MORETON Community Club members have lost their legal battle to stop the Royal British Legion regaining possession of its premises.

About 150 members of the 300-strong club attended a meeting at the Station Approach premises in Moreton on Sunday to hear club chairman Dave Baker break the news that the court decision had gone against them. They have until April 11 to get out.

The judgement, made by circuit judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC following a hearing at Worcester County Court last month (jan), means the club could face a £200,000 bill for costs.

However, there is still a chance the club could be saved as a community facility after the judge urged both sides to enter into negotiations.

Mr Pearce-Higgins said: "I hope that those at national level will participate in that process and that the wider needs of the Moreton community, in addition to the immediate needs of the Legion community, will be considered."

Solicitors for the community club wrote to the RBL's national chairman last week offering to buy the premises or take a long lease on the building.

"In our opinion it is vital that the club premises should remain a community asset, as it has been since the 1920s. The local community will not easily forgive anyone who does anything to upset this," said the club's lawyers Kendall & Davies.

Club chairman Mr Baker said events at the building annually raised between £20,000 and £30,000 a year for charities such as the British Heart Foundation, Macmillan Nurses, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, the local GP surgeries, prostate cancer charity and the Air Ambulance.

It was the only suitable venue for blood donor sessions in the town, he claimed.

At Sunday's meeting, Mr Baker and other club members were clearly unhappy with the actions of three RBL branch members, Jenny Harris, Ron Fowler and Peter Mansfield, whose complaints sparked investigations into the club's activities.

Mr Baker reserved particular criticism for Moreton town council vice-chairman Ms Harris, who is a member of Gloucestershire RBL management committee and gave evidence against the club in court.

"She should be representing the interests of the town," he said.

However, in his judgement, Mr Pearce-Higgins said there was no evidence of a vendetta aimed at closing the club. The club had not complied with the rules by allowing non-members to use the premises, he said.

Referring to incidents of violence at the club, which led police to seek to have the club's licence revoked before Christmas, the judge said: "In addition, the club had acquired a certain reputation with the police. There was evidence of underage drinking, which I accept."

He added: "In my judgement the problems the club was experiencing with non-members was a consequence of their failure to operate properly as a members' club.

"The club has made it plain that operating outside the club rules is the only commercially viable way to make it pay."

Royal British Legion spokesman Robert Lee refused to comment on the judgement until it was officially released.

Cllr Harris also said she would not comment until the judge officially made his findings public.