A village social club set up by Sir Winston Churchill's head cook has held its last meeting.

The Rottingdean Good Fellowship Club was established for over-60s as life got back to normal after the Second World War.

Its members have been meeting for the past 55 years but, due to declining membership, the remaining few have decided to call it a day.

They ended on a high note with a party at Rottingdean Village Hall, where they have met since the club began.

It was felt the club should be wound up gracefully rather than gradually decline and friends and relatives of past members talked about their memories.

Members had been getting older and older. Five were in their 90s and there was no one active enough to continue as secretary.

Violet Simpson, a former schoolmistress, said: "There were plans to close the club in 1989. Irene Collins, who was the secretary back then, said she could no longer carry on and announced the closure of the club unless someone came forward.

"I volunteered and have done the job ever since. Now the situation has risen again but this time no one has come forward so were are having to close.

"The three founders were the Reverend Ivor Walters, Winnie Moppett, Churchill's cook and her husband Robert.

"The club was non-denominational and non-political. The founders were in their early-middle age and wanted to be of service to the elderly of the village."

The club has been an integral part of Rottingdean life over the years.

Members had a stall at the village fair and the club ran events, talks and an annual week's coach holiday.

The club's assets, including an amplifier, projection stand and screen, lapel microphone, cushions and trays are being donated to Rottingdean Village Hall.

Its records, including minutes, are being given to the Rottingdean Preservation Society.

Although archives from 1947 to 1967 have been lost, Mrs Simpson, who is related to Mrs Moppett, was able to give members a potted history of the club at the final gathering.

Mrs Moppett had been head cook to Sir Winston Churchill at his country home at Chartwell, Kent.

She originally took on the role of both club secretary and treasurer but later reverted to just being treasurer.

She put her cooking and organisational skills to excellent use at the club's Christmas dinners.

There were no chairs in the village hall for the early meetings and it was her husband's job to transport more and more chairs to meetings as numbers gradually increased.

She died in 1995 after being involved with the club for 48 years.

The club reached its peak in 1967, when there were 160 members with an average of 90 attending meetings.

Only 42 were still on the books when the club decided to call it a day with its history and image intact.