Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Now and Then whetstone lane boxing club

Does anyone know if there was an amateur boxing club in Birkenhead possibly in whetstone lane? I am tracing my family tree and may have a cousin called Oliver Locke who I think was an amateur boxer.Thanks

Willaston boxing club, Oliver Street, Halkin Street?

Whetstone lane had/has the YMCA, may have had a boxing club.

THere was a Boxing Gym just past the old YMCA on the right hand side of the road, a big old house, I think it was something to do with Wally Thom or his family,(well known boxers) 50s /60s, i used to walk past it every day going to school in the late 50s,
Change of subject, the Oliver Locke you mention, did he work for the Dock Board ? if so, he was quite a well known Racing (road) Motorcyclist in his day, it's not a commom name so it's probably him, he was a friend of a friend, who used to speak very highly of him. This friend of mine was also a friend of Wally Thom, so it could all tie in together.

Went to Willaston Boxing Club age 10 or 11 but left after being put in the ring against Les McAteer and another boxer Peter McCann.
I think we used to call it Campbell's Gym and think it may have eventually moved to Whetstone Lane

Whetstone Lane Gymnasium started by Johnny Campbell and assisted by Gerry Burns. Prior to that Johnny Campbell ran Provincial ABC. Whetstone Lane Gymnasium might have been in the Birkenhead Institute land?

Vaguely recall there being a boxing place where locomotive says, same side as the YMCA

Definitely wasn't on BI land ( Mine and Derek's old school) it was lower down on the opposite side of the road.

This photo is titled "Whetstone Lane Gymnasium" from around 1959 but I guess this is the BI gym not the boxing gym?

I've seen the 1955 directory for Whetstone Lane and there is no mention of a boxing club/gym, perhaps too early.

Bert, I left the BI in 1959, so it would probably have been late 50s/early 60s, but I lived on the corner of Clifton Rd for 6 months when I got married in 64, so it could have been later. now the memory cells have been jogged, I think it was Campbell's Gym, there was a sign on the side of the house, the picture off DD is the BI gym, I used to go up those ropes like a rat up a drainpipe.

Mentioned here Loco,

http://boxingbiographies.co.uk/html/gerry_burns-bb.HTM

Brilliant write-up, thanks

I've checked the phone books for, Campbell's Gym and Whetstone Lane Gymnasium, 1960/65/73 and under those names, not mentioned in any of them. A friend checked the 60s directories at the Liverpool records office and again no mention of a boxing gym/club in Whetstone Lane.

Loco's memory of it is good enough evidence of its existence, how did anyone find it or get in touch with it?

The boxing gym was definitely in Whetstone Lane, just up from the YMCA, where Locomotive says. I remember it in the late 1950s / early 1960s.