New Mills enjoy revival success
ASELF-PROCLAIMED squash ‘club that wouldn’t die’ has emulated its footballing equivalent, Accrington Stanley, after securing promotion last season.
In fact, players of the high-intensity racket sport at New Mills Leisure Centre have gone one better than recently-crowned League Two champions Stanley by simultaneously – and in the club’s 35thanniversary year – getting each of its two teams up to a higher division for 2018/19!
The First Team will next season be plying its trade at Third Division level in the North West Counties League, while the New Mills ‘Seconds’ are moving up to Division Four, following a memorable campaign that saw the men’s sides finish as respective runners-up of the Fourth and Fifth Divisions South-East.
Not bad going for a club that, for a decade until just four years ago, fielded only one team in the basement Fifth Division - and, back in 2011, had to fight for its very existence against High Peak Borough Council plans to remove public squash courts altogether from the town.
Long-serving player Charlie Bishop recalls how he and other club members eventually succeeded in ensuring that the sport, which had been played competitively at the leisure centre since 1983, could continue in SK22.
“At the time, we had two courts,” he explains, “but proposals for redeveloping the centre involved taking both of them out.
“It was a critical time. But after extensive lobbying by players, and with the support of (then) MP Andrew Bingham, squash got a reprieve - with Council leaders agreeing to retain one court as part of a revamped plan.”
This watershed moment saved the club from extinction, before heralding an upturn in fortunes for team squash in New Mills, as leisure centre manager Stacey Wild himself a First Team regular – points out.
“We started to make a huge effort to promote squash here,” he says, “and at a team level it was about stimulating interest and performance.
“Our captain Simon Barlow, who joined us from the Stoke club, Tollgate, set up an internal ladder and box-leagues, which provided an incentive to help improve existing players and attract new ones.”
By 2015, New Mills could call on a sufficient pool to reform its Second Team which had been disbanded 10 years earlier – and with the ‘Firsts’ having already gained promotion to Division Four in 2013/14, the club was well and truly on the up.
The First Team went close to earning a shot at Third Division squash a year ago, but was ultimately edged down into third place.
“We only missed out on promotion by 11 points,” says Stacey, “so felt we needed just a little extra push to get over the line this season.
Arranging coaching sessions helped do the trick there, while the club’s team ranks were further swelled by the arrival of new and returning players.
One returnee was Amanda Rose, a fitness coach attached to the leisure centre, who resumed playing last autumn after a seven-year break.
And her renewed involvement in the sport has not only aided New Mills’ double-promotion push but also provided a basis for wider squash activity.
“I have just started offering junior training at the centre,” says Amanda, “so that we get more kids from around here into squash at an earlier age.
“The sessions are on Wednesday afternoons for five-to-10-year-olds and for older beginners from 11 to 15. Squash isn’t often on their radar, so we shall be going all out to push these at local schools with an emphasis on fun as well as exercise!”
Additionally, for women interested in picking up a racket and taking to the court, there are plans to organise sessions under the ‘Squash Girls Can’ national initiative that seeks to encourage more female participation in the sport.
“We lost our ladies’ team after a few years, two seasons ago,” adds Amanda, “so it would be great to get that up and running again.”
All this is doubtless to follow at what has become a buzzing hive of squash activity on the
Stockport border. But, for now, thoughts are already turning to the two existing teams’ next
Winter League campaign and what it may bring for them both.
“The club has greater strength in depth than in previous years,” concludes Stacey Wild, “so both sides feel well equipped to play at a higher level.
“We can’t wait to get going in September!”
Further details about junior training sessions at New Mills are available from the leisure centre on 01663 748842.