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Trustees and members of a social club in New England which was forced to close several years ago have made several very generous donations to local charities.

The former New England Club & Institute on Occupation Road has presented cheques of £5,000 pounds each to three local good causes: Sue Ryder, Little Miracles and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Peterborough City Hospital.

One of the New England Club & Institute’s four trustees, Graham Ward, told the Peterborough Telegraph that, in its heyday, the New England Club & Institute was a thriving social club which was a hub for the whole community.

Elaine Rignall from Sue Ryder with Graham Ward, Jeff Millen and Terry Nottingham representing members and past members of the New England Club presenting the charity with a £5,000 cheque.

“I never, ever thought the club would close,” he said: “We ran it a treat.”

Sadly, 21st century phenomena such as shifting demographics, the smoking ban and a gradual change in people’s socialising habits saw the club’s fortunes dip.

“We had less income,” Graham remembers, “and so the club finally folded in 2017.”

The 72-year-old, who was once chairman of the club, explained that it took some time - several years, in fact - to sort out the club’s outstanding business affairs, as they paid off debts, dealt with prospective new owners and negotiated the minefield that was Covid.

Terry Nottingham, representing members and past members of the New England Club & Institute, presents a cheque for £5,000 to NICU ward staff Aiesha Gordon, Carrie Hadfield and Katie Barke.

After finally ticking off all the admin required of them, Graham and his fellow trustees decided what to do with what remained of the club’s funds.

“We worked out that we had ‘x’ amount of money leftover,” he said. “We worked out how much to give each member as all members who renewed in 2017 got a payout.”

It was decided that a meeting should be arranged so that members could have a say on what could be done with the payouts.

“In the meeting we agreed the members and past members – a lot of whom have died since 2017 – would pay out around £18,000 to charities,” Graham explained.

Louise Evans, Sarah Woodbine, Sasha Brantom, Phoebe Wagner and Ivo from Little Miracles receiving £5,000 from Graham Ward, Jeff Millen and Terry Nottingham representing the former New England Club & Institute.

The substantial amounts of £5,000 each are enough to pay a Sue Ryder staff member for 200 hours, and buy one-and-a-half baby bath tubs for the NICU. Following a recent break-in at their Bretton HQ, Little Miracles have used their donation to install floodlighting and security lights.

Former New England social club gives £15k to Peterborough charities