THE future of a long-running members' club for Swindon veterans is in doubt.

The RAF Association Club on Belle Vue Road may shut for good next month if a new committee to manage the venue cannot be found.

The Swindon branch of the RAFA is still very active and will continue no matter what happens, but it might not have a dedicated meeting place for much longer.

The branch provides welfare support to ex-serving RAF personnel and promotes the Association with events and fundraising activities.

At the end of 2019, the Swindon branch of the Royal British Legion closed its Regent Street shop after five years in the town's centre because it did not receive enough footfall to make money and decided the money spent on keeping the doors open could be better used on other things.

With the status of RAFA's Swindon base now uncertain, Swindon veterans may lose one of the few remaining physical spaces where they can go to receive support.

Neil Robinson said: "With the town centre loss of the RBL, Swindon veterans will have nowhere to go. It is quite lonely not having facilities for military veterans in Swindon. It's not good for people's mental health."

Paul Baker is the branch clubs operations and development manager at the RAF Association.

He said: "The future of the Swindon and District Club will be decided at a members’ meeting in early April.

"The current committee has put in many years of dedicated service, supporting the club and veterans in the area, but they feel now is the time to step down.

"The members will decide on the future direction of the club at that meeting.

“The Swindon and District Branch remains strong though, providing friendship and support to the large serving and veteran RAF community in the area.

"Anyone wishing to join the branch should visit www.rafa.org.uk/join or call 0800 018 2361.”

As with many other charitable organisations, the pandemic caused a lot of disruption to the usual schedule of generating donations for the Wings Appeal and forced the social club to close for many months, with branch meetings beingh held online instead, though it reopened after restrictions eased last summer.

The branch describes its mission as: “Supporting the RAF family is exactly what we are there for, and with the needs of our serving personnel, veterans and families increasing in volume and complexity we are busier than ever."