'We will get through this': The Hunslet Club determined to stay strong for Leeds youngsters

The Hunslet Club's roots go back 1940 when local doctor John Wyllie recognised the need to keep boys off the streets and out of mischief during the blitz.

His efforts, along with the support from the local community, led to opening of a club which has thrived down the years.

Today it has 1,800 members providing 98 activities each week, from ballet to boxing, football, rugby league, cheerleading and youth clubs.

The club prides itself on supporting the most vulnerable in the community, offering vocational activities from its base on Hillidge Road.

An 'open gate' policy means it has long been buzzing with young people every day of the week.

But for the first time in eight decades, the club's leaders are devastated at having to tell their members to stay away during a national crisis of a very different kind.

Chief executive Dennis Robbins described how social distancing goes against the grain of everything The Hunslet Club stands for.

He said: "Yesterday, I saw two kids playing on one of our outside football courts and I had to tell them to go home.

"For the first time ever we are having to say no to young people. It's a tough thing to have to do. But we all have to keep safe.

"Usually we leave at least one of our courts open so that even on a weekend when we are not about, they can still go on and kick a ball about and play on it.

"But we have had to close the gates."