He was one of a handful of men who set up the Brighton Lions club nearly 50 years ago to try to improve the lot of those who had suffered in the war.

But after 30 years of being a member of the Brighton Lions, Peter Bennett's job forced him to move away from Sussex.

Last night, after nearly 30 years away from the club he helped form, current Lion members were getting ready to welcome Peter into the fold again.

Their spokesman, John Alden, said: "It is a great honour for us to have Peter reinvested into the club.

"He is a part of our history and has valuable archives from the early days.

"It is particularly poignant that he has returned in time for the club's 50th anniversary next year."

The Brighton Peter Bennett returned to this week is starkly different to the town he came home to after the Second World War.

After serving in India and Burma, the young man returned to his family, a job, a home in Patcham and good prospects. But some of his neighbours had been less fortunate. Many had lost their loved ones and struggled to make ends meet.

In 1950, five years after the war ended, hardship was still common.

Peter, now 79 and registered blind, said: "I felt I had come through the war and settled down.

"But there were so many others who had lost so much, I felt I should give something back."

So when a Canadian, who had settled in Brighton after the war, approached Peter to ask for help in establishing an organisation to give people a service, he jumped at the chance.

On October 18, 1950, the Brighton Lions Club, part of an international organisation set up in the USA, was formed by him and a group of about ten others.

In May 1951 the club received its official charter, only the second in the country to do so.

Peter, who was working for the family ironmongery business, J B Bennett in Cheltenham Place, spent the next 30 years helping in the community.

He said: "The aim was to provide people with a personal service.

"We helped do practical jobs like tidying gardens and doing some decorating."

As the years passed, the club's membership grew and Peter rose through the ranks of the Lions, spending a year in charge of all clubs in the South in 1961.

But in 1979 the family business started to flounder and Peter moved north to work in Durham, leaving his beloved Brighton - and a lasting legacy - behind.

He said: "I could have remained a member of the club but I left because I could not be an active member."

Since he left, the club, which still organises the Brighton Carnival, has built on the foundations of Peter's work.

The 22 active members continue to help the needy in Brighton by providing a range of services like hospital transport and a large-print book library service.

Every year they raise thousands for charity.

Peter, who now lives in Basingstoke, said: "I may not be as able to help now as much as before, but I hope there will still be something for me to do.

"It is a good feeling to be back."