Going, going, gone: Ironbridge power station social club bows out with auction

Items from the Ironbridge Power Station (Abbey) Sports and Social Club went under the hammer at the weekend after the club closed its doors for the final time last month.

Set in a Grade I-listed building and acres of stunning grounds next to Buildwas Abbey, the club was initially set up in 1968 for workers of the Central Electricity Generating Board. It included football pitches and a highly regarded Crown Bowls green.

Now, with E.on, owners of the nearby Buildwas Power Station and the club's home, set to close the site at the end of the year, the club has no option but to shut.

At an auction on Saturday hundreds of people took the chance to bid items ranging from chairs to snooker tables.

The club's chairman, Paul Dodd, said it was a sad day for those who had been part of the organisation.

He said: "It was like a big family. It is hugely sad, I have been chairman for 35 years and it is a sad day for me because it is an institution really. It has been there for the benefit of the local community for generations. It is something that has always been there."

David Buckley, the club's treasurer said the organisation had been a hugely popular retreat for members.

He said: "People liked coming here because they knew we maintained standards. Children were not allowed in the small bar, they had their own TV room. There was no swearing and you had to be relatively well dressed - and people would come here for that reason, because they liked it."

Mr Dodd said he does not believe similar organisations exist to replace the club.

He said: "What concerns me is once this sort of institution disappears there is nothing to take its place and I do not think there ever will be. There are a lot of members whose families have grown up here."

Mr Dodd said that the auction had gone well and there had been plenty of people with attachments to the club looking for mementos.

He said: "I had a lady who came up to the viewing for the auction and she told me she had got married here and that she had sat on a bench for her photo at the time.

"I said I didn't know if it was still here but she went away for half an hour said she had found it. It is a bit tatty but we gave it to her to remember the place and hopefully she can repair it."