A DEVOTED fundraising group, which has raised around £500,000 for health services over the past six decades, has been disbanded due to falling numbers and an ageing membership.

Valerie Richardson, the chairman of the Friends of Durham Hospitals, said it was a sad occasion, but there was no alternative to closure.

Since its founding in the summer of 1954, the group has raised an estimated £500,000 for hospital and hospice services in the Durham and Chester-le-Street area.

At its peak, it had hundreds of subscription-paying members spread across numerous village branches and was running a hospital coffee shop seven days a week and staging endless coffee mornings, shows and concerts.

But support has declined and many members are now in their 70s and 80s and closure was perhaps inevitable. The group's remaining funds have been split between Durham Hospital Radio, the Great North Air Ambulance, St Cuthbert’s Hospice and Willow Burn Hospice.

However, the Friends leave a lasting legacy and supporters’ happy memories and friendships will live on.

Mrs Richardson, who says she only served 30 years as chairman because “nobody else would do it” and was made an MBE for services to healthcare in 2006, recalled shaking buckets in a workingmen’s club, paying for every mattress in the University Hospital of North Durham to be renewed and being invited to a reception with Prince Andrew at St James’ Palace in 2010.

“It’s sad really, but the insurance was due and if we weren’t careful there was going to be more money going out than coming in,” she reflects.

Mary Bell, a founding member who is now 94 and the group’s president, recalls presenting a television to a ward back in 1965.

Younger women aren’t interested, another supporter comments: “For us, it was a night out – women didn’t go to pubs in those days.”

“It’s a sign of the times,” adds another.

“We’ll still continue to meet – it’s just if you’re going to fundraise, you need a lot of energy and help,” Mrs Richardson says.

Over the years, the Friends have supported hospital gardens, chapels and entertainment, paid for medical equipment and furniture and much more.

“I’d like to thank all the members for their hard work over the last 60 years. They should all be very proud of what they have achieved,” Mrs Richardson said.