A church drama group in Helston has decided to close after 14 years of treading the boards.

Helston Methodist Church Drama Group, as it was known up until the end of last year, has been presenting big name musicals since 1993, when it staged Oliver to help pay for the conversion of the church.

Most recently its members performed Scrooge, in November last year, as the newly named Central Methodist Church Helston Drama Group.

However, at a recent AGM of the group, it was decided unanimously, following a long discussion, that the group should now be closed, with the remaining funds from the group passed over to the church.

Paul Blaber, one of the founding members of the group, said: "The very nature of the group has changed over the years, because it was predominantly people from the chapel. We got to the stage where the way it was a very small group of people putting the show on. As the shows got better and the standard has raised it's become more and more difficult to put on a show and it's a lot of burden on one particular person.

"It was decided the group, as it has been running in previous years, has reached the end of its life."

The group had found itself without a chairman or a treasurer, and with the chapel members themselves now concentrating more on the "living theatre" experience in events such as the successful Narnia Experience in 2015 it was felt the time was right to move on.

"We did Scrooge last year, which was really successful and we made a profit, so we certainly feel we're going out on a high," added Mr Blaber.

Most of its members are already part of Helston Theatre Company, which has decided to continue filling the October slot with a musical.

In the meantime the theatre company itself is preparing for its production of Rent at the end of April, which chairman Mr Blaber described as having "a lovely, feel-good feeling" while addressing topics such as addiction, same sex relationships and swearing.

"People who don't know it don't appreciate how wonderful the music is in it. It's a story of love and friendship. It's nothing worse than your granny would watch on Sunday night television," he added.