It was set up for ladies who lunch but a long-standing Norfolk institution has been forced to close after almost 70 years following a "societal shift" which left its membership dwindling.
Unable to attract new members and compete against "lifestyle and demographic changes", the Norwich Ladies Luncheon Club (NLLC) has been battling the decline for years.
Confirming the news in a statement, the group said this combined with a plethora of competing activities, commitments, interests and hobbies "all vying for women’s attention", and lectures and talks now being found online, has hastened the "end of an era".
The club was set up in 1955 following the idea of two friends, with the aim of entertaining, educating and bring women together.
Little did they know that from the club’s inaugural meeting in Samson and Hercules House on June 17 of that year, it would grow to a membership of 300 in its heyday and achieve a waiting list of 100.
Women from all over the county travelled to the luncheons, which were held every second Tuesday of the month.
But that same level of success has not been sustained in the past 20 years.
The club's membership has dwindled to 90 and with the majority of the women in their 80s and 90s combined with "today's huge societal shifts", it has not been able to continue with its current organising committee.
Liz Gill, 69, the club's youngest member and NLLC's programme secretary, said the closure was "devastating" and a "sign of the times".
She said: "The whole concept of ladies getting dressed up and putting on their best clothes, going out to lunch, perhaps has lost its appeal to women.
"It's what ladies wanted to do back in the 50s and 60s and indeed 70s and 80s, but once we got the internet and women working, older women having to do 'granny duties', then I think that was the start of our decline.
"The members are very sad, they all love it and will miss it.
"But it is impossible to keep it going without an organising committee and bringing on any new members."
She added the camaraderie of the club is what made it so special, with members travelling across the region to be part of it from places such as Cromer and Bungay.
The programme secretary said: "It was the warmth, the whole ambience of a huge room full of ladies all coming together every month sharing common experiences of whatever we were going through in broader society at the time.
"It became a great big sisterhood."
It involved a monthly hotel lunch - latterly at Norwich’s Mercure - and guest speakers who would cover subjects ranging from authorship, acting and art to outstanding achievement and the aristocracy.
Speakers included Major General Sir William Cubitt - former High Sheriff of Norfolk, Anglia TV’s Helen McDermott, artist Edward Seago, BBC reporter and former EDP journalist John Timpson, Hilary Kay from BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow, novelist Louis de Berniers, historian and writer Lucinda Hawkesley and Timothy Bentinck from The Archers.
Baroness Mary Archer DBE was also among them.
Reacting to the club’s demise, she said: “Customs change as life gets busier, but I was particularly sorry to hear that the Norwich Ladies Luncheon Club - which I very much enjoyed visiting - is closing down, ending 67 years of convivial friendships.”
The Lady Dannatt MBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk, said: “It’s hard to believe that the NLLC - which has been an integral part of Norfolk’s social scene for so long - is no more."
For Jackie Petherick, who was NLLC President in 1999-2000, one highlight was when "charming" TV star Nicholas Parsons took to the stage with his "brilliant and somewhat over-enthusiastic raconteur".
With hotel staff becoming agitated, she had to politely interrupt him after over an hour, to tell him he had over-run.
“I haven’t nearly finished yet,” he was said to have replied, adding: “I’m only half-way".
Despite the club's closure, its stories like these that keep its sentiment alive for its members, who hang on to the hope that a modern version of NLLC could be formed.
Seven local charities including the Norfolk Blood Bikes, domestic abuse charity Leeway and The Trussell Trust will benefit from the club's remaining funds of more than £13,000.
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