By John Connell

Last updated at 11:30, Wednesday, 01 August 2012

Residents living near a dilapidated “eyesore” building have welcomed proposals to demolish it.

The rundown Workington Boys’ Club is to be bulldozed to make way for a new building on the site.

The single-storey building in Bolton Street is in such a bad state that members have been meeting at the town’s leisure centre on Newlands Lane South for the last three years.

Resident Ronald Bowman, 75, who used to play in the club as a boy and remembers it being built, said: “It’s an eyesore and wants knocked down. It’s in a terrible state and I’ll bet there are plenty of rats underneath.”

Neighbour David Pattininson, 33, added: “I thought it was abandoned. I’m all for them replacing it so long as it isn’t garish and out of place.”

The committee will develop a business plan and identify funding to rebuild a new clubhouse on the site.

Martin Sewell, a boxing coach for the club, said: “Our main focus is getting the club demolished. We have got a really good committee on board. We have all got jobs and family commitments so things have been slow.

“Hopefully, it would be two storeys high, on the same level as the houses.”

The asbestos inside the building has now been removed.

A planning application had yet to be submitted yesterday but Mr Sewell said the committee had a provisional date for the road closure in October.

Renamed the Workington Town Boys’ and Girls’ Club, the club has 100 members, most of whom are 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.

Mr Sewell said: “At the moment it’s strictly boxing which has always been a big part of the boys’ club.”

But with a new premises of its own, the club would be able to organise more activities including table tennis, five aside football

The club hosts their activities on a Friday evening, which has helped discourage youngsters from getting involved in anti social behaviour.

Mr Sewell said: “In Workington there isn’t anywhere for them to go so they are congregating in Vulcan Park. They need somewhere to go, they really do.

“There is a youth club at Northside [Northside Community Centre on Trinity Drive] but not in the town itself.”

He insists that boxing is a great sport for instilling discipline, teaching respect, building confidence and helping to tackle bullies.

He said: “Boxing instils confidence and people pick on you if you are timid. If you have got a bit of confidence a bully won’t even approach you.”

The club is quite well-supported in the town and has received donations from local groups and businesses.

Mr Sewell added: “It’s not just the committee who help. It’s a lot of other people who I call ‘friends of Workington Town’s Boys’ and Girls Club.”

The club is affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association and also to support group Young Cumbria.

It meets on Wednesdays and Friday at 6pm at the leisure centre.

First published at 11:29, Wednesday, 01 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk