THE future of a Bishop’s Waltham care group looks safe after civic chiefs pledged their support.

The town’s lunch clubs, held at the Jubilee Hall to cater for the elderly, were recently awarded two grants of £1,000 each.

But parish councillors questioned the efficiency of a structure which sees three different clubs – on a Monday, a Tuesday, and a Wednesday – but each with separate accounts.

Now Winchester’s deputy leader, Cllr Rob Humby, has backed them, but said things must change.

On Tuesday he told the parish council: “We want to provide them with a good practice guide.

“We’re absolutely committed to them. They are more than the meals – it’s about community.

“But we must make them sustainable. It is possible and I know the one in Hamble, for example, is self-sustaining.”

In May, councillors awarded one of the clubs a grant of £1,000 after Cllr Robert Shields warned its accounts showed it “wouldn’t last a year”, and Mary Freemantle, a volunteer cook at the club, said they had been forced to cut its hours to reduce rental costs.

The club, in its various forms, has been running for almost 40 years.

Cllr Barry Nicholson said last month: “We do have some responsibility to help these lunch clubs keep going because I know how valuable it was for my mother.

“But I would suggest the grants are awarded for both clubs on the proviso that they look at a review by an independent body with a view to making savings, otherwise the spirit in which we’re making these grants would have to be looked at again.”

Cllr Terry Wilson said: “We have three different clubs with three different ways of doing things and it’s time we got it sorted.”