THERE are plans to develop Bolton Lads and Girls Club’s Hacken Lane Ron Tucker site.

This football ground has been a part of the club for around 60 years and has been used by thousands of youngsters over the years.

Local businessman Alan Tillotson gifted a sports pavilion to the club in 1956 located on a grassed site owned by Bolton Council in the Darcy Lever and Little Lever Ward — this would become the Ron Tucker Sports’ Ground in Hacken Bridge Road, Darcy Lever.

Now club officials hope to contact some of those people who remember the sportsground from years ago and to gather their memories of Hacken Lane.

The site has been used for Bolton Lads and Girls Club football matches but is now to get a boost thanks to a £200,000 grant from Bolton Council.

The money will be used towards the development of the site into a multi-sports facility costing £1.7 million.

It will see an end to the football pitches as they have been for many years and herald a new start for Hacken Lane as it becomes a contemporary sports facility.

But there will be many people out there who recall playing football on the pitches and they will have memories that the club hopes to tap into as they continue their Alumni Society work.

It is 125 years since Bolton Lads and Girls Club first opened its doors — in the 19th century when it started the club was designed as a break for young boys from the rigours of work in the local mills.

They could enjoy a rest and recreation at the club which was, in those days, named, simply, Bolton Lads’ Club.

The Alumni Society was set up to bring together former members who could share their memories and photographs with each other and the club officials.

Now the club hopes to encourage youngsters who have had an association with Hacken Lane to also get in touch and join the alumni celebrations.

“Many of these youngsters would not have been involved with the Lads and Girls Club so may not have got involved in the alumni celebrations we’ve had so far,” explains Suzanne Wheeler from the Spa Road club.

Suzanne, who is in charge of the alumni celebrations, is hoping to hear from anyone involved in football at Hacken Lane over the years.

Hacken Lane was renamed the Ron Tucker ground in April 1997, after the Bolton Lads and Girls Club stalwart of the same name.

Ron dedicated his life to young people and was awarded the OBE for his efforts.

He was a tireless worker for the, then, Bark Street club and its leader for a long period before his death, aged 75, in 1996.

He left Bolton in 1953 to set up a similar project for young boys in London’s East End and during a long and distinguished career he always kept in touch with the Bolton club that held a special place in his heart.

Mr Tucker had been club leader in the 1950s before becoming organising secretary for the Cheshire Association of Boys’ Clubs.

He later moved to London where he worked for a further three charities, the Keystone Cops, Cystic Fibrosis and the Joseph Levy Charitable Foundation.

Tragically, in the 1960s, Ron’s wife and two children were killed in a car crash in London and he returned to Bolton in 1990 after retiring from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in 1986.

He renewed his links with the club as well as joining the Lancashire Executive of the Lancashire Boys’ Clubs where he remained a tireless worker under his death.

Ron was born in Liverpool and had a great interest in the theatre but it was his charity work for which he will be best remembered.

A ceremony was held at Hacken Lane, in April 1997, to rename the sports’ complex when Hacken Lane’s football pitches became the Ron Tucker Sports’ Ground. Representatives from the Lancashire Association of Boy’s Clubs and the Bolton Boys’ Federation Football League were also at the ceremony.

nDo you have memories of playing at Hacken Lane? Do you have any photographs taken there?

This is a chance to get together and share memories. Call Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or e-mail gayle.mcbain@nqnw.co.uk