History

The Furness Wargamers Club was founded in 1972 as ‘The Peninsular Wargames and Military Modelling Society’ in the now demolished Foresters Hall. After a few years and the occasional 'coup detat', the club moved to St Lukes Scout Hut. In the early 90's it relocated to the old church hall on Storey square up until 1994, when, due to rising costs, it was moved down the street to the upstairs room of the Waterloo pub.

Yet another move, this time to Nelson Street Community Centre. This was a much better venue, having a large hall and a reception lounge area with comfy seats (ideal for roleplayers to lounge about). After much fun and many zany large hall games it all came to an end. Rising charges and not being 'PC' saw the club on the pavement again.

A kind offer of a move to the Abbey Road Baptist Church was taken up. But, this was not to last, with membership dropping sharply, until finally one week when only four turned up, it was the end and all involved agreed to walk away, the The Peninsular Wargames and Military Modelling Society’ was finished.

After one week of 'no club' the diehards decided to resurrect the corpse. Picking a jazzy new name, Paul and Dave M had the onerous task of wandering round the pubs of Barrow, searching for the perfect pint and a room for the 'new' club. Once again we found ourselves back in the upstairs of the Waterloo (under new management). numbers picked up again, as it seems some members couldn't take the thought of going to a church hall which was why numbers dropped last time. Sadly, a planned renovation cut short the stay, and it was the familiar story of the club on the street again in 2002.

Another drunken pub crawl later found a room upstairs in the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, (the last pub we went in while still able to stand!) where we managed to stay for the next four years, till (deja vu) it too closed for renovations.

After another hasty search we found a new home at the Railwaymens Club, sharing the main hall with some line-dancers. Double bookings led to us moving into the rather smaller bar area. Eventually things became too crowded so once again the search for a new location was on.

And in a twist of fate we have again ended up back at the Abbey Road Baptist Church. We are still there now, with membership numbers holding up well and at times reaching the mid 20's, there's life left in the old hobby yet!