Westree Amateur Boxing Club celebrate their 60th anniversary this year - with an original member still going strong in the gym.

Steve Young was just 10 years old when the club were formed in Rocky Hill, Maidstone, in 1961.

Now 70, he continues to train three nights a week and says it’s a privilege to be part of the club.

“I’ve won a few and lost a few but I’ve always enjoyed training,” said Young, who lives in Staplehurst.

“I’ve made some good pals over the years, I love the camaraderie and I’ve always found boxing a superb way to keep fit.

“After a hard day’s work, wherever I’d been in the country, I’d go to the gym, and it was a great stress-buster.

“I’ve been lucky that I’ve kept myself in reasonable shape for an old git and I’m still there three nights a week, doing the same workout.

“I might have slowed down a bit, I don’t know, but I’m the same weight I’ve always been and I still enjoy it.

“I’ve been privileged to be around some great boxers over the years, people like Martin Hooker, a superb boxer who had 160 fights, and there’s some really good kids down there now.

“It’s a privilege to be there and I’m lucky they let me train with them.

“I had my last senior fight in 1980/81 but I’ve always carried on training.

“I do my warm-up for 15 minutes, four or five rounds of shadow boxing, then I have a break before doing my squats and sit-ups and a session of groundwork, then it’s back to the bags for four or five rounds and then I skip it out.

“It’s an hour-and-a-quarter workout and I feel good after it.

“You’ve got to make yourself draw breath otherwise you’re not really training.

“I push to the maximum I can - there’s not much left in the tank when I leave.

“It’s funny when I get home and have dinner and take my tray out and my wife says, ‘If only the lads could see you now, stiff as a board!’

“I do like to keep myself active. I go out on the bike three or four times a week and I walk the dog every day for four or five miles.

“There are times when my wife says I’ve overdone it but generally I keep myself ticking over.

“I stop for a pint when I’m out on the bike - it’s the balance between party animal and training!”

Young remembers turning up at Westree with pal Barry Cornwall and meeting a sceptical Jerry McCarthy, who used to run the club.

“We had to go to the office to see Jerry,” said Young. “He looked at us and said, ‘You’re too little.’

“We said, ‘Go on, give us a chance’ and he agreed and said, ‘All right, go and see Johnny Smith, the trainer, but if you mess about, you’re out.’

“Johnny was a great trainer, a terrific bloke, and he took us under his wing.

“He was a proper gentleman, he never criticised, it was always ‘Good lad, you tried’ and then you’d go and put things right.

“We went to see him, he put the gloves on, we were punching away and then after 15 minutes or so someone asked if we wanted to go in the ring. We were wearing old horsehair gloves, it was great.

“We went back night after night and thoroughly enjoyed it. They made us so welcome.

“There were one or two kids of a similar age.

“One lad, Alfie Reynolds, who fought for a UK or English title, was so light that Gus Harris, the bloke who ran it with McCarthy, had lead sewn into his shorts, so he could make the weight!

“One of the things Jerry said when the club moved was about boxing getting people off the streets and I didn’t have a clue what he was on about then.

“But, when I look back, us younger kids were probably little tearaways and then suddenly you’re in the gym three times a week, training and sparring, and you learn that actually you’re not invincible.

“I found myself on my backside in the corner a good few times!”

Westree relocated to a new gym at the bottom of the High Street in 1962 and were on the move again six years later, to Hillary Hall in Mangravet.

The club spent about 30 years there, followed by a spell in Park Wood before moving to the current location, Demons Den, on Tonbridge Road.

“I feel like I’ve gone full circle, because it’s right near where the original gym was on Rocky Hill,” said Young.

“The man responsible for keeping the club going is Eddie Henderson.

“He took the reins in 1977 after we were called to a meeting and Jerry McCarthy said he was packing up.

“He formed a new committee and I can’t speak highly enough of him.

“He was a great trainer, a great coach and a great mentor to a lot of people, including Lee Owen, Bradley Urquhart and Bradley Brooks, who are the coaches now.

“They’re really good lads but Eddie’s still the main man.

“He’s receiving a Hall of Fame award for services to amateur coaching, which says everything about how well respected he is.

“Johnny Smith was a very good friend of Eddie’s and so was Bob Manito, another coach who was involved in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

“He was an ex-pro who boxed Reggie Kray in the 50s.

“He came down and had a big hand in training.

“He was a tough old fella but he always had a smile on his face.

“There’s been so many great characters down the years.”

* Former Westree boxer Sam Noakes ticks off another famous venue when he makes a quick return to the ring.

The Maidstone lightweight is scheduled to fight Michael Isaac Carrero at Wembley Arena on Saturday night.

It’s just two weeks since the 23-year-old last fought, extending his perfect stoppage record to 6-0 against Lee Connelly at the Royal Albert Hall.

Noakes put on another top display and with the bout finished in three rounds, he’s fresh enough to get straight back in the ring.

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