Former Scottish and British champions were back ringside at Perth’s oldest boxing club on Saturday as the institution flung open its doors to visitors.
Perth Railway Boxing Club was one of the few attractions able to welcome guests inside for the annual Doors Open Day festival with the majority of venues forced to go digital due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The historic boxing gym, founded in 1944, survived being KO’d by the virus to welcome back a number of former members, legends and their descendants for the festival.
Visitors were able to view the archives of club legend Bill Anderson which had been loaned back to the gym by AK Bell Library.
Bob Fawcett, son of Bobby Fawcett, an original member of the Perth Railway Athletic Club and world record holder at steel strand pulling, was one of the first guests through the door and helped to identify names and locations on some of the older photos in the archives on display.
Shortly afterwards, former Scottish Champion and British University Champion Sam Kynoch, who won his titles in the 90s and early 2000s, visited with his brother Ben who also held a British title.
Later in the day Bobby Urquhart, who boxed for the club in the 1980s, visited and was reunited with his old medical cards.
Linda Anderson, daughter of club legend Bill, also took the trip and loaned her dad’s old boxing shorts to AK Bell’s archive collection of his career.
Bill boxed for Scotland, was crowned a Midlands District Champion, and was a former Scottish National Team coach and volunteer at the club for over 60 years.
Other guests included the son and grandson of Danny Cruickshanks, who held many British and Scottish titles in the 1950s and was a volunteer coach and secretary at the club.
Alan Stewart, club secretary, said the day had helped shine some light on old stories.
He said: “On behalf of the club I would like to thank Sarah Wilcock from AK Bell Library archives for organising the loan of the historical documents for the event, each and every person who visited and to volunteers John (McLeod) and Colin (Clayes) who staffed the event with me.
“The event would not have been a success without either of these elements.
“Each and every person has helped flesh out details around the club’s rich history with their stories of days gone by and we also raised some money to go towards our planned upgrades to the gym, which is absolutely fantastic”.”
