A SOCIAL club is celebrating 40 years at its York home after bucking the growing club closure trend in the city.

The Tramways Club is going from strength to strength at a time when a number of working men's clubs have shut in recent years, or are threatened with closure.

The club was founded in 1920, when 100 men who worked on York's long defunct tramways decided it was time they needed a social club.

They each contributed a pound, and used the capital to found the club in a room at the Fulford tram depot. One of their first acquisitions was a billiards table. Membership was later extended beyond tramways employees, but the name stuck.

The club moved to a new purpose-built headquarters in Fishergate, but moved again in 1964 to its present HQ in Mill Street, inside the city walls.

Other clubs have been targeted by property developers as they struggle to survive in the 21st century, with a lack of younger members and smaller profit margins.

Four clubs closed in just over a year - Fulford Road WMC, the INL, Layerthorpe WMC and the York City Arms.

But Tramways president Les Redhead said that while membership had fallen over the years, the club was surviving and doing well.

"We are thriving," he said. "We are keeping our heads above water. We have gone from losing money to making money."

He put much of this financial stability down to the work of the club secretary, Lill Alexander. "It's to do with having a lady secretary - they don't go wasting money when they go shopping!"

A week of anniversary celebrations is planned, starting on Sunday when £100 has been added to the bingo jackpot, followed by a country and western evening on Monday.

There will be discounted bar prices on Wednesday and a family disco on Thursday.

The celebrations will end on the Saturday with a grand party night.

Updated: 10:38 Friday, November 05, 2004