Mexborough and Swinton Times December 13, 1929
Health & Strength
Growth of a Wath Club.
Wrestlers and Weight Lifters.
The Wath Health and Strength Club, whose first display was so successful, is a comparatively young club.
One of the prime movers in its organisation was Mr, Andrew Beattie, who has been a physical culture enthusiast for several years. Practically ever since leaving school he has been keenly interested in wrestling and one of his aims is to revive the sport of wrestling in this district.
Judging by the enthusiasm in the club and the interest taken in the first display he is succeeding.
At present there are about thirty members of the club. They attend regularly and avail themselves of the practical knowledge of the secretary and manager. Mr. Beattie. Not only does the club cater for wrestling; boxing and weight-lifting play a prominent part in their activities, At present, there are few boxers of note. The most promising is Joe Darley, whom Mr. Beattie would like to match with Johnny Groves or any other novice in the district at 7 ½ stones.
Of the wrestlers Jim Rawlinson and Lesley Gill give most promise. Both have developed rapidly.
The club is indebted to Mr W.Blake Johnson for the use of the Old Liquor vaults, and in time they hope to acquire au up-to-date well-equipped apparatus.
Two outstanding members of the club are Ernest Gothard of Brampton and Walter Burkinshaw, of Rawmarsh.
Gothard has taken an interest in physical culture for only 18 months, but in that time he has developed rapidly. Before taking up physical culture he frequently suffered from illness, but since taking the Appollen Course, in which is a silver medallist, he has developed and is now able to perform this feats of strength. His favourite feats are the breaking of a 5 inch nail while lying across two chairs and a list of 56 lb weights with his little fingers.
Andrew Beattie, the secretary and instructor excels in wrestling and is well versed in ju jitsu. As pit-boy champion he issued a challenge to the world’s light-weight wrestling champion, Littlehack, which was not accepted. Last-year he won the Hackensmidt open competition at Mexboro’ Hippodrome. Recently he wrestled twenty minutes without a fall against Leslie Crust, a Yorkshire champion, and Beattie is extremely anxious to make on-other match with Crust. He has thrown out a challenge and is hopeful that the match will come off. If so he will arrange another display on a bigger scale and engage a larger hall. In addition to this match there will be a return match between Angus and Bothwell. Beattie is one of Angus’s training partners and is preparing the latter for his visit to Canada, where he will represent England in the Empire Games next year.