A popular Nottingham social club that was left on the brink of extinction has been saved by its members after months of campaigning. Members of the Basford Hall Miners' Welfare Social Club, in Goldcrest Road, hope the venue will be open later this year, months after its shock closure and liquidation.
The future of the club was given new hope after CISWO, the charity that formerly ran it, allowed a new set of trustees to take control. The club now needs to obtain the proper licensing before it can open, says Josie Hart, who spearheaded the members' campaign.
"We weren't going to go anywhere. We made it pretty obvious we were here to stay," said the 74-year-old from Aspley. "It's been a real bad five or six months trying to get it. Sometimes I thought we weren't going to do it but with the help of everybody - the trustees and the members - we seem to have got there.
Read more: Furious members vow to fight to save Basford Miners' Welfare which was closed suddenly
"Since it went into liquidation all the people who fought for this club have stayed together. Every meeting we've had they've turned up. They are committed to the club. It will work, I'm convinced that it will. Any sane person would have said 'close the damn thing, I'll go somewhere else'.
"It's not just where it is it's about the people who use it. Like I've always said it's not just a club, it's a family, and we are all family. Everybody's mucked in all the way through." Ms Hart said the plan is for the club to reopen by August at the latest, and is set to be named Basford Miners 2022.
Nine trustees will work for the charity in total, with only one, Frank Spencer, remaining from the previous board. Mr Spencer told Nottinghamshire Live that he was confident the club would open. "Sometimes I have been a bit fed up with it, but it should be open soon. We're confident that it will be," said the 75-year-old.
"We didn't realise how much work we've got to do, particularly to the building itself. But we're hoping it will be run a lot better than before." Alex Norris, MP for Nottingham North, met with representatives of CISWO during the campaign and will become one of the trustees.
Asked what it was that changed the charity's mind, he said: "It was complicated. The most important thing was the energy of the campaigning, they weren't going to go away. But it took a bit of time for them both to understand each other, once those things were changed it became a lot easier."
