A Girl Guides group threatened with the axe has been handed a last-minute reprieve.

The doors were due to close on the 1st Egglescliffe Guides if they failed to find a new leader.

But a plea from division commissioner Christine Brooks has helped to rescue the 40-year-old troop.

Since November, she has been inundated with offers of help and now the group, which was founded in 1965 and has 30 members aged ten to 14, is to continue.

"It was a very close-run thing," she said. "People who rang said they had thought about doing something like this for a long time but didn't know how to get in contact."

Many of the 21 groups in the Stockton borough face a constant battle to recruit new leaders, who generally retire between the ages of 60 and 65.

She said: "A lot of the girls were worried about what was going to happen to the group - where they were going to go if it closed - and there was no room at other units in the area. But now everybody's thrilled."

New leader Angela Hunter, 37, of Grassholme Way, Eaglescliffe, said: "When I heard they were looking for a new leader, I thought, 'I'll give it a go'. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. The group is really, really nice and it would have been such a shame for it to close down."