A CLUB has had its licence renewed despite court claims that some committee members are 'racists' and the organisation acted outside its own rules.

Three residents turned up at Chester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to object to the granting of a certificate to the Mickle Trafford Village Club near Chester.

Villager David Oldfield said he had been a member of the club but claimed he was expelled without being given the right of appeal.

And Barry Wilson and his Finnish wife Riitta said they had been living a four-year nightmare at the hands of two committee members ­- chairman David Sanders and his wife Pamela.

But the bench ruled the objections were not valid reasons to refuse the licence and it was approved for five years following a two-hour hearing.

Mr Oldfield, 43, said he had tried to appeal to the club committee following his expulsion from the club, said to be for 'anti-social behaviour'.

He claimed the procedures laid down in the club's constitution were not followed and his presence at the club was not a problem for other members.

'The Village Club is supposed to be all about bringing a fellowship, bringing people in the village together, not creating a rift,' he said.

Mr Oldfield said the club's committee acted outside their constitution when they did not give him the opportunity to appeal against the expulsion.

He also brought in the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), who investigated his claim that he had been racially discriminated against.

He said some club members called him a 'Yank' because his father was American.

'I'm proud of my American heritage,' he told the court.

'I spoke to my solicitor about this and he said the committee should sort this out without it going this far.

'I just wanted to have my say but I was never given the chance.'

The CRE investigated Mr Oldfield's claims but decided not to pursue the matter.

Mr and Mrs Wilson told how they have feared for their lives during a four-year hate campaign which started as soon as they moved to the village.

Mr Wilson, 60, said he and his wife moved to Mickle Trafford with their two young children, in 1997, after living away from Britain for 14 years.

'We chose Mickle Trafford, where I might spend a quiet retirement, but that was not to be,' he said.

'Within a short time Mrs Sanders, who gave her title as the wife of the chairman of the village club, came to us and announced she wanted to know whether we were settling in.

'She let us know that settling was going to be a more arduous task than we first thought.'

Mr Wilson said Mrs Sanders made it clear the family was not welcome in the village, because his wife hailed from Finland and has a 'marked accent'.

He told the court Mrs Sanders said to Mrs Wilson: 'It's unusual you should be here, because we don't usually give Russians houses in Mickle Trafford.'

Mr Wilson said since moving to the village, they have been subjected to verbal and physical abuse by the Sanders family, had their plants uprooted in the garden and even had petrol bombs left outside their house.

'It has been a very sad affair and it still is,' he said.

'I don't think Mr Sanders is a fit person to be a member of any club and his family and entourage should be stopped along with him.'