DANCERS at an over-60's tea dance club are calling to be let off from paying a fee which they are being forced to pay just to have music to move to.

Members of the High Wycombe club face having no music if they do not pay the £60-a-year charge to the Performing Rights Society and Phonographic Performance Limited.

Now the Star is backing the club, who meet once a fortnight at the Reggie Goves Centre, and is appealing to the societies to waive the fee.

The members enjoy two hours of dance to the music provided by 87-year-old Charlie Bristow from his personal CD collection.

Charlie, who hit the headlines when he took Diana Princess of Wales for a spin on the dance floor when she visited the centre, has vowed to fight the charge.

Mr Bristow, who has won national dancing awards, said dancing was good healthy exercise for older people.

He added that the club might change its name to the Over 60s Keep Fit, because he understood fitness clubs did not have to pay the bill.

Charlie has been running the club for 16 years, playing organ and dance band music from people such as Victor Sylvester and Joe Loss. None of that modern rubbish, he says.

On Monday, Mr Bristow went to Wycombe District Council to complain about the extra costs and to see if the council could help with cash.

But John Savage, the cabinet member for leisure, could not offer much help.

He said the PPL calculated how much people had to pay, not the council.

The club was let off paying last year but would have had to pay this year. It was only a further 6p on the entrance fee, he said, adding that the club got a discounted rent and had a £700 grant from the council.

An afternoon at the club, with dancing, tea and biscuits, costs members £1.50 per person and that is not enough, especially now, in addition to rent for the hire of the room.

The PPL said it would not waive the fee, which it considers reasonable.

The fee goes to the record labels, songwriters and session artists. The PRS were unable to comment at the time of going to press.