A weekly drop-in session for elderly residents, which is due to be axed later this year, could be saved by taxpayers' money.

Pensioners in Bushey were last week "distraught" at news the Friday activity sessions, run by charity Age UK, would be stopped in the wake of a 25 per cent budget cut from Hertfordshire County Council.

But two members of Hertsmere Borough Council have pledged to try and save the sessions, which attract between 30 and 40 people every week.

Vera Golding, 81, from Bushey, said: "We look forward to it every week - we would be absolutely distraught if it closed."

Pearl Strange, 75, from Oxhey Village, added: "I can't get out and about and this is the only time I get to meet people. They talk about old people being isolated, but shutting this down would make it even worse."

About £2,000-a-year is needed to run the sessions, which include activities like dancing and bingo, at the Bushey Community Centre, in High Street.

Liberal Democrat councillors Anita Gamble (Bushey St James) and Roger Kutchinsky (Bushey North) have pledged to use cash from their ward improvement initiative scheme (WIIS) budgets to keep the group afloat.

Through the WIIS scheme, each councillor is given £2,000 of taxpayers' money to give to voluntary and community groups, though applications must be approved by council officers.

Councillor Gamble said: "We are awaiting approval now. We can't let this close. It is a great way for old people to socialise, it is central and accessible by bus and it provides company for people - especially those living on their own."

A number of group members have already volunteered to form a committee that could help run the sessions.

Howard Gould, 66, from Watford, who put himself forward, said: "This group would be sorely missed if it was lost."

Marianne McTaggart, 70, added: "I am so happy to have found this, it is everything to me. I live on my own and look forward to it every week - we have to keep it going."