MOZART, Bernstein and Gershwin are just some of the legendary composers who continue to inspire a group of classical music enthusiasts.

For 65 years, members of the Croydon Recorded Music Society, have been getting together to appreciate the beauty of their favourite music genre.

The society has around 20 members, who get together to listen to a programme of music with options varying from Mozart to a mixture of classical and popular composers from the USA and Europe, such as Saint-Saens, Bernstein, Gershwin and Prokofiev.

Secretary Stella Stocker said: "We are a friendly group and many of our members have been coming for years. It is an enjoyable way of listening to music.

"We're not all experts. Some people know a lot about music and some others just come to listen, learn and have a good time in the company of good people."

There is however one thing that Mrs Stocker believes everyone has in common. "We all love music and we love listening to it," she explained.

"We have an individual angle and it is quite different from listening to the radio. We have very good equipment and loudspeakers."

Chairman Adrian Falks, 64, said: "I was 16 years old when I joined and I've noticed that the world has changed a lot since then, but one thing is still the same, the music.

"It's quite incredible being part of such a beautiful society. In 65 years we have had a lot of lovely people come to our meetings and a lot of lovely guests. But in all these years we've only had six chairmen and I'm proud of being one of them."

The Croydon Recorded Music Society was founded as the Croydon Gramophone Music Society in 1945.

In its early years, the society's main means of listening to music was by gramophone. Then cassettes took over and nowadays it uses CDs.

Although the number of members has only varied slightly over the years, the ages of members have changed significantly.

Mr Falks said: "In the early years, most of our members were in their 30s and there were a few youngsters like myself. These days, on average, our members are 60 years old or over."

He added: "The struggle is to attract younger people."

The society meets every other Friday at St Mildred's Centre, Bingham Road, Addiscombe.

A meeting takes place tonight (August 13) from 7.30 to 9.30pm, and the next one will be held on August 27.