Our History

We are slowly digitising the huge collection of old photo's we have here at the club and will be posting them on a separate page on the website here. Keep checking back from time to time as we go through them all. 

Although more prominently known for it's physical fitness routines and sporting activities in the early years, the club did offer more sedate games such as draughts and chess and even singing when individual instructors were available, though these types of pursuits were not a mainstay of the club and fell by the wayside when the individuals either left or died. 

The loss of several trustees in the first couple of decades after the club opened meant there was less money to spend of facilities but with the help of several bequests from some of them, the club managed to keep to it's aims. Martha Bardsley granted £550 in her will in 1902, while club founder T.C. Norris granted £2000 to the club in 1909. Both their monies were used wisely with Mrs Bardsley’s donation adding a new Gym at Wellington Street and Mr Norris’s allowed the club to purchase a four and a half acre playing field. This playing field allowed the club members to excel at cricket and football - both of which were staple activities since 1891 and also to continue to provide the opportunity for lads to improve their physical fitness.

With this new Gym, Stockport Lads Club’s most frequent public face was its gymnastics’ team. It greatly enhanced an already active programme. The team had from 1900 to 1905 won four of the first five Inter Club Gymnastics Competitions. The team would proudly demonstrate its talents to the public of Stockport and Manchester. Gymnastics was such a feature of life at the club that it even featured as a principal activity on the club’s camping expeditions. Gymnastics continued at the club as a core activity until well into the 1960’s despite the popularity of the activity being on the wane at many other clubs around Manchester because of the growth of Physical education in Schools since the 1950’s.

Another big tradition of the Club were the camping trips, first suggested in 1906 and then brought to fruition a year later at Allithwaite near Grange. It was a big success and continued to be popular with lads clubs all over the country with it providing young people with the opportunity for a short holiday in a time when such an opportunity would not otherwise be open to them. Many lads would never have left their town but for camp and the chance to experience the countryside and other new thrills were plentiful. The club’s camps would take place at both Prestatyn and Deganwy before all camps were suspended due to the outbreak of war in 1914. After the war ended, camp became a fixture again from 1919 when the programme was reintroduced at the Victory Camp at Prestatyn. The camp tradition would continue annually until World War Two. Over a decade later in 1950, the Stockport Lads Club camping tradition started up again going to Heswall led by Frank Luke. 

Also, in the 1950's, the club started to look for a new building as the Wellington Street site was beginning to show it's age. Plans were drawn up for a new site on Hempshaw Lane and in 1955 the building work began. A year later part of the site was opened and a year after that in May 1957 the building work was fully completed and the club moved into it's new home.  

Although from the 1950's was an exciting time for the club, the death of it's secretary H. Morley in 1958 brought about the idea to modernize and appointed Frank Luke (the then camp leader) as full time club leader. He was to be supported by instructors and volunteers such as Harry Wright. Changes in society, such as the school leaving age being increased and the addition of physical activity within the curriculum meant that the club also had to change. Membership patterns changed and gymnastics, a prominent featured activity of the club, were becoming far less of a focus, not just for Stockport Lads but for many clubs in the country. However, the club still managed to field a gymnastics team until the mid 1970's. Luckily, the new building at Hempshaw Lane was well suited for things like five-a-side football which began to take over. 

As part of the modernisation, Pool, Table Tennis and activities such as putting together the club’s newsletter signalled the growing importance of the club providing companionship as well as sporting activities. Sports continued to be of great importance in the 1970’s and 1980’s and the club was able to field football teams for both the lads and its old boys.

Frank would remain as leader of the club until his retirement in the mid 1980's when Harry, who later received the MBE for his work at the club and with Cheshire FA, took over. He continued there until his death in 2017. 

Continuing with the tradition of volunteers moving through the ranks of the club we come to Harry Hough. Harry, or H as he likes to be knows as, started at the club as a member when he was just 7 years old and became a volunteer at 16 in the early 1970's.  1991 he became the deputy club leader and took over the full running of the day to day business  in 2017 and as of 2023, is still the current club leader.

Moving into 2023 and the plan to keep the club moving with the times continues. Many parts of the current site have been refurbished and whole new range of activities added for all ages and abilities. 2019 saw the introduction of both the Stockport junior darts league and the Stockport Disability dart league. There are after school and holiday clubs and sensory play groups aimed at babies 4 weeks to 13 months old. Football still plays a big part of the sporting aspect of the club but now it's joined by a Boxing club and for those people who want the even more variety, there's also a Karate club.

The club today remains a vibrant arena for the young people of Stockport. The clubs traditional aims of providing opportunities for all and improving physical fitness are as strong as ever. More information can be found for everything we do on the Activities page or if you want any more information use the contact