35 to hire the hall each week but it was only making about £22 a week.

The money left in the club’s account will be donated to charity, with the ambulance service and meningitis victims Charlotte Nott, five, and Daisy Pashley, 10, each receiving £285.

The decision to close was taken at the club’s annual meeting in May.

Chairman Audrey Hamilton, 79, from Witney, said: “On the last day we were ever so upset, because we have been going 23 years.

“All the remaining members are now at a loss at to what to do on a Thursday afternoon.”

She added: “It was a financial decision really, because the numbers were going down.

“I suppose nowadays people work a little bit longer and the attitude of younger people is that they do not want to go to an old people’s club.”