New facilities

Some of you will know already that we have been hard at work improving the building and facilities in the past two years. We are now proud to offer a brand new fitness suite and a suite of 3 first class music rooms for the use of members.

The fitness suite has been created in the room next to the upstairs balcony , partly accomodated by the removal of the old photography room, which had fallen into disuse. It has good quality exercise machines and boxercise equipment available and there are regular classes held each week. The balcony now houses two full size snooker tables.

The new music suite has been created from the old showers and changing rooms area and provides excellent space and equipment for what is the most popular activity in the club at present. Guitar, Drums, Piano and Singing are taught and coached every evening and we hope to be able to add further equipment and more instruments in due course.

Belinpool

Members and staff on October exchange with Talk About Youth Project from Dublin and Streetbeat Youth Project from Belfast:

Belinpool! The name created by club member Ellis Jennings by combining letters from three of the most famous cities in the world – Belfast, Dublin and Liverpool. The name epitomised the commonalities and unity of the young people on the exchange and a message to all generations – it’s not where we are from, it’s where we are at! The trip had been funded by the Causeway Youth Exchange programme and is the first of three residential trips planned. The groups will come together again in Liverpool in February and in Belfast in April. Club members had an amazing cultural experience and are already eager to meet up again with their counterparts from across the Irish Sea.

Liverpool-Leeds canal – sponsored bike ride

On Saturday 27th July six intrepid adventurers attempted to ride the length of the Liverpool – Leeds Canal over two days. The weather was warm and sunny as we set off in good spirits at 08:30 and initially made good time. We reached Parbold early afternoon where we were met by Team Shewsy (aka Jade Cotton) with an abundance of pasta, potatoes, cold drinks and fresh fruit. The terrain was reasonable until this point but it gradually became steeper and bumpier as we headed towards The Pennines. The pace became slower as the day wore on and two punctures for Breo and one for Duffy didn’t help matters. The last 20 miles were really tough and asking ‘how far is Burnley mate’ to passers-by became a joke amongst the team as we were always greeted with the answer ‘half an hour’. It was half an hour every half an hour! We reached Burnley at 7:30 pm, exhausted and sore with some mild heat exhaustion and all were in bed by 9:30 to rest for the following day’s 57 miles.

A good night’s sleep worked wonders for the team and we attacked the second day with vigour. The terrain was flatter although still quite bumpy and some parts were even downhill. At times, it was difficult to appreciate the surrounding countryside as parts of the route required extreme focus and concentration. But with our spirits up and the finish getting nearer we were able to take advantage of the scenery around us and the journey from Skipton to Leeds revealed some breathtaking views.