Whitehill Club

Another chapter in the long saga of the Whitehill Working Men's Club was written last week when contractors moved in to demolish the `eyesore' steel frame that has stood at the side of the main road through Bordon for seven years. The move is the latest in a long-running series of attempts to give the club a permanent home following the destruction of its building in a fire nine years ago. Now the demolition and removal of the steel frame of what was supposed to be the replacement for that building, plus the demolition of the stewards' building, signals the end of that particular chapter and the start of a new future for the club.

The club building, on the A325, was gutted by fire nine years ago, leaving just the steward's building standing. Attempts to replace the building two years later came to an abrupt end, and the steel frame has stood on the site at the entrance to the town ever since. But club president Nigel Welch told The Messenger this week that the demolition was just the start of a new chapter in the club's history. "We would like to think that something tangible will be there within the next 18 months to two years," he said. But the final plans for the site, and the club, are a long way from being drawn up, he said. Much hinges on the Army's planned move from the town, while there is a possibility that East Hampshire District council might want to use the site as part of its eco-town development.

"All sorts of discussions are under way over what the site could be used for in the future," Mr Welch added. "Sports and leisure facilities need to be built, but that is an area-wide issue. We can't end up with 28 cricket pitches, when we might only need four." "It's taking its time but we will get there in the end." And Mr Welch said the first new arrival on the site could be a grass playing surface. "But the money to build a sports centre or club of some description is somewhat more than a pitch of turf," he said.

The club had been "predominantly a working men's club," Mr Welch said, but a lot of its members had drifted away during the nine years the club had been in limbo. "It stopped being a working men's club some time ago," he added. "We want to be a community club in some way, shape or form but it always boils back down to having the funds." "It's a matter of when, not if, and we're not talking insignificant sums of money to get things sorted down there," he said. But he said the demolition itself hadn't cost the club a penny. "It's cost absolutely nothing to get that down. They [the demolition contractors] reclaim the value of the steel," he said. Contractors have also been busy erecting a high earth bank around the perimeter of the site to stop unlawful occupation. The site has on several occasions been occupied by travellers.