"The Lads Club really helped me - it teaches you life skills"

Blaine Haney reckons property developers making a mint out of Salford should chip in to save the city's Lads and Girls Club
-Credit: (Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)


Blaine Haney who lives just around the corner from Salford Lads and Girls Club has a stark message for the property developers doing very nicely out of high rise towers which are appearing on plots in the city near to Manchester: "Please save the club. It is a crucial part of this part of the Salford community. If this goes I think a gang culture will be on the rise because we keep many kids off the streets and out of trouble."

He is someone who knows the value of the institution. But it needs to raise £250,000 by the end of November or it will close.

You can donate to the fundraiser here

Blaine has conquered difficulties in his short life and climbed a Welsh Mountain - thanks to the club. With the venue's support he is forging a career for himself and has not allowed a disability to stop him.

Blaine admits he was never great at sports. But "because I knew the people to ask" he was snook into boxing classes aged eight at the club. It was the start of lessons for life which have clearly rubbed off on him.

Blaine Haney, 19, a volunteer at Salford Lads Club, in the boxing gym after it was announced that the iconic venue was trying to raise £250,000 by the end November.
Blaine Haney, 19, a volunteer at Salford Lads Club, in the boxing gym after it was announced that the iconic venue was trying to raise £250,000 by the end November. -Credit:Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News

Now aged 19, he is an impressive ambassador for the club and proof of how it can mould young lives for the better.

"I did boxing for a year. But I wanted to get in the Lads Club because my cousins were here. But when I boxed I got to know the staff and that is what draws you in.

"All the volunteers were good to talk to, dead helpful. I wasn't into sports but the boxing was the only way to get in a bit earlier - members usually start aged nine.

As we chat inside the club in Ordsall, he points out we are using one of the chairs that Archie Swift sat in. A legendary volunteer, Archie died aged 88, last year

Archie's dedication to a cause he gave his life to has gone beyond the grave. In ailing health he left instructions for the design of his own headstone.

His memorial, he insisted, was to be embossed with the logo of Salford Lads Club. It was a fitting final request for a man who was part of the famous club for more than three quarters of a century.

Blaine said: "Archie said to me when I came to the club 'you and the lads have to behave and if you don't behave you have your three warnings and then you are out and that's it.' He told me off once for not looking both ways when I crossed the road. If you made a mistake outside the club - someone in the club find out. And when you came back in you would know about it.

"You would have someone at the club who would be like a father figure. They would look after you.

Blaine Haney outside Salford Lads and Girls Club which has eight weeks to raise £250,000
Blaine Haney outside Salford Lads and Girls Club which has eight weeks to raise £250,000 -Credit:Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News

"The reason the Lads Club has helped me is that it teaches you life skills. Sometimes I never said please and thank you. You wouldn't get anything in the club until you did - not even a piece of toast.

"The Lads Club also helped me to be confident when talking to people. When I was a kid I would not talk to new people I didn't know - now I will talk to anyone who comes through the door.

"It also taught me about employability. Most of my skills have come from here and it has set me on a path to get jobs. I do youth work and the club has put me in for a youth work qualification."

He works for Salford Community Leisure which runs the city's recreation centres and swimming pools helping in gym sessions and holiday clubs. He also works for Manchester People First in Cheetham Hill, a self advocacy group for adults with a learning disability.

"The Lads Club has made me stronger to speak out about stuff, which I don't think I would have done if I had not come here."

From the age of 12 Blaine was a young carer helping his mother who had a serious illness. He also has disabilities himself. "The Lads Club helped me get over the worry that I would not fit in because I was not a sporty person or I couldn't do something. So the answer was the club let me help out because I love doing it.

"One Saturday when we had one of our open days Leslie Holmes (club manager) said we were having a Mozz Army Day ( where fans of Morrissey and The Smiths converge on the club) and I was only 13 at the time but he asked me to volunteer to help."

He helps run the club's girls football team on a Sunday, and adds: "I am here three days a week because it is my passion. If the club was to close I don't think I would have anything else that would bring me the same joy that this has.

Blaine Haney inside the Grade II listed Salford Lads and Girls Club
Blaine Haney inside the Grade II listed Salford Lads and Girls Club -Credit:Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News

"I have a disability called developmental coordination disorder. It affects my coordination and balance. But boxing made me overcome my fears.

"One time at camp with the club I didn't want to climb a mountain. I was too scared but they helped me climb to the top of the mountain and down again. The club volunteers and other members helped me every step of the way."

From the age of 12 he was a carer for his single parent mother for a while as she dealt with a medical condition. "The Lads Club meant I could have a break as would be helping my mum by doing jobs around the house and shopping."

Asked why he thinks it is vital that the Lads Club should not go under, he says: "It helps a lot of kids on the estate. I see kids all the time in different situations which they have to go through and the club cheers them up. It gives them a bit of freedom to express themselves.

"On the streets they can't be a child because the social mores now and the gang culture being so strong kids can't be free and creative. The Lads club let them be themselves."

For Blaine the club means he has blossomed from a once shy and withdrawn lad to compere for the club's annual talent show. "It was fun and I have done loads of compering in the community. I love acting. My dream is to get a part in Coronation Street. I wanted to be Steve McDonald's son in Corrie.

"I have met loads of celebrities in the club - some of the Corrie cast when it is used for filming - Rowetta. I had a perm for a while and as I was coming down the stairs in the club Shaun Ryder passed me and said "kids with haircuts today, it's gone crazy". I thought, wow, Shaun Ryder has talked to me. Clint Boon of The Inspiral Carpets, and DJ, has been in and we have a talk - he remembers me each time."

Blaine says mutual respect between members and volunteers is the foundation and strength of the club.

"One of the volunteers - Leon Warmington (Club leader) - works at the Oasis Academy school in Ordsall too. Most of the kids know him and he has lived around here for years. I think that is where the respect for the volunteers comes from and also dads of members have come here, and grandads - generations of families. If kids don't show respect here they will get told off at home."

The poster remembering Brian Conway inside the Salford Lads and Girls Club.
The poster remembering Brian Conway inside the Salford Lads and Girls Club.

Currently on a stairway at the club is a poster of one of the volunteers who died earlier this year. Brian Conway was the most senior volunteer at 84. He grew up on Christopher Street less than half a mile from the club and joined in 1952 aged 13. He became club leader in 1990 and deputy leader in 2005.

The poster quotes a statement he made recently: "Every day I come through the door here, it feels like the first time I walked in. I love the smell, the sounds, I just love the place."

A fundraiser has been set up to raise vital cash for the institution. To donate, click HERE.