Wallsend, Station Road, Wallsend Boys Club

The first Wallsend Boys Club was set up by directors and employees of Swan Hunter shipyard on 14th November 1904 to educate apprentices and to 'develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacity'. It hosted football, boxing, gymnastics, trampolining, judo, cross country running and snooker. Wikipedia says it initially specialised in boxing. In 1938 Sheriton Clements Swan, director, became president of the new Wallsend Boy's Club, based at Station Road. The club had an L-shaped wooden club house. Classes in woodwork were run. The boys put on an annual pantomime. An early fund raising event was a pram push from Wallsend to Edinburgh Castle and back, undertaken as a 24 hour relay race. In 1960 the original wooden huts were destroyed in a fire. A brick sports hall was built on the same site on Station Road in 1966. An Astro Turf five-a-side pitch was later installed inside. Since the mid 1970s, football has been the main sport, but judo, martial arts and skateboarding also take place. The club is famous for training a number of top class footballers including Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley, Alan Shearer, Lee Clark and Michael Carrick. In 2008 the club was awarded the Freedom of the City of North Tyneside for its 'factory line of talent' and community work. In 2011 the club moved to new premises next to their football pitches at Rheydt Avenue, Bigges Main, close to Wallsend Golf Club. This was funded through grants from the Football Foundation, The FA and North Tyneside Council. The club raised £114,000 towards the project. The building on Station Road was demolished in February 2012 after high winds blew the end wall inwards. The site is proposed for houses.