SECRET society' rumour denied' was the intriguing headline in the Gazette 25 years ago this week.

"A new residential and conference centre, dubbed as sinister' by worried residents, is the headquarters of a society studying healing, yoga, reincarnation and the occult.

"Known as The Atlanteans, the society - it has less than 300 members in Britain and abroad - is based at the three-acre Runnings Park at Croft Park, West Malvern.

"The society's presence was revealed after worried residents alleged that the complex, bought by four families last month and hailed as a tourist mecca, was a front for a secret society."

The Gazette reported that worried residents packed into Malvern Magistrates Court after a representative from Runnings Park applied for a licence to provide wine.

The representative, David Furlong, told the paper the complex was the new headquarters of the Atlanteans, which was founded in 1957.

"The name Atlantean is used as a symbol to convey a spiritual way of life which the society believe existed for a period on the lost continent of Atlantis," Mr Furlong said. He added there was "nothing sinister" about the group.

But residents were still concerned, with one saying: "It has been sinister so far and we worry about what could be going on."