IT passed without too much fuss or bother, volunteers setting out much as they had done for the past 41 years to deliver hot, nourishing meals to old people throughout Barnoldswick.

Yet last Thursday, December 17, was a momentous day for the town, marking the end of an era that has spanned four decades. It saw the final Meals on Wheels run by the town's WRVS branch, the organisation that has run the service week in, week out and without fail.

Meals on Wheels will continue in the town, but now absorbed into Lancashire County Council's social organisation. Most people say it won't be the same - only time will tell.

And time is something that most of the WRVS (Women's Royal Voluntary Service) volunteers know plenty about, many having given decades to the town's Meals on Wheels Service. Chief among them is Nora Newsome, who took over as organiser in 1965 and has done the unpaid job ever since.

She is not alone in her long service. Phyl Chapman, wife of the late Dr Chapman, clocked up 36 years' service, others have passed the 30-year mark and many more put in 20 years-plus.

Going right back to the beginning, the Meals on Wheel service began in Barnoldswick in 1962, when Jean Greenwood was appointed local organiser. She was in charge of a team of volunteers from the then WVS - the "R" was added in 1966 when the organisation won Royal patronage.

Initially just a dozen people in the town benefited from a regular hot meal delivered to their door, but the number soon rose as news of the revolutionary service spread.

Mrs Newsome, of Coates Avenue, took over as organiser in 1965, never expecting to be still in the job 37 years later - half her lifetime.

The meals were cooked in the works canteen at Rolls-Royce's Bankfield site, put into metal containers and loaded into two cars, each with a driver and a helper. They set off on two delivery rounds, broadly termed the "town route" and the "Coates route" by Mrs Newsome.

Hot charcoal in the base of the metal containers kept the meals warm until they reached their destination, where the helpers served them onto plates and often made a cup of tea to go with them.

Returning at the end of the route, the volunteers would set to unloading the cars and washing up the containers ready for the next round of deliveries.

In those early days the recipients paid one shilling for each meal - a main course and sweet - and that good value has been retained, today's recipient paying just £1.50.

Nowadays the meals are delivered in disposable foil containers and kept warm in electrically heated units. There is no dishing up onto plates and no washing up afterwards, reducing the workload for the volunteers.

But one thing that hasn't changed is the quality of the meals. They are all freshly prepared and cooked on the day of delivery, ensuring a consistently high standard.

After the Rolls-Royce canteen they were prepared at the Rendezvous Caf (now Genevieve) on Station Road, then at the Albert Road Caf and then at Pickles' Mill at Long Ing.

For the past 23 years, the "engine room" of Meals on Wheel in Barnoldswick has been the Genevieve, on Station Road, run since 1989 by husband and wife team Gerry and Carole Stone. Mrs Newsome was full of praise for them, with nothing too much trouble for them.

"They've always been extremely helpful and the standard of the meals has been second to none," she said. "Whenever we've needed an extra meal at short notice or anything out of the ordinary, it's never been too much trouble.

"They have also provided a special Christmas meal each year, at no extra cost, and they were going to do it again this week."

Originally the meals were taken out two days each week, but as the fledgling service began to take off a third day was added, meaning hot meals were supplied on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

At its peak in the 1980s, almost 60 meals were being cooked and delivered each day, split between the two routes.

Delivering them was no easy feat for the volunteers, who worked on a duty rota masterminded by Mrs Newsome. Yet the dedicated band remained cheerful and uncomplaining, relishing the challenge. With the service run by the WRVS, most of the volunteers have been women, but a growing number of men were roped in, especially as drivers.

The volunteers used their own cars and didn't even get a petrol allowance until Mrs Newsome fought for and won it.

Currently there are 47 recipients of meals on her list and 46 volunteers on her rota. That means they work about one week in four, but they are often called on to fill in when a crisis occurs.

Perhaps the most astonishing fact of all is that never in 41 years has a meal failed to reach its destination. Despite floods, snow, wind and ice the meals have got through.

Mrs Newsome remembers on one winter day the roads were so treacherous she didn't dare ask her volunteers to risk life and limb and instead booked taxis to deliver the meals, reasoning that professional drivers would fare better.

"The volunteers have been a marvellous lot of people, without exception," said Mrs Newsome. "Without them there would have been no Meals on Wheels service and so many people would have missed out."

It has also been much more than a simple delivery service. For some elderly people, Meals on Wheels was their only regular contact with someone outside the home, a vital link with the outside world. Volunteers have carried messages, posted mail, picked up prescriptions and carried out countless other small tasks.

Most important of all, they have spent those few precious moments chatting with the people on their rounds, checking that they are well and not in need of anything. It has been a personal touch that could perhaps only come from a service run and staffed by volunteers, people who do the job not for a wage but for the satisfaction of helping others.

There are fears that the personal touch and local knowledge will be lost under the new county regime, and some concern over how one driver, bringing meals cooked in Colne, will manage what two teams of volunteers have done. Yet Mrs Newsome has been assured the service will continue as before and her "customers" will be well looked after.

She, and many of her volunteers, have mixed feelings about handing over the reins after so many years. It will certainly mean less work, but it will also be missed.

Every Monday morning for the past 37 years Mrs Newsome has started the week by checking and updating her list of recipients and her weekly rota of volunteers. Tuesdays have meant a trip to the Meals on Wheels kitchen to check everything is running smoothly, and there have been countless other arrangements to make in-between. It has become a way of life.

Yet she isn't getting any younger and had been wondering when she would have to step down. "Now that decision has been taken out of my hands, but I won't know what to do with myself next week," she said.

Throughout her long service she has relied on the constant support and backing of her husband, Doug - a "double-checker" for her lists and regular reserve driver in emergencies.

"It has been a service that has been very much appreciated by people in Barnoldswick and hundreds have benefited from it over the years," said Mr Newsome.

Above all it has been a service that has embodied the true community spirit still found in places like Barnoldswick, where good people give freely of their time and energy to help others for no reward other than the knowledge that others would do the same for them.