A GROUP of more than 200 pensioners plan to take a trip back in time for a week of celebrations with a Victorian theme at nine day clubs in Barnard Castle.

The group, with 18 staff and 70 volunteers who run the clubs, will dress up in Victorian costumes and take along memorabilia from the bygone age in the week starting next Monday.

Cooks will prepare a lunch using recipes from Queen Victoria's reign, and will consult old books to find suitable table settings from the period.

The clubs will compete for a prize for recreating the era and there will be individual prizes for the best costumes in each club.

Anne Beckett-Wise, co-ordinator of the day clubs, said the members were enthusiastic about the project and would get a great deal of pleasure from it.