Situated in the heart of Helsby, Helsby Community Sports Club is a growing asset to the local community and surrounding areas. Currently the club is home to six resident sports - Bowls, Football, Fishing, Rugby, Running and Tennis. In addition, the club also run Darts and Snooker Teams and has a thriving Social membership.
The club is the former staff Sports Club for employees of the old BICC factory in Helsby, although its origins date back to 1895 when it was first formed as Helsby Athletic Club by the amalgamation of Helsby Cricket Club and Helsby Rugby Football Club. Taken over by BICC General Cables Limited in 1934, the club has catered for a number of different sports and recreation activities during its history, including cricket, hockey, badminton, table tennis, archery and chess. Since 1991 the club has been independently run as a non-profit making organisation by a volunteer Committee and currently the whole club proudly boasts a membership in excess of 500 adults and juniors.
Like many such clubs of the past, the club plays an important role in the community, offering something for everyone – old and young alike...
Helsby Tennis Club is a great place to enjoy tennis and meet local people all year round – a small, friendly club with Senior and Junior teams that play in the winter and summer Cheshire and Wirral Leagues. The club operates three floodlit all weather tennis courts, plus two mini courts for children and runs a coaching team led by level 4 Head coach, Mike Herd, providing a comprehensive programme of coaching for juniors and adults from beginners to more advanced. Adult courses include Beginners, Doubles game play, Women's and Cardio tennis.
Helsby Bowls club similarly offers lots of opportunities for Seniors and Juniors (age 10 year plus), with two greens available and teams playing league matches and open / club competitions throughout the season. The club has more than a dozen teams playing in the Mid Cheshire league, Frodsham and District league and Runcorn and District league. The club also runs indoor bowls (short mat) on Friday evenings in the winter months.
Helsby Angling Club’s current two Fishing lakes have been around since the Second World War and is the last part of the old BICC factory site left in the village. The waters are stocked with a good supply of Carp, Chub, Bream, Rudd, Roach, Perch and Eels and the lakes are well established with 36 pegs shared between them. In addition to all year round fishing, we also hold a number of matches throughout the spring, summer and autumn which are open to all members and are more of a social gathering than a contest (still nice if you win though!).
Last season, Helsby Rugby Club were crowned champions of North West Raging Bull South Division 5 and were within a whisker of making it a League & Cup double. Building on that success, this season the club have narrowly missed out on promotion again, but can be proud nevertheless of a 3rd place finish in Division 4, coupled with a mid-table finish for it’s 2nd Team which was relaunched this season following a ten-year absence. Once again, the club offers fantastic opportunities for youngsters, with Teams running from Under-7 through to Under-16 and during the summer months, the club’s Touch Rugby evenings have proved to be massively popular with old and young, boys and girls alike in recent years.
Helsby Running Club represents one of the largest sections within Helsby Community Sports Club and the club host two regular training nights throughout the year, including at Castle Park, Frodsham during winter and on Helsby High School Playing Fields during the summer months as well as off-road runs around Helsby and Frodsham hills. The club is also renowned for staging the extremely popular ‘Four Villages Half-Marathon’ each January, which has been running – if you pardon the pun! – for more than 30 years and raises £thousands for local good causes.
Finally, HCSC is also home to Helsby Football Club – who’s first team plays in the Carlsberg west Cheshire league and who’s reserves play in the Chester & District football league, with junior teams also operating in the mid Cheshire youth league, Chester and District Junior league and the Halton & District Junior league. The club has an illustrious history and capped a memorable season in 1999/2000 when the Helsby FC 1st team won no less than FIVE trophies in that single season!
Helsby Community Sports Club very much sees itself as being the centre for sport, recreation and leisure for Helsby, Frodsham and the surrounding rural villages. Much work has been done by the club’s volunteers during the past ten years to establish and develop junior teams and ambitious plans to develop a new clubhouse incorporating an indoor sports hall are finally beginning to come to fruition.
There really is something for everyone, whether you fancy joining a sporting team, watching a sports match on the big screen, playing a game of Bingo, Darts or Snooker or even dancing the night away. To find out more about what “the club” can offer you, please call 07518 106294 or better still – call in!
