Man taken to hospital after social club's ceiling collapses in Read

Fire crews were called to the Read and Simonstone Constitutional Club in Whalley Road, Read, at 8.45pm on Monday.

Duncan Hacking, the club’s president, said committee member Martin McGauley was holding a seminar for his hairdressing supply business at the club when the incident took place.

Mr Hacking, who has been the club’s president for 20 years, said Mr McGauley was trying to put up some lights for the event when he fell and subsequently brought the ceiling down with him.

Firefighters spent 30 minutes at the club and treated Martin McGauley, who was later taken to hospital by his son.

Mr Hacking, who has been a member of the club since 1978, said Mr McGawley was not seriously injured.

He said: “Mr McGauley is a community member here and he was on the ladder to put some more spotlights up for his seminar.

“The ladder gave way and as he fell, he grabbed the light rails and brought it all down with him.

“He just grabbed it in panic really, it wasn’t on purpose.

“Two police cars, an ambulance and firefighters all came here.

“The main thing is he is okay.

“It wasn’t too serious, he didn’t need to go with the ambulance.”

Mr Hacking expressed his hope that the social club would be ready for the planned weekend events, after work is carried out to make repairs.

He said: “There’s no major damage to anything and we have someone coming to inspect it.

“We also have replacement tiles to put on so it’s not too much work that needs doing.”

“We have events like the keep fit clubs next door, which is usually held in this room.

“We really need to get it up and running and hope to have the repairs done ready for the weekend, because we don’t want the community to miss out.

“The club is a hub for the community.

“A lot of people from the community come here, at the moment we can only use the other room, which means changing things around and putting events in different rooms.”