On Friday over 45, men and women, celebrated the club's 65^th anniversary with a long lunch, including a guest talk regarding 18^th century ceramics from notable local collector Bob Burke.

As it did when first formed 65 years ago the club provides the perfect place for friendly chat, lunches and the always popular card games.

While the members keep their cards close to their chest, plenty of cash changes hands on a regular basis across the card tables each week, with the ladies, and now some men, using one and two cent coins across a variety of games including bridge, 500, solo and even mah-jong.

Club president Cath Stevenson said while the patronage of the club has changed, the staple remains the same.

"The club has always been about that lovely fellowship, a good lunch and a game of cards if you like," she said.

"We used to have over 250 members and hold balls and dances in the town hall for fundraisers, but we just can't do that anymore - our 76 members are all between the age of 70 and 96 - we would love to see some younger members join us."

The Town and Country Club operates out of a double brick house on Marius Street, which was bought for the princely sum of 5500 pounds in 1955.

Last month the club launched a Vintage Cook Book containing the ladies' finest recipes. All 100 books flew out the door, with a second batch being printed this week.