A GROUP for elderly people living in Worcester is celebrating a cash windfall that will help it organise day trips out for its members.

St Barnabas Social Club has been given £550.50 from WiNN (Worcestershire Neighbourhood Network) Project and celebrated the good news in style with a choral concert at one of its meetings.

The Worcester News previously reported the club was in danger of closing because it did not have enough members and was running out of funds.

Members were having to organise meals and days out because the group's meeting place in St Barnabas with Christ Church Hall, Church Road, Rainbow Hill, Worcester, was being used for children's activities and is due to be redecorated in the summer.

But club leader Melanie Macdonald said there has been lots of interest since the Worcester News highlighted its plight. She said the money from the WiNN Project would go a long way to ensuring its short-term survival.

"It's great," she said. "Everybody came to the agreement that we would like to go on trips so this will help us."

The WiNN Project is a two-year scheme run by Worcestershire County Council aimed at improving the lives of older people living across the county.

It will pay for the club's insurance on day trips, a total of £157.50 for the year, while the rest of the money will go towards organising outings.

"We will get two trips out of that money for our members during the summer," she said.

"We are already going to Weston-Super-Mare on Tuesday, June 12, which we paid for out of our own funds that we saved up."

The group, which has 16 members, meets between 2pm and 4pm every Tuesday.

Members chat, drink tea and coffee, eat biscuits and play games. For more information call Melanie on 01905 25928.