SUSPENDED members of a philanthropic and social society who have spent seven years trying to clear their names demonstrated outside a national meeting at the weekend.

Up to 400 members of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) attended a grand meeting at the Borough Hall on the Headland at Hartlepool on Saturday.

Outside the meeting some of the five suspended members who at one point in 2009 were accused of "misappropriating funds" and their supporters handed out 250 pamphlets outlining their case and demanding the right to appeal.

The RAOB, or Buffs, club on Church Street in Hartlepool, which all five suspended members were involved in running, was closed in 2009. Police investigated allegations against one of the members, Bob Martin, but decided there was no case to pursue.

Other members, Stephen Drew, Geoff Dodsworth, Robert Percival and Barry Thompson, as well as Mr Martin say they did nothing wrong and have been denied an appeal.

The allegations centre on the use of the RAOB's Benevolent Fund money to invest in the club. It was eventually decided that using that Benevolent Fund money was against the rules, although the five members said they had been given permission to invest in the club.

RAOB member and supporter of the five, Louis Bowerbank, of West Cornforth, in County Durham, distributed the pamphlets outside the Borough Hall.

He said: "They should be given the chance to appeal, they've done nothing wrong. We just hope the powers that be will note we are here and agree to look at this again."

One RAOB 'brother' entering the hall disputed that the men had not been given a say arguing there had been a meeting in which the case had been outlined. However Mr Percival disputed that saying they had not been given a chance of a properly constituted appeal.