A COMMUNITY club once used by the mining community in the 20s has been destroyed in a blaze which gutted the building in Derbyshire.
The devastating fire ripped through the Spectrum Leisure Centre in Willington at around 5.30pm yesterday evening (April 12).
Seven crews from across the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service were called to the derelict Miners' Welfare Club near Crook.
A spokesperson for the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said: "Our crews were alerted to a large fire at Spectrum Leisure Centre in Willington.
"Seven appliances attended, appliances from Bishop Auckland, Crook, Consett, Darlington, High Handenhold and Spennymoor along with the aerial ladder platform.
"Today, one appliance was in attendance damping down and will visit the site throughout the day to assess the scene.
"The site has been secured with fencing and the local authority has taken responsibility of the site. The roads are open."
The building, in Hunwick Lane, was constructed around 1920 and was aimed at providing recreational facilities for the mining community.
Resident Patricia Greensmith said the loss was "heart-breaking".
"[It] feels like a big part of our lives has just died," she told BBC News.
"For my generation this place was our youth, [we] spent most nights and a lot of afternoons in here."
"I was a bridesmaid here twice and I've spent the last 15 years looking at it out of my window as a boarded up ruin and spent a lot of years trying to get it brought back to life."
