A FORUM for older people has been dissolved because of dwindling membership and attendance at meetings.

It had been planned to reform the Darlington Older Persons' Forum, formed in 1999, but at a meeting last Friday, members decided to disband the forum in order to support other existing pensioner groups in the town.

The forum was set up to champion the causes of the elderly in the town but members were keen to join forces with other organisations to strengthen their work.

It had been hoped that members of Help the Aged and Age Concern would join the forum but at the meeting last week it was decided there was little point in having so many separate organisations all fighting for a similar cause.

Since the setting up of the forum, a number of projects have been developed including the Senior Citizens' Association and Better Government for Older People.

The news of the forum's closure comes in the same month that The Growing Older in Darlington strategy is launched.

The strategy is aimed at getting older people involved in the decisions that effect them and encouraging them to play an active role in their communities..

l Looking to the future: Page 13