Revamp of Wednesbury club under way after death crash

Bosses at Wednesbury's Royal British Legion club heralded the start of work at the stricken venue as crucial to the future of the business.

One of the club's main rooms was virtually demolished as a lorry driven by polish driver, 55-year-old Henryk Jackowski, ploughed into the building on Boxing Day.

Mr Jackowski died at the scene.

At the time around 15 people were inside the club and narrowly avoided serious injury.

Builders have started to make repairs to the club's popular game room which has been boarded up to make the building secure since the crash.

Officials at the club say it has cost them around £10,000 in lost revenue over the last five months.

Leigh Jones, chairman of the Royal British Legion Wednesbury Branch said the crash had a 'big impact' on the club.

"We have seen a lot of our members who use the games room stop coming up and it's hit the club hard," he said.

"Where we once used to be busy on a Saturday and Sunday lunch time the club is now empty. We have been struggling to keep going.

"This is a major repair to the building that they have got to make. The crash did a lot of damage."

Workmen have begun by removing the remaining damaged brickwork that has been hidden behind wooden boards to enable them to begin putting in a new wall.

As part of the rebuild the games room that was destroyed will be enlarged to include new snooker and poll tables and much of the club will be redecorated to attract members back to the club.

The 39-year-old from Wednesbury said: "This gives us a chance to get back on our feet and recuperate some of the money we have lost over the last couple of months.

"We have been waiting a long time for this to start and it's a relief to see work beginning at last."

Mr Jones added that many members are still coming to terms with what happened, but hoped that the rebuild would help them recover.

"Having this work done will mean a lot to members. We have waited so long to have our club back," added Mr Jones.