Working Men's, Sports and Social clubs

My grandfather Ernest Brown was a Godiva Harrier before WW1. Does anyone have any photos of individual members at that time as we have no photos of him. Also does anyone have any history of Cox Street, Coventry working mens club, who started it etc, as we have been told my great grandfather Henry Brown and his don Thomas Brown may have been founders.

My great uncle and his wife were two of the several people who died when this club was destroyed during the November 14th raid. I have been unsuccessful in finding out any information about this place at all. I think it was a working-man's club, but apart from that I have drawn a blank. Does anyone have any information about the club, including any pictures? Thanks in advance.

Yes, the full name was West End Working Mens Club. Despite the fatalities it remained open in Spon Street until the late 1960s when it relocated to Hertford Place. The latter building eventually became Mercia Radio's studio in 1980.

I remember that club, my mum has sung there on one or two occasions. Peter.

The working men's club was where the working man could take his family and get cheap beer and entertainment. When I was a child in Hillfields in the late 40s I used to look forward to going to the 1925 Working Men's club in Freehold Street on a Sunday night. Sunday night was concert night (this was pre bingo) and there was usually a singer and a comedian. The children sat at the front and we a packet of crisps (Robinsons with the three spires on the front of the packet, or Smiths with the salt in blue paper) and a bottle of pop. My friend Jan's dad also used to get me a ticket from the Howitzers Club to go on their children's summer outing, usually to Skegness or Wicksteed Park. As I got older I went to other Working Men's Clubs, the Spencer Club in Albany Road, and the Wyken Men's Club in Ansty Road. My husband was a member of the Radford Club in Radford Road and I met my future in-laws at the Coronation Club in Keresley. Many factories also had clubs for their workers eg Dunlop, Alfred Herbert, Humber, GEC and Jaguar. There were many other working men's clubs and work's clubs in Coventry that other members of the forum no doubt have memories of. I hope this starts an interesting discussion.

I often went with the Howitzer's to Wicksteed Park. The latter served the best fish & chips I've ever tasted. Also to Drayton Manor Park which was a bit basic back then. Enjoyed Xmas parties at the Cox St Club and Builders Club in Whitefriars Lane. GEC had a sports ground of some kind with archery range and ride-on miniature railway. Once went to Skegness with a club in Hill Street but don't remember what it was called?

Less happy memories of the Cox Street one. We had one of our University exams in there in the mid 90's!

I spent many an hour at the Sphinx Club during my childhood. We would park just inside the gates, at the bottom of the drive, then walk up the unlit driveway to the "club-house". We used to go as a family most weekends - I used to go off down passed the tennis courts to a play area - where there were swings and roundabouts. I remember well the large "inverted shuttlecock" which was suspended on a pole which had a flat seating platform around its base. There was none of the "rubber matting" on the ground either - all of these play areas used to be covered in ash cinder - and heaven help you if you fell on your knees. I was lucky but my Sister still has the "black" scars embedded in her knee to this day. In the early days - the Sphinx club was just a single "hut" - but was extended in the late fifties and the original hut became a games room, with a couple of snooker tables and dart boards. I remember they served Fleur-de-Lys Steak and Kidney pies (for 1s 10d) and Chicken and Mushroom pies (at 2s). It was a real treat if you got one of those!

Does anyone remember the Gas Working Mens Club opposite the gasworks at Foleshill. My dad worked at the gasworks for as long as i can remember and when we went there after a day of either collecting blackberries or elderberries, we had a lemonade & packet of chips that we sat on the step and eat as the club was always full of smoke. I know he played dominoes there, but we used to go along the canal it was more fun. Now there is no club or gasworks.

As kids in the 40s and 50s myself and my brothers and sister were taken to the Howitzers Club, quite often, at the weekends. We would watch dad play bagatelle and sometimes move the arrow along, on the scoreboard for him. My youngest brother Geoff would be lifted onto one of the tables and he would sing his little heart out, to everyone's delight. I can remember how by the end of the night my eyes would be streaming from the cigarette smoke in there, it was like a fog. Occasionally they would have a film show upstairs. I always remember seeing one called "The Glass Mountain". The outings we thoroughly enjoyed, in fact I was so excited one day waiting for the coach, that I wet my pants and left a puddle on the floor. The Christmas parties were also looked forward to immensely by us kids, such exciting times. Now and again mum and did would take us on the train to Kenilworth Club, that was a real treat, I think my dad played bowls there.

I used to go to the Jampot in Arley & Fillongley WMC with my parents in the early 70s There used to be a band on at weekends & I used to collect their autographs How times have changed!!!

Is Holbrook club still going?

It is still going. I am a life member of the club the steward Sam Harris and his wife Joanne have run the club for the past 27 years (approx). The secretary now is Tony Laxon whose father was secretary for many years before his retirement.

We had our wedding reception there in March 1966 after being married at St. Giles Exhall.

I lived at No 15 Marner Crescent and our back looked onto the concert room of the Radford social club. Weekend nights in the summer months and the concert room windows wide open made sleep impossible.