A brief history of Squash at the RI

History

York Railway Institute was originally the self-improvement, sports & social club of North Eastern Railway Company setup in 1889 and it’s successors. For many years now, it has opened the doors to non-railway staff.

When squash was first invented at Harrow School in 1830, but it wasn’t until 1937 that squash reached York when the Railway Institute built the first squash courts with the building of 3 courts opposite the gymnasium, they were originally glass roofed, the original glazing bars can still be seen.
During the Second World War the Gymnasium became a training and fitness facility
for army service men and women, then after the war the courts were used again just
for games between individual club members.


In 1954 the club started playing matches against other clubs but went into decline in the mid 1960s due to the lack of a committee to organise matches. In 1972 about 30 players who were new to the game, elected a committee and a ladder system was introduced, Ken Snelling became the Chairman and Graham Wenman the Secretary. Of the original 30 players only 2 are still playing at the club.
Membership soared, teams were formed, in 1974 RI member Mike Fineron a school teacher at Bar Convent and a squash coach attended a Yorkshire League fixture meeting at Chapel Allerton and entered the RI in the Yorkshire League in Division 4 A the first ever game was an away match at “Old Crossleyans” at Halifax.  Mike became the First Club Captain.

The R I Club Championship began in 1973, the Ladies Championship in 1979.  Frank Paterson the General Manager of British Rail Eastern region, Life President of the Railway Institute and squash club member, often presented trophies on finals nights.
In 1974 The York & District league was formed, John Bridge organised and entered an R I Team and later became a member of the York & District Committee.
Teams joined from York University, Dunnington, Wigginton, Heslington etc and as far afield as Thornton Le Dale and Malton. The leagues expanded fast with two Men’s Division Leagues and a Ladies League. By the late 1970s / 1980s the RI were fielding 2 Yorkshire league teams 6 York and District teams and 3 ladies teams, the courts were open 7 days a week to allow some matches to be played Sunday evenings.
Court booking was by telephone to the Institute office from 10.00 am for bookings the following day. To gain extra income and sort out the tiresome court booking method, other systems were tried, coin operated light machines and booking forms and the 10p stamp was introduced. It had become clear as early as 1973 that the RI needed additional courts as membership had increased dramatically.
In 1975 Courts 1, 2 & 3 were re-roofed, the viewing area created and some staging built, the rear viewing areas were small with court 3 only having enough space for a marker to perch on the window ledge. The long lintels to span the new viewing windows were cast in the British Rail Concrete Yard in Leeman Road, With membership still rising  more courts were needed and a development fund was started, the booking fee was raised to 50p with the extra 40p going into the fund, from this Courts 4 & 5 were built in 1977 with the British Rail Architect Alan Dellar also a Squash club member, drawing up the plans. The Courts were built with a passage between the two courts access doors.
In 1976 RI and other local British Rail squash playing employees entered a team in the Austin Reed National Championships and won, receiving generous prizes


By 1980 the membership exceeded 1,000, which was above the England Squash Rackets association recommendations for 5 courts, so a waiting list was imposed.

Around 1980, John Dowden, with a background in the building industry, also a squash club member, suggested moving the front wall of court 5 outwards to give a much larger gap between the courts, incorporating a seating area and a glass back wall which we have now.
The club thrived, we had Junior, Ladies, Veterans, Handicap and Main Club Competitions, Social events Club Discos were held at New Lane, football matches against other RI Sports clubs, and a “Superstars” event popular on television at the time.


Our Club Coaches, Mike Fineron, Rod Erridge, Shaun Moran & Fred Lee ran weekly coaching sessions. Rod ran a very successful, very popular weekly Junior Coaching sessions on a Saturday, many of the juniors went on to represent the RI teams.

In 1983 on Courts 4 & 5 the electric fan heating was superseded by the overhead gas heating installed by having the gas pipe extended from the Railway Institute Band room next door.

In 1994 saw privatisation splitting up British Rail, it brought to an end the courts being used annually for the British Rail Eastern Region Championships, the Inter Regional matches and inter office tournaments.

In 1983 on Courts 4 & 5 the electric fan heating was superseded by the overhead gas heating installed by having the gas pipe extended from the Railway Institute Band room next door.


In 1994 saw privatisation splitting up British Rail, it brought to an end the courts being used annually for the British Rail Eastern Region Championships, the Inter Regional matches and inter office tournaments.
In 2016 Court 4 entrance door was replaced with a glass door and LED Lighting was installed on all 5 Courts
The Covid Pandemic starting in March 2020 brought about the closing down of all sports complexes. Prior to this the RI had a Gymnasium Manager, Office Staff and Gym Attendants on duty through the 7 day opening times.
Before the opening, the courts were cleaned and we recovered all the lighting tubes from courts 1,2 & 3 and had the  Extractor Fans replaced as part of the different playing rules enforced by England Squash in order to reopen, and the time restraints allowing time between players being on courts.
The RI Squash club is indebted to John Bridge with helping with the above repairs and cleaning to enable us to reopen after Covid.
On reopening the site in May 2021 Network Rail required the building containing Courts 1,2 & 3 along with the Railway Institute main building and Bar area for redevelopment so we became a 2 court Club. The Complex on reopening  was run by volunteers who were part of the Queen Street Management team, Trevor Elliott as Chairman of the squash club was part of that team.
2022 Saw restrictions on playing and the time restraints lifted so consecutive courts were replaced on the booking system
By 2024 volunteers were gradually replaced with employed paid staff and the RI revived with some changes to carry on again as a vital sports centre.