'Our social club is under threat' (From Barry And District News)

'Our social club is under threat'

DOW Corning social club members protesting about plans to turn it into a gym, have picketed the company headquarters.

The demonstration was held outside the chemical company's Cardiff Road office last Thursday.

More than 40 people turned up in the pouring rain to support the club and many passing drivers showed their support by sounding their horns.

John Dooley, of Palmerston Road, has been going to the club for 30 years.

He said: "It is a disgrace that this could be taken away. The club is part of the community. I go seven days a week and it is part of my life."

Second World War veteran Harry Scott, 79, of Barry Island, said: "I have been coming for 15 years. There are a lot of veterans who come as well. It is a part of the community and I go to the club for sequence dancing. There are very few places, if any, to do this kind of activity in Barry."

Many other activities are held at the club and there are six skittle teams, two darts teams and a cribbage team.

The present building was constructed in 1971 and belongs to the club's committee. The original club was in Laura Street in the 1950s.

Club members told the Barry and District News they had suggested the plot of land at the side of the present building could be used for the gym.

In an article in the News two weeks ago, Dow Corning said its employees had voted to use part of the building as a gym.

It was the employees, said the company, who were responsible for the initiative.

But club members fear this will spell the end for the club because its main source of income came from functions and events held at the building.

As we went to press, Dow Corning's European communications manager Karen Heenan- Davies had declined to comment.