A village social club looks to have been saved after hundreds turned out to vote in a crucial election ending more than two years of legal dispute.

Caister Community Association's (CCA) annual meeting had to be held in two waves due to an over-capacity crowd, twice filling the council hall in the high street on Tuesday (October 4) at noon.

The meeting was staged by Community Action Norfolk after years of wrangling between the CCA and Caister Social Club based in Beach Road.

The social club had traded successfully for years as the CCA's fundraising arm, but trouble flared in 2020 when it was told to shut down.

The club carried on, raising over £8,000 via a crowdfunding effort to mount its own legal case.

In the end the Charity Commission stepped in asking CAN to hold a meeting with the sole purpose of returning a committee that everyone would recognise.

The first item saw a new secretary Terry Storey and a new treasurer Paul Leggett returned unanimously via a show of green cards, with not a single yellow one held aloft.

The two waves, comprising 158 in the first sitting and 132 in the second, were then asked to choose eight people for committee roles.

The landslide appointments went to Robert Coe, Vernon Holland, Paul Jackson, Michael James, Martin Mitchell, Mick Taylor, Paul Jackson and Jane Ward.

After the meeting club chairman Mike Eiley said it was "a wonderful relief".

"Two hours ago it could have gone either way," he said.

"I am just overwhelmed by the support we have received from members. I was fearing the worst but there was not one single yellow card."

Jane Ward, who co-ordinated much of the fightback, said: "It is a complete and utter relief. The reason I feel so passionately about the whole thing is that it is a social club which provides a safe environment, it is not a pub."

She added the club was a not-for-profit organisation which, ordinarily, paid its proceeds to the CCA, a charity, for the benefit of local good causes.

Having a new management committee meant being able to get the charity back on track while at the same time providing a social hub in the village as part of the community centre.