A POPULAR folk group are to retire after 35 years, bring down the curtain on the club where they played as the resident band.

The decision of Auld Triangle to quit means the end of the Westhoughton Folk Club, which they started in 1974.

The club was such a success that it scooped Radio 2's first Folk Club of the Year award in 2000.

It has held weekly concerts every Friday at Westhoughton Golf Club since 1994.

Auld Triangle - made up of Pat Batty, Mike Austen, Barrie Seddon and Clive Leyland - will play their last gig of the season there this Friday.

The quartet, who are all over 55, say the weekly concerts have become too strenuous.

The youngest band member, Pat Batty, aged 56, said: "We are ready to retire.

"Setting up the gigs is demanding work. We put it all together ourselves and we are all reaching that age where it is becoming quite a task.

"It has only ever been a hobby for us and we've kept going because it's been successful.

"It's a shame to leave it behind, but we want to go out on a high."

Auld Triangle has performed with folk favourite Richard Digance and the Bolton Bullfrog, Bernard Wrigley.

The band gave their first concert, as Westhoughton Folk Club, at Orrell Rugby Club in 1972.

Their weekly performances moved to the Red Lion Hotel, in Westhoughton, two years later and have been attracting crowds of around 120 people a week since moving to the golf club 14 years ago.

Auld Triangle will play two additional, farewell concerts at the golf club in November, but tickets have already sold out.

Tickets for Friday's gig, priced from £7 to £15, are available on the door. The show starts at 8.15pm. For more details on the Westhoughton Folk Club, visit www.folkclub.org.uk.