ON July 23 1965 a group of young bachelors met at the Winchester Arms, (The Winch), in Castle Green, Taunton, to officially form The Stand Club, a ‘gentlemen’s social club’.

In the mid to late 1960s the club was best known for its Christmas dances at the County Hotel Ballroom, when, at its peak, dancing to the Kenny Ball Jazzmen, there were around 600 guests.

Prior to the closure of the hotel the club held its ‘Last Stand’ in December 1994 and were played out by the band of the Royal Regiment of Wales. Many local people will have happy memories of these events.

During the past 50 years, as well as having great fun playing football, hockey, tennis, squash, clay-pigeon shooting, sailing, golf, taking part in carnivals at Bridgwater and Taunton, driving classic cars in France members have raised lots of money for local charities.

In the past two years significant donations have been made to Macmillan Nurses, the RNLI, the Somerset ACF, and Morland Village Hall.

On Sunday July 26, 2015, to mark the 50th anniversary of that inaugural meeting, 24 members met at Woodlands Castle, Ruishton, for what, to most, was to be a surprise day out.

Departing in a 1950 Bristol single-decker coach, driven by Maurice Mitchell, the group continued the retro theme by taking a trip on the West Somerset Railway from Bishops Lydeard to Washford, where the coach picked them up for liquid refreshments at the White Horse Inn.

Next stop was at Maunsel House for an excellent lunch where they were later joined by their ladies for afternoon tea.

There was an exhibition of club archives, with a number of Somerset County Gazette photos of club carnival floats, one of which was a winner in the comic section.

It goes without saying that there was much to talk about and many tales from a bygone era. The younger members were enthralled.