BOB LITT remembers walking round the block a few times before steeling himself to step over the threshold of his first FNT meeting.

FNT is the 50+ York Social Club, and it was recommended to Bob after he split from his wife and was going through a bit of a “midlife crisis”.

Bob recalls: “Life was looking a bit bleak. I had taken early retirement at the same time as splitting up from my wife, it was a double whammy. But within a few weeks I had a made new friends and had new things to do.

“But I remember when I went to the first meeting that I walked around the block and then asked myself, ‘are you a man or a mouse?’. And it was fine.”

But it could easily have been so different, he says. “I could have got used to staying at home and watching telly or drinking beer in front of Sky Sports.”

The main pluses of membership have been making friends and doing new activities, says Bob, who is 67 and has been a member for eight years. “I walk more now and I am in a book group. I was a poor reader before, but now I am in a book group, I am very much enjoying that.”

Bob also takes part in the photography group whose members post their efforts in online galleries on the club’s website. For the past few years he has also been club secretary.

Gerald Radnage, 67, is the FNT chairperson and has been a member for five years. He joined after his divorce and, like Bob, has never looked back.

“They have a super range of activities. I didn’t realise I was in a rut until I joined the club. Now I enjoy the occasional meal out or meeting in the pub. I’d never done any walking since I had been in the Scouts but now enjoy the occasional ramble. I am also really keen on photography, so really enjoy that.”

The photography club is run by one of the enthusiastic members. Members meet up and explore a theme, explains Gerard. “Most recently, we met in York city centre to take pictures above first-floor level. It made you look at York from a completely different angle.”

Another member is a keen potter and shares their skills too, running small pottery workshops from their home for a small fee to cover materials. The group was set up 18 years ago and was originally called Forties ‘N’ Thereabouts. Of course, many of the members are older now and although the club is going strong with more than 100 members, FNT is keen to recruit some younger blood, and men would be particularly welcome as women outnumber them at the moment.

Membership costs £20 a year, which includes two coach trips and two discos. Events are organised by members themselves and shared on the website. They might be as simple as a cinema or theatre trip, or a meal out or a Sunday pub lunch. The “organiser” leaves their number and members can ring up to say they want to come along.

Members also meet regularly - on the first and third Friday of the month from 8.30pm at the Railway Institute, Queen Street, York. New for this year is a daytime coffee get-together upstairs at The Spurriergate Centre, Coney Street, on alternate Tuesdays between 1pm and 3pm (the next meeting is today, August 23).

So no-one has to face turning up alone, members offer a “meet and greet” service, where they can arrange to hook up with potential recruits before an event.

The monthly programme is packed with events. For example, this week alone the choice includes: a pub quiz night; Live jazz outing; a four-mile walk; walking tour at York Cemetery and Sunday lunch at a village pub.

Regular weekly events include a Pilates class at Burnholme Community College; aquafit at Yearsley Pool; zumba at New Earswick Bowling Club; a cinema visit to City Screen and a tea dance in Acomb.

Members make an effort to arrange activities on weekends, Bank Holidays and over the Christmas and New Year period, when people can feel more alone. They also arrange holidays together.

Although Bob and Gerard have both met new partners through the group, they stress it is a social organisation for making friends and not a dating agency.

Bob added: “Members join to meet people and make friends and enjoy some different activities – occasionally, some people do get together. Fifty of us were invited to attend the wedding of two of our members.”

Gerard says one of the best features of the group is the range of activities offered on the monthly programme – and the companionship. “You can dip in and out of it as you wish. I enjoy a natter and a pint and having people around. Nobody wants to sit in the pub on their own.”

To find out more about FNT, contact membership secretary Ges Quarmby on 01757 712651 or Bob Litt on 07740 470397 or email: fntyork@gmail.com or visit the website: fntyork.org