A FORMER president of Accrington Lions is to quit after the charity group decided to allow women members.

Harold Hardman voted in favour of allowing women to join, but said he would resign next year.

He said: "I supported the decision for the club, because it is the way forward, but it is not for me.

"We are dying on our feet, and it is not just the Lions, a lot of charity organisations are in the same situation, and I object to doing it because our numbers are down.

"I will see the year out, but then I will be giving up."

Harold, who has been a member for about 18 years, added: "Having women there changes the meetings -- it makes them slightly more respectable and more formal."

Two women have already joined the Accrington Lions, which organises Accrington Carnival and other fund-raising events in the town, since the vote, including former Hyndburn mayoress Bernadette Parkinson, who has joined with her husband, Coun Miles Parkinson.

Now that Accrington has allowed women to join, Clitheroe is the only Lions club in East Lancashire that is men-only. Peter Haworth, secretary of Clitheroe Lions, said: "We have no active policy against women joining and we have never had any women wanting to join.

"But that is not to say if one applied she would get in -- it has just never been tested."

Jackie Seed was the first female to become a member of Burnley Lions and she was the club's first female president.

She said: "We have been a mixed club since 1995. My husband is a member, so for me it was cases of 'if you can't beat them, join them'.

"Most organisations, not just the Lions, are losing members, so I think the scope has to be broader.

"I think ladies can bring a certain something to the club."

All local Lions clubs are part of Lions International, a worldwide voluntary service organisation with more than 46,000 clubs in 193 countries.

Alan James, from Lions International, said: "The Lions was not started as an exclusively male organisation, it has just been dominated by males.

"But now at least 75per cent of clubs are mixed."