A GROUP of RAF veterans are looking for a new place to hold their monthly meetings after they were told they could no longer use the space they have had for the past 14 years.

The Old Lodge, Old Maltongate, told the Ryedale branch of the Royal Air Force Association that they could no longer use the dining room in the hotel after complaints from diners.

But Cyril Shreeve, president and chairman of the group, said that despite receiving a warning he thinks that the group were always well received by diners.

“If one or two diners were left in the dining room we would always go over and explain who we were and what we were doing,” said Mr Shreeve.

“When people see my RAF badge on my blazer they come and talk to me and they are always quite sympathetic and interested in what we are doing.”

The group, who meet on the first Wednesday of the month 10 times a year, always met in the dining room at 3pm.

However, Eileen Lowery, manager at The Old Lodge Hotel, which is a Tudor mansion set in extensive grounds, said that she had asked the group numerous times if they would wait until 3pm so that the majority of diners could finish their food, but said that they kept going in early.

“A couple of times people have complained about people trailing through the dining area while theyhave still been eating,” she said.

“One man said it was like he had been sat in a bus station.

“From a business point of view we had to do what was right so we offered them the hall.”

Despite the offer to hold their meetings in the hotel’s hall, 91-yearold Cyril and the other members are now looking for an alternative venue.

He said: “Unfortunately, the hall was too small for us and because we were booked up for a year at The Old Lodge, we will now have to reissue our brochure, which is all at extra expense to us as a charity.”

The group’s annual general meeting will be held at Eden Camp on Wednesday, March 5, at 2pm.

For more information about the RAF group phone Cyril Shreeve on 01904 762699.