ONE of York's bastions of tradition has finally succumbed to the changing times and is to allow women to join its previously all-male membership.

Fulford Conservative Club has managed to do what the Marylebone Cricket Club could not. It has turned its back on convention and voted to allow women the same membership privilege as men.

And, it appears, women are flocking to join. The committee is currently considering nine names which have been proposed for membership.

No one at the club was available for comment today, but the City of York Conservative Association confirmed that Fulford and District was the second club in the city to allow women to become members.

There are four Conservative clubs in York - Acomb, Bootham and Monk, Heworth and Fulford and District, which all allow women to through their portals as guests.

But, until recently, all the clubs, with the exception of Bootham and Monk, drew the line at allowing women to become full members.

Maureen Hill, who is the stewardess at Heworth Conservative Club in East Parade, which was established in 1936, said there was a time when she was the only woman seen in the bar.

Now husbands can bring their wives into the club as guests, but she says it is still a male-dominated club and there is no move for change.

"We're a very happy, little club here," she said. "Ladies can come in, but they often only pop in to pick up their husbands and I don't think they're queuing up to join.

"It used to be very strict. It was accepted that the male steward would have a wife who'd help out behind the bar and do a bit of catering and maybe the cleaning but she would be the only woman allowed in.

"But times have changed and I would think it would be quite unusual to find a club now which didn't let women in."

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