New community hub is fighting back in Trent Vale

Members of Queensberry Police ABC can look forward to a bright future after its trustees have bought the premises where they train to run as a community asset.

The new community hub in Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent, is being created at the former Jubilee Working Men’s Club, which was on the verge of closure.

Queensbury were originally formed in 1981 and have been operating from the social club for the past two years.

But when the Queensbury board of trustees – Mark Griffiths, Matt Crowe, and Peter Plant – heard there was the possibility the club could go out of business, and the club could be homeless as a result, they decided to take action.

The trio set about finding a way to keep the building alive as Trent Vale already has a severe lack of facilities with which to engage local people.

They came up with the idea of creating a charitable organisation and purchasing the building with a community mortgage in order to be able to re-vitalise the facility and supply much-needed activities.

The idea came to fruition in December when the newly-named Queensbury Hub got up and running – with Griffiths, Crowe, and Plant working their socks off to get things off to a great start.

The boxing club has already chipped in with two great projects for the New Year.

“Off the Ropes” is a free project aimed at assisting people to manage challenging behaviours and is being delivered as part of the Police and Crimes Commission’s Healthy Minds Initiative, for which more information can be found here.

It will be running every Tuesday following the turn of the year from 10.30am until 12noon.

Queensbury Boxing is also presenting an all-female boxing show on January 25^th at the Club, for which you can view details on the poster below.

“Females are vastly under-represented in boxing within the Trent Vale area and suffer from lack of boxing opportunities generally across the country,” said the club’s head coach Griffiths.

“We see the show, which we have called Girl Power, as a way of providing an opportunity for female boxing and hopefully to inspire more of the local female population to become involved in physical activity.”

On another front, there are plans to refurbish an area of the building to be used as a kitchen facility in order to be able to provide lunches for members of the community who may be alone and don’t have many friends or family with who they can socialise.

Crowe, a coach at the club for a number of years, added: “It is hoped with some assistance from the National Lottery Fund that we can create the kitchens and really start to combat loneliness and solitude that exists.”

Plant, who is also about to qualify as a coach said he hoped the Queensbury will become an integral part of the local community.

“We hope it is somewhere where people of all backgrounds can come together to socialise, exercise, and generally create a sense of real community for the area.

“We are only just starting out on our journey, but we have a great team of trustees and we intend to leave no stone unturned in ensuring we at the hub cab impact positively on the health and well-being of our local people.”

Anyone who wishes to find out more about the club and its activities can contact Mark Griffiths on 07788 108652 or call in at the club at 175 Newcastle Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 6PZ.