A LACK of volunteer helpers has meant that the Amersham and Chesham Arthritis Care Club has had to close down.

The organisation, which has been going for more than 20 years, is a social life-line for those with the crippling condition, but could not find enough volunteers to staff it.

Jean Andrews, secretary of the club for ten years, said it was decided to be closed because dwindling numbers of volunteers meant it would be impossible to keep monthly social events going.

She said: "We decided that we would have to call it a day in the New Year after we had our final meeting in November.

"Volunteers were not coming forward and did not want to take on any responsibility. As membership has declined so has the bank balance and we had to pay to hire the hall we meet in and provide transport, it couldn't go on."

Membership has declined from around 90 members to around 20 in the last few years and this was not enough to pay the bills.

The group met at the Amersham Community Centre, in Chiltern Avenue, and gave people suffering from the condition an opportunity to get out of their homes.

Mrs Andrews, said: "It has been absolutely inevitable that it would close. It was a sad day when we had to make the decision but there is nothing we can do."