Boxers and residents cheer the bulldozers
Published at 11:31, Monday, 10 September 2012
AN EYESORE building in Workington town centre will be flattened next month.
The owners of the rundown Workington Boys’ Club have been granted permission to bulldoze the building.
Head boxing coach at the club, Martin Sewell, said he was “thrilled” with the news which means that they can now push forward with plans for a new building on the site.
For the past three years members of the club have been forced to use the town’s leisure centre as the Bolton Street building was in such a bad state. It’s appearance had also started to blight the lives of nearby residents, who had to look at it.
Ronald Bowman, 75, remembers the club being built and used to play in it as a boy. But he said it had recently fallen into a terrible state and needed to be knocked down.
He said that there were rats living underneath the building.
His neighbour David Pattinson backed his views, saying that he was “all for them replacing it so long as it isn’t garish and out of place”.
Mr Sewell, who is also the chair of the club’s committee, said that work will start on October 13 to flatten the building. He said it would take about one week to complete.
After it has been demolished, the committee will work to build a new clubhouse on the site.
“The club was in a state of disrepair and there was no chance of refurbishing it,” said Mr Sewell. “So the best way forward for us was to start again.”
Renamed the Workington Town Boys’ and Girls’ Club, the club has 100 members, mostly aged between nine and 16.
It also has older members, drawn in from local neighbourhoods which are some of the most disadvantaged in the country.
At the moment the club is strictly for boxing but, with a new premises of its own, the club would be able to organise more activities including table tennis, five-aside football and pool.
The club hosts its activities on a Friday evening, which has helped discourage youngsters from getting involved in anti-social behaviour.
The club is affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association and also to support group Young Cumbria.
It currently meets on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm at the leisure centre on Newlands Lane South in Moorclose.
JBarwise@cngroup.co.uk
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
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