Sad farewell as ladies group bows out after 69 years

It will be goodbye forever to St Leonard's Young Wives, St Leonard's Ladies Group, and Bridgnorth Ladies Group – different incarnations over the decades of the same group which has been part of the Bridgnorth scene for just short of 70 years.

"I'm sad it's finished. It must be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, clubs in the town," said Mrs Pat Yates, who has been secretary for the past 13 years. It was only supposed to be two, which gives a clue as to why the group has folded – nobody was coming forward to fill the key roles.

Mrs Edna Lewis, who with Mrs Kath Childs is the longest serving member – they joined at the same time – said: "I've loved every minute of it. I have had lots of enjoyment. We did a float in Bridgnorth carnival when we won first prize as Tetley Tea folk. We did Last Of The Summer Wine too.

"I'm on my own now ­– my husband died two years ago. I will miss it. It was something to look forward to.

"When I joined I had two small children and I didn't go anywhere and didn't meet anyone. I came to live in Bridgnorth in 1959. I had a son and daughter and when they're small you get confined to the house, really. So this was a way of meeting people.

"After all, I was not an actual Bridgnorth person. I came from Ditton Priors. I had lived in a small village and Bridgnorth was a town to me. I didn't know many people.

"Kathleen (Childs) was in the same boat as me. She had two small girls, and it was nice to get together and meet new people and make new friends."

As well as being a group of friendship and fellowship, it has also raised money for charity, and the final act will be that presentation on February 4 of £400 to the Midlands Air Ambulance and a similar amount to Bridgnorth Hospital League of Friends.

The presentation is at 2pm in the hospital coffee shop, and all group members are being invited along for what will in effect double as a swansong.

The group's last meeting was a Christmas dinner in the Tudor Room in Bridgnorth in December.

In its final days the group, which met the third Monday of the month at Bridgnorth library, had 23 members. Typically they would have a speaker, and in July there was always a summer outing.

Edna, who has been a member for about 48 years, recalls that when she first joined there would easily be 60 or so members.

But the reason for the club folding has been a lack of officials.

"People don't want to do the administrative side, like being the secretary, the treasurer, and the chairman. Officials are supposed to change every two years, but I've done it for 13 years. I feel I've got to pack up now because of my husband and as you get older you don't feel you can take all the responsibility," said Pat who, like Edna, is in her early 80s.

The earliest records of the club have not survived but there is a November 1949 reference in a church magazine to a decision to start a young wives' fellowship, meeting in St Leonard's rectory, and it must have started immediately thereafter as snippets about its activities were already appearing in the Bridgnorth Journal by January 1950.

"It was started by the wife of the Rev Wallace Cox. He was a padre in the RAF and then came to Bridgnorth," said Pat.

It was originally St Leonard's Young Wives, later becoming St Leonard's Ladies Group, meeting in the old grammar school in St Leonard's Close.

"It was affiliated to St Leonard's Church. I remember that when I started we always began with a prayer. I think we had to give so much money to the church out of the subs or whatever," said Edna.

A couple of years ago the name was changed to Bridgnorth Ladies Group.

Pat said: "The change was because we felt people associated it with the church and it put them off – that's what we felt at the time. St Leonard's is a redundant church."

She has three albums of cuttings and photos, the earliest of which dates back to the 1960s.

"I've asked the historical society in Bridgnorth if it will accept them."