Graham Nash has donated £10,000 to save the historic Salford Lads Club in Manchester.
It comes after the Greater Manchester building – which was pictured in The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ album artwork – was confirmed earlier this week as facing closure.
The youth centre was opened in 1904 by Robert Baden-Powell in Ordsall as a club for boys (but is now open to all young people), and is under threat due to rising costs and a drop in grant funding.
The centre continues to provide a safe space for young people from some of Greater Manchester’s deprived communities, offering activities such as sports six days a week. In order for the establishment to remain open, it must raise £250,000 by next month.
Now, it has been confirmed that Graham Nash has made a donation of £10,000 to save the historic site.
It comes as the former Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash singer spent his childhood in Salford throughout the ‘40s and ‘50s, and was a member of Salford Lads Club. His donation is seen on the public fundraiser that has been set up to protect the space on GoFundMe.
The fundraiser has been backed by Salford-born Tim Burgess, frontman of The Charlatans, and has raised more than £28,000 at time of writing. You can find out more and donate here.
Famous Salford Youth Club in 2024. CREDIT: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
As highlighted by BBC News, the singer was born in Blackpool, but spent many of his childhood and teenage years in Salford. He also returned to the club in 2016, and recalled how he first sang at the site, and learned to play snooker there too.
He was also shown his former membership card, as well as the space where his name is engraved in steel to celebrate previous members.
As well as being famous with fans of Graham Nash, the club is a hit with fans of The Smiths too, with the site becoming a destination for superfans to visit after it featured in the artwork for their aforementioned third album.
It has also been featured in TV series and films such as Peaky Blinders, Last Tango In Halifax, Mrs Biggs, Cold Feet, Blue Murder, and more. Last year luxury fashion brand Chanel booked out the landmark to host a star-studded event ahead of its show in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
According to The Guardian, the club’s annual income for 2023 was about £160,000, with its outings adding up to £394,700. The club also faces annual bills of a whopping £43,000 combined (including utilised, insurance and building maintenance).
the smiths outside the salford lads’ club in 1987, photographed by lawrence watson. pic.twitter.com/Fz1WaBs8sE
— morrissey pics every day (@mozpicsdaily) August 24, 2024
The announcement of the Salford Lads Club potentially shutting down comes after Mark Davyd, the Music Venue Trust CEO, told NME back in December that 2023 had been the worst year for venue closures.
Similarly, an MVT report from January echoed his comments,, finding that grassroots venues are facing a “disaster”. The Trust’s COO, Beverley Whitrick told the House of Commons: “23.6million people visited a grassroots music venue in the UK in 2023, which is an increase on the previous year. Sometimes people say to us when they ask about closures, ‘Is it that people are not interested in going anymore?’ Of course, that’s not the case at all.
“The wish to see artists, to connect with them in small spaces in local venues is as high as it’s ever been.”
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