EIGHT nuns with the Poor Clares' order left their Darlington convent on Wednesday, after 150 years in the town.

Dwindling numbers have forced the sisters to move to a new convent with a Poor Clare community in Hereford.

Sr Mary Francis, abbess, said before the move: "We are looking forward to moving to Hereford and getting settled there."

The sisters belong to the oldest Poor Clare community in England.

On Tuesday, Coun Marion Swift, mayor of Darlington, visited the nuns at their abbey in Carmel Road North to say goodbye.

She said: "It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to meet the sisters and wish them well in their new home. They were all delightful. It is an experience I will treasure."

The abbey has been given to brothers of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God so that Saint Clare Abbey will live on as a place of healing and care.

Br John Martin, of the Hospitallers, said: "The relationship between the brothers and the Poor Clare sisters goes back to Scorton, in North Yorkshire, where both orders were once based: the sisters from 1807 to 1850 and the Brothers from 1880 to 2004.

"Over many years, the order has continued to hold close links with the sisters. It is this warm friendship that inspired the Poor Clare sisters to leave the abbey, church and some six acres of lands to us."

The Rt Rev Kevin Dunn, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, said: "It is sad we shall be losing the presence of the Poor Clare sisters in the North-East."