The Mill, public house - After deciding to photograph the building, I was disappointed to see one day that the red-brick frontage had been painted over. A little known history about the place is that from October 1933, a one-time licensee of the pub was Johnny Cuthbert, the then light-weight boxing champion of England and holder of the Lonsdale belt. He said it would occupy a place of honour at the Mill. He was born in Sheffield and was my wife's second cousin. Non-professionally and professionally he won 123 fights, lost 34 and drew 17. He won his debut fight on points, but his last fight saw him knocked-out in the second round. His father was his manager, with whom he went fishing in Lincolnshire. The frontage as it used to be -
Link
Boston Amateur Boxing Club - Fifty-two-years ago, a group of lads who regularly met at St Nicholas’ youth club in the town decided they wanted to improve their fitness levels in the winter months and also receive some training in the art of boxing. They approached youth club leader Roy Sykes and the wheels were set in motion.
The inaugural meeting was held at St Nicholas’ hall on September 2, 1962, and it was agreed that the club be open to anyone in the Boston district aged between 14 and 25. The weekly subscriptions were set at one shilling (5p) for working members and sixpence (2.5p) for schoolboys.
There was an immediate uptake of 40 enthusiastic young men who were thrilled to discover that their chief coach and trainer was to be none other than the legendary Johnny Cuthbert, former British flyweight champion and Lonsdale Belt holder. Helping Johnny with the boxing coaching were Insp. Bob Holmes, Alf Upsall, Jack Kendrick and L. Pearce. Fitness and weight training instructors were Mr Dear and Mr Siggee.