AFTER 76 years' serving the young girls of Ingleton, the brownie pack has had to disband through lack of support.

The group had its last meeting on Tuesday when a tearful Brown Owl, Margaret Milburn, accepted a bouquet from one of her four remaining charges.

The pack was formed on October 1 1927 and registered the following year on March 28. Meetings were held weekly in the scout hut in Back Gate.

It wasn't until the 1970s that the group moved to the community centre where it has met ever since.

In the early days in Ingleton there was only the scouts, cubs, brownies and a small number of church groups for youngsters to get involved with. Now children have the choice of all these plus football, hockey and gymnastics.

But Margaret believes the death knell started to toll for brownie packs when the cubs and scouts began accepting girls into their formerly all-boy domain.

As recently as four years ago, there were 24 seven to 10 year olds in the Ingleton brownie pack with more youngsters on the waiting list.

But by Tuesday that number had slumped to just four.

"We had tried and tried and tried to get more support, but it wasn't to be so I will have to retire gracefully," said Margaret.