MEMBERS of a York working men's club which is set to close have been urged to contact its management.

Tramways Club in Mill Street were told last month that the club would be sold to Wetherby-based Oakgate Group, following a vote by the club’s members.

However, club secretary Susan Butterworth said the club's records had not been updated for some time, and she was struggling to contact longstanding members who had not visited or updated their records in years.

She said: "We're looking for more than a handful, probably about 20, but a lot of their addresses I'm trying to use for people are from the 1980 registry.

"We have a long list and we don't know if they are still up to date. A lot of them don't come in and we don't know whether some of them are still alive."

The club was founded in 1920, when 100 men who worked on York’s tramways decided they needed a social club, and each contributed a pound, using the capital to found the club in a room at the Fulford tram depot. The club moved to a new purpose-built headquarters in Fishergate, but moved again in 1964 to Mill Street.

The site is set to be redeveloped after it closes for the final time on November 30, and the club's members - thought to number about 370 - could be in line to benefit from payments, once outstanding costs have been met.

Susan said this was another good reason for anyone who was or who has known a member to get in touch.

She said: "This is really important because anyone who's a member of the club and we can't contact we want to be able to get in touch if the whole thing is sold. If there's any money comes out of it, we wouldn't be able to give it to them. It would sit with the solicitors for six months before any decision about what to do with it was made. It's a bit complicated when you don't see people for years on end."

Anyone who can help Susan find life members should write to her care of York Tramways Club, Mill Street, York, YO19PY before November 24.