Description:Cellar Youth Club was based in the cellar at the Sparkbrook Association's headquarters in Braithwaite Road. The youth club was decorated by its members and was opened in 1962.
Many young people from different ethnic backgrounds attended the youth club which provided a much needed space for them to socialise together. The young members of the club were involved in many activities, from table tennis, dancing and listening to records, to visits to other youth clubs, work camp weekends and camping expeditions.
With the diversity of the group as one of its main assets, the club was a place where good relationships between people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds could be fostered from an early age. One of the organisers, Wilma Jeyes remarked on the diversity of both the membership and visitors to the club as a uniting of 'nations':
"We have had many visitors to the cellar including Koreans, Argentineans, Americans and Swedes, and with club members and helpers coming from Ireland, the West Indies, Pakistan, Scotland, Wales and all parts of England, we form our own "League of nations." (Annual Report 1966, p.8)
This photograph shows Humphrey Lyttleton, who attended the opening of the Sparkbrook Association's premises at Braithwaite Road, as he entertains some of the younger youth club members. Seated amidst paint pots and tools used to decorate the cellar, the jazz musician captivated his audience as he gave a spontaneous rendition of 'When the Saints Go Marching In!'