Eight people are to lose their jobs when the Belmont Golf Club closes next month for an overhaul.

But manager Gordon Slatford said every effort would be made to ensure that all employees had another job to go to before the course closed for business on January 7.

He said golf professional Alex Madeiros will be retained at Belmont and will play an integral role, however, he said, it was too early to elaborate on what position Mr. Madeiros will have in the future of the club.

And he said the 12 or so groundsmen will also keep their jobs.

But staff working in the bar, snack shop and club shop will receive redundancy packages.

Mr. Slatford said: "There will inevitably be some redundancies. However, when we closed the hotel down, every person who wanted another job had another to go to before they left us, and I don't see why that can't be achieved here.

"We worked very hard to make sure that everyone who was not retained had a job - it was seamless. That is what we will try to do here. We will be helping them to find other work. They were all hand-picked staff and are excellent people.

"Alex Madeiros is going to be a big help to the future of the course, he is staying, so that won't be a problem. And the groundsmen are staying on."

Mr. Slatford said those people leaving the club will probably finish a week after the course closes, on January 14.

And he said, as when the hotel closed in November 1998 and 100 workers were paid off, a redundancy package will be put together and agreed, but he said Belmont would not comment on what that was likely to be.

He added: "We have not approached this in a cavalier manner at all. It's very important to look after people. There is a right way to do these things and we will do it.

"When the hotel closed, we had a very very high success rate of looking after our people and we aim to do the same again this time."

Mr. Slatford said staff were very excited about the major revamp of the course, which will go alongside a new club house, as well as a new hotel and condos complex.

He said all 250 members have now been written to and should have received their letters either over the weekend or yesterday.

Golf course designers are now busy putting together new plans for Belmont, which will see a number of improvements being made, as well as a significant water feature being installed.

The work is expected to take about 18 months. When it reopens, all former staff will be able to apply for their old jobs, if they want them.

The hotel and golf course previously belonged to Trust House Forte, but was sold to American developer Richard Halsey this summer. He plans to knock down the present 150-bedroomed hotel and totally rebuild it, creating a medium to high class complex.