Maureen, pictured on the right, has left the Stockton tea party group she helped to start – but at their latest get together a chair was left vacant for her, along with a cuppa, just in case she changed her mind.

She has just celebrated her 93rd birthday and health problems have left her less mobile than she was.

Maureen, who has missed just one tea party since she joined the group when it started in 2016, said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going to them and have made some good friends. But it’s just too difficult for me to go now. I won't be lonely though, I'm perfectly happy as I am.”

As a younger woman she worked as a fashion sales assistant and has two sons and two daughters, having been married for 54 years to husband Terence who sadly died in 2008.

“The tea parties were always something to look forward to,” she said. “They made me feel I was still involved with the world. I just can’t speak too highly of them.”

Always elegantly dressed, Maureen will be hugely missed by the group’s members who saw her as ‘a connector.’

“Whenever we had a new member of the group Maureen would always know them. She knew them from school or went to the same bowling club as them. There was always a connection,” said group coordinator, Janice Cawood.

“And if there was a difficulty to overcome Maureen would succeed and always say: ‘Well, I was a Girl Guide you know.’

“She is very stoic and always game to join in a trip to the seaside for fish and chips or having a picnic in the park and listening to the bands. Maureen always had a bit of local history to share and we have enjoyed her company tremendously.

“She is a big loss to the group but will be strong in our minds for quite some time yet.”