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Insider North West Leaders Dinner 2010
Retail tycoon and Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan last night placed himself at the heart of the government’s Big Society project by calling on businesses in the North West to back lads and girls clubs in locations around the region. Speaking at Insider’s Leaders Dinner at the Lowry Hotel, he said Wigan Lads Club saved his life as a young rogue in the post-war years and said many young people need that same direction now.
Over 160 of the region’s leading lights attended the high-profile dinner, where Whelan said: “We have to invest to get the best out of our youth. People say they’re not the same as we were, but they are and they need a place to go to inspire them.”
Whelan’s wide-ranging and often hilarious talk to 200 business leaders touched on events in his successful life as a professional footballer, a child in wartime Wigan and in his early years in business, including a story of how he sold his Whelan’s supermarket to Ken Morrison for £1.5m. He also told the tale of how he fought Boots Chemists in court over his licence to sell medicines on his market stall in Wigan in the 1960s.
But his heartfelt plea to match the £3m he has so far raised for a Wigan club also included a pledge of support from the coalition government. He revealed he is to meet David Cameron next week to make arrangements for the Prime Minister to make good his pledge not only to provide some funding for the clubs, but also to formally open the Wigan one when it is built.
The first successful project of its kind in the region is the Bolton Lads and Girls Club, which Whelan has been impressed with.
The OnSide charity is backing efforts by other entrepreneurs in the region, including William Lees-Jones, of William Lees Brewery, who is spearheading the development of a super youth club in Oldham, which has been named Mahdlo by the local youngsters who have had a say in its design and facilities.
He hopes the fundraising effort will also help to raise the profile of the charity.
Whelan said: “OnSide’s vision of five new youth zones in five years is well on track and in Oldham we are looking forward to the new centre opening towards the end of 2011. The support we have had so far has been fantastic and, as people learn more about what the charity is trying to achieve, they agree this is the way forward in terms of youth provision. Everyone who hears about OnSide or comes to see BLGC, walks away wanting to get involved, and that’s great for us.”
OnSide’s innovative business model brings together community volunteers, residents, business leaders and local authorities to provide leisure, mentoring, career and social activities in state-of-the-art facilities funded by public/private partnership. The model has already been proved by the highly successful Bolton Lads & Girls Club, which is currently the biggest and most popular young people’s club in the UK, with more than 3,000 visits per week.
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