A SLEEPY village club is bidding to shed its stuffy image by encouraging members to take up pole dancing.

And now regulars at Whalley Conservative Club are set to ditch the dominoes and snub the snooker in favour of imitating risque exotic dancing.

The club committee was determined to get the once thriving venue talked about in the village, and came up with the idea as a bit of fun for regulars.

It marks a remarkable turnaround for a club that famously only allowed women to become members in 1999.

And even the local vicar has taken it all in good humour.

The Rev Chris Sterry, of Whalley Parish Church, said: "I think it's been done in a tongue in cheek manner to make the club a talking point rather than as anything serious. I don't think it is going to lead to an outbreak of lewdness in Whalley.

"When people go to the club for Christenings and birthday parties they have a laugh about the pole. It's all meant in a light-hearted way."

The Queens Street club hit the headlines when it voted to retain its men-only rule. But a national public outcry led to the club agreeing to admit women members.

The club now has 160 members, with 30 of them women.

Club chairman Peter Mossop said: "Given we only let women members in five years ago we thought it was time we moved into the 20th, never mind the 21st, century.

"So we hit upon the idea of putting in a pole as a gimmick so people will talk about us in the village. I think it's working.

"I had my 60th birthday party here recently and the pensioners were having a swing around the pole. The female members don't seem to object to it, in fact some of them love it.

"It's only a bit of fun for people using the club, it's not as if we getting in professional pole dancers.

"I admit it's a far cry from twin set and pearls, but when a club is struggling you do what you can."

Whalley mother-of-two and club member Wendy Daniels said the pole has proved a hit with her fellow women members.

She added: "It's really popular, especially when the women have had a drink. Lots of them look at it suspiciously, but most of them end up dancing round it."

The pole dancing antics have come as a surprise to Ribble Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans who had declared that the club was moving 'out of the Dark Ages' when it finally admitted female members in 1999.

He said : "They've clearly gone from one extreme to another."