A long-running social club has been handed a last-minute lifeline.

The St Basil's Catholic Social Club, which started life in the 1970s and has 900 members, was set to close on New Year's Eve after landlords demanded it leave.

But a deal has now been thrashed out at a meeting between parish priest Father Julian Wiener, representing landlords the Diocese of Brentwood, and the club's three-strong executive committee.

Members have been given more than three months to come up with a plan to buy and save its home at Lourdes Hall, in Whitmore Way, Basildon.

For more details on this story, see today's Echo.