Salford Lads and Girls Club

New Salford Lads’ Club limited edition t-shirt to celebrate our 120th year

As part of our ongoing 120th birthday celebrations, a special new t-shirt has been produced to raise vital funds for our historic building. This new shirt features the original title and motto from a commemorative card given to the first 100 boys who joined the club in August 1903.

A black and white photo of Lord Baden Powell and the Groves brothers.

One of these cards is still on display in the club’s entrance hall, alongside a photograph of the official opening on 31 January 1904. The club was officially opened by General Baden Powell who later started the Scouts movement; he’s photographed with club founders James Grimble Groves and William Grimble Groves of Groves & Whitnall Brewery.

In the club’s archive, a report from the Daily Dispatch shows sketches from the event. This was an important moment for the city of Salford, and the report describes how crowds lined up along Regent Road. At the time, the club was the largest purpose-built lads club building in Greater Manchester, and is now the last surviving pre-World War 1 building still in use in the UK.

Sketches from the 1904 Daily Dispatch showing the opening of the club

Leslie Holmes, our Project Manager, shared more about the new shirt and our 120-year heritage:

“We’ve had an incredible start to our anniversary year – in 2023 we collaborated with Salford City FC to mark the moment with a new first team football shirt and jacket featuring our logo – this raised £10,000 for the club. We continue to attract brands like M&S who featured the club and the nearby streets as iconic locations in a recent campaign, and Manchester United followed this with a shoot featuring John Cooper Clarke. Then, in December, we hosted an intimate dinner for Chanel.

All these events bring in funds to enable us to continue our unique offer in what is an increasingly difficult funding climate for small youth and culture charities like ours. We still have over 200 members taking part in activities at the club, and welcome hundreds of visitors each month. They travel from around the globe to learn more about our working-class history and how we impacted and continue to inspire Manchester’s vibrant music scene. To continue sharing our legacy, we still need support from local councils, from companies and individuals.”

The t-shirt will only be available during this anniversary year, and comes with a copy of the commemorative card – the first 100 cards will also be numbered, just like the original. They’ll be available to purchase from Wednesday 31 January from the club itself or its online shop, priced at £25. All funds raised from the sale of this shirt will continue to provide activities for local young people, including the annual camping trip which has taken place since 1904.

to Salford City FC first team players Ethan Ingram, Curtis Tilt and Alex Cairns who are pictured here in the club’s main entrance hall sporting new shirt.

With thanks to Salford City FC first team players Ethan Ingram, Curtis Tilt and Alex Cairns who are pictured here in the club’s main entrance hall sporting new shirt. Salford City FC also have links with Salford Lads’ Club going back to their own origin in the 1950s. We’re grateful for their ongoing support.

From Oscar Wilde to The Smiths

Salford Lads and Girls’ Club is hosting an evening dedicated to the 170th anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s birth.

The event also coincides with the 40^th anniversary year of The Smith’s debut album, and 110 years since the debut of “Salome” by Miroslav Krleža, inspired by Oscar Wilde’s play.

Lecturer and Croatian essayist Robertino Bartolec will present an introduction alongside his two books about Oscar Wilde. He’ll explore how The Smith’s music was influenced by Wilde’s work alongside the wider influence of Wilde on global pop and rock music.

This special free event takes place on Thursday 25 January 2024 at 7pm.

Find out more about Robertino Bartolec and his published work: www.modernist.hr (please note: this website is in Croatian.)

Image: Postcard of Oscar Wilde in The Smiths Room, sent to Leslie Holmes by author Phil Gatenby, who received it from a fan – David from Paris. The picture of Morrissey is part of a larger poster from Sanctuary Records.

We’re recruiting: Head of Youth Operations

After an amazing 2023, we want to continue to build on all our success and achievements with our young members and fundraising efforts. We’re excited to begin 2024 with a new role we’re recruiting for – Head of Youth Operations.

They’ll be responsible for leading and developing our current services for young members, including help with fundraising to expand what we offer. This also
includes making sure our safeguarding policies and procedures are put in place and connecting with the other organisations that help us with our services.

They’ll work with and help lead our dedicated staff and volunteer teams to organise the activities and systems related to young people attending the club.

If you want to learn more, you can view the job on the Charity Jobs website.

Head of Youth Operations – Charity Jobs website

Celebrating 120 years of Salford Lads Club

Today (Thursday 24 August 2023) Salford Lads Club celebrates its 120th birthday.

The site was officially opened on this day in 1903 as a purpose-built club for working lads, providing apositive alternative to the teenage street gangs (known as “scuttlers”) in the poorest areas of the city.

Founded by the Groves brothers of the Groves & Whitnall brewing empire, our current club president and Chair of Trustees, Anthony Groves, is the Great Grandson of James Grimble Groves!

While nearly all other original working class lads club buildings are long gone, along with their records, the continuity of Salford Lads Club in 2023 makes it very special for generations of families. We still have all our membership cards since our foundation, and in 2015 we created a remarkable “Wall of Names” to share over 22,500 members’ names dating back to 1903. This five metre long laser-cut artwork, designed by why not associates (who made the ‘comedy carpet’ in Blackpool) won a UK design award in 2016.

These membership records track the lives of young people in Salford up to present day, with a few famous names among our archive boxes: Eddie Colman, the young Manchester United star player who died in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster; Allan Clarke and Graham Nash who went on to form 1960’s pop group The Hollies; Fred Done, owner of bookmaking chain Betfred and former professional boxer
Jamie Moore, whose Lonsdale belt is proudly displayed in the entrance hallway. Salford Jets frontman and BBC Radio Presenter Mike Sweeney attended several of the club’s annual camping trips; the late Harold Riley was also a member along with “Mr Muscle” – Tony Holland of ‘Opportunity Knocks’ fame in the 1960s.

Our rich history and location on Coronation Street has seen us become an increasingly important cultural centre for events, book launches, film and fashion shoots and even weddings. We’ve also worked with local artists, business and sports teams to share our story – past projects include a ‘Salford Lass’ sign installation with Islington Mill-based textile artist Alena Ruth Donely, a collaboration with Salford Rum, and a limited edition shirt with Salford City Football Club.

The club has also been the site of pilgrimage for fans of The Smiths after Stephen Wright’s iconic photo of the band was used on the inner sleeve of ‘The Queen is Dead’ album in 1986. In 2004, the club opened a dedicated Smiths room – an ongoing installation created and curated by Leslie Holmes, where fan photos are displayed alongside post-it messages. The club continues to welcome visitors
weekly – from Indonesia to Mexico, Israel to Australia, much of Europe, Canada, America and South America.

The club could not continue to operate without its dedicated team of staff and volunteers, often former members themselves, who continue to work with young people in the community. It offers a place of safety, positive role models, somewhere for young people to socialise, chances to get active with sport and boost wellbeing with creative activities. Young members can try new things and explore new experiences, with an annual camping trip that has taken place each year (apart from during World War 2 and the Covid-19 pandemic). All this aims to continue the club’s original motto: “to brighten young lives and make good citizens.”

Leslie Holmes, our Project Manager said: “The fact that we are still here in 2023 is a remarkable story. Not only surviving Word War 1 and World War 2, and the loss of nearly all of the estate in the 1960s and 70s with the closure of Salford Docks. More recently, with the Covid-19 pandemic, rising energy prices and cost-of-living challenges, the club is still important to local young people. This year we had over 300 members taking part in activities. To continue sharing our story and legacy, we need investment from Government, from local councils and from companies and individuals.”

Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, followed with: “A huge congratulations and a very happy anniversary to Salford Lads Club, celebrating their 120th year – the club with its rich cultural heritage is still attracting national and international visitors, and importantly, remains a constant for the local community and young people it serves. It’s a true testament to the dedication of the staff and volunteers at the club to see it continue to thrive, and fantastic to witness the positive influence it has on the young people who participate. It’s vital that we all keep supporting places like Salford Lads Club so they can continue the great work they do for many years to come!”

We’re open to visitors every Wednesday and Saturday from 11am to 2pm.
All support is gratefully received – all funds raised contribute to the care of the building and funding activities for young people in Salford.

Look out for more information coming soon on an exciting programme of events to celebrate this milestone!

New digital screens for The Smiths Room

Since it opened nearly 20 years ago, The Smiths Room has fast filled up with memorabilia, messages and photos from people around the world – often who come especially to see the club and recreate the iconic image of the band outside the building from 1985. When the idea first started, Project Manager Leslie only expected to have a few pics to share – but now, we’ve run out of wall space and are ready to step into the digital age!

On Saturday 1 July 2023, three newly installed electronic screens were officially switched on by Angie Cooke, a long time Smiths fan, supporter of the club and now one of our trustees. These will showcase more of the fantastic photos and the vast amount of often very touching and funny post-its that visitors write when they come to see the space.

Not only will this mean we can keep sharing snaps and notes, but we can keep a digital archive and mark the key moments that form part of our story. Above one screen we’ve kept all the messages shared by fans who came to pay their respects after the passing of Andy Rourke, along with an image of Andy kindly gifted to us by Stephen Wright.

The Club would like to extend huge thanks to Salford Quays-based business Saturn Visual Solutions for installing the screens and managing the software – their support means we can continue to share photos and messages as part of our legacy.

Remembering Archie Swift, MBE

We are sad to share that Archie Swift MBE, who was involved with the club for 76 years, has died aged 88.

Archie was born just 30 yards away on what was then Huddart Street and is now Huddart Close. He joined the club in 1946 aged 12 – this was a life changing event for Archie. He was one of 8 children brought up by his father when his mother died. He attended his first Salford Lads Club camp in 1946 and attended his final camp in 2010 as one of our volunteers.

Archie has been a key figure at the club throughout all this time, running football and rugby teams and eventually becoming a trustee. In 2006, he was awarded an MBE for his lifetime of work at Salford Lads Club. Archie’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the club has affected the lives of many local young people, including a young Graham Nash who was one of Archie’s group on the 1956 camp.

Project Manager Leslie Holmes said: “I remember Archie telling me stories about the club when I first came here in 2002: one that I always remember he told me was ‘I brought a priest in here one day, right here in the entrance hall, a cracking fella I used to do a lot of work for him at the church, and I said now father this is my church'”.

For many of us who keep this amazing place going Archie was a very special character – he will be missed and always remembered.

Camping Post-WW2 and Post-Pandemic

When the junior group set off last Saturday for the club’s first camp in 3 years, it was a reminder of the problems faced by earlier generations of Salford Lads.

At the end of WW2, veteran club members Eric Salthouse and Archie Swift were young lads looking forward to their first ever holiday with Salford Lads Club – but they had to wait until 1947 for their first experience of camping! This was a junior camp to Kettleshulme in Derbyshire, with older boys attending a senior camp later in the year.

Fast forward to 2022 and Covid has had a similar impact on our annual excursion: the introduction of age bubbles, to keep everyone safe through the pandemic, has been extended into separate junior and senior camps in the Lake district.

As you can imagine however, the list of clothes requested for lads to bring in 1947 (see image above) was very different from today’s list, which includes trainers, fleeces, sleeping bags and mobile phones!

We’d like to thank The Zochonis Trust for funding the 2022 camp and @GMYouthFed for enabling us to use Ormside Mill Oudoor Centre in the Lake District.

Support for our cultural heritage

We are pleased to share news that we have received funding thanks to the government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the government’s Culture Recovery Fund delivered by DCMS we can continue to serve the local community.

Salford Lads Club continues to provide opportunities for local young people to participate in sports and creative activities. Leslie Holmes, Project Manager said: “This is really great news after our struggles during the pandemic. We were able to continue with young people’s activities outdoors, but without visitors attending our weekly open days we lost over £90k of our income during the 2 years. International visitors are now beginning to come back to the city – it will be a slow process to recover and this funding will help us survive.”

The funds will help us protect and share our unique heritage – our building and archive tell stories spanning nearly 120 years, with photos, membership records, newsletters and film reels. The archive also helps people trace their family trees, with over 22,500 members appearing on our ‘Wall of Names’ created by Why Not Associates in 2016. We’ll also be able to continue welcoming culture lovers and music fans from all over the world, sharing our place in Manchester’s music scene thanks to a very famous photo of one of Manchester’s iconic bands.

Mike Joyce, drummer from The Smiths and native Mancunian said of the award: “Wonderful news to hear Salford Lads Club has been recognised by the Historic England and Heritage Fund in continuing its original purpose and passing on the working class traditions of the club. It’s a magnificent and well deserved accolade for all who have helped along the way. The first time I went to the club was for that photo, but didn’t actually meet the folks involved until 2003. Since then it’s been great to see the club going from strength to strength.”

Our motto has always been ‘to brighten young lives and make good citizens’ and in these challenging times and with this investment through the Culture Recovery Fund, we can continue to weather the storm of coronavirus, come back stronger and continue our mission.

You can learn more about our history and work in a new series of short films on Culture Made in Salford from Marketing Manchester, Salford City Council and the University of Salford.

Tim Burgess fundraising event Sat. 2nd October

Tim Burgess in Conversation with Dave Haslam talking Listening Parties, 31 years of The Charlatans and everything in-between. Followed by a Listening Party book signing.

Doors open at 5pm – join us for a look around our Smiths room, browse our fundraising merchandise and enjoy a drink from the bar. Event starts at 7pm and finishes at 9pm.

This is a 14+ event. Tickets £12 from the link below.https://dice.fm/event/b6evk-tim-burgess-in-conversation-with-dave-haslam-2nd-oct-salford-lads-club-manchester-tickets

Shaun Ryder Fundraising event for the club 17th October

photo of Shaun by Elspeth Moore

We are thrilled to announce How to be a Rock Star – “An Evening with Shaun Ryder”. Music legend Shaun Ryder will be our special guest for a fundraising in-conversation event with journalist, musician and presenter John Robb on Sunday, 17 October 2021

It will be a perfect fit to have John on stage posing all the questions to Shaun at this exclusive in-conversation event, which will be an opportunity to get a flavour of Shaun’s new book, How to Be a Rock Star. John and Shaun know each other well, so the audience will be treated to the “real inside story” of Shaun’s extraordinary life.

For the second part of the evening, there will be a Q&A, where John will be reading out selected questions submitted by members of the audience to ask Shaun.

Tickets for this exclusive fundraising event will be £22 and will be available now via this link: https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/how-to-be-a-rock-salford-lads-club-tickets/11319595

Doors will open at 5 pm. The event starts at 6.30 pm and will finish at approximately 9.00 pm, including an interval. The bar will open from 5 pm until 9.30 pm.

This event is an opportunity for the audience to look at the Wall of Names and The Smiths Room, our Salford Lads Clubmerchandise ~ including the latest ‘North’ t-shirt designs ~ will be on sale throughout the evening.

All profits from the night will be going to our young people’s activities and events.