Rock star sends huge donation to try and save Salford Lads Club

He won global fame with an acclaimed British pop band and American supergroup - yet Graham Nash has not forgotten his roots. The former Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member has sent crisis-hit Salford Lads and Girls Club a huge donation.

He may have had a life filled with gorgeous women like Joni Mitchell, wild parties with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But he was brought up in Skinner Street near to the club which is in Coronation Street, Ordsall.

The Club was a place where he and and his Hollies band mate, Allan Clarke, would often rehearse. In his 2013 autobiography, Wild Tales, he recalled how the streets where he lived were reduced to rubble by Luftwaffe bombers.

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Salford and neighbouring Manchester defined him even through he has been an American citizen since the 1980s. He and Clarke were both members of the club.

Now, Graham has donated £10,000 to the club, which needs to find £250,000 by the end of November to avoid closure. His gift has pushed the amount raised so far via a Manchester Evening News' GoFundMe fundraiser to £22,000 in just two days.

Rising costs and a reduction in grant income means the world famous club, which opened in 1903 with a mission to "Brighten Young Lives and Make Good Citizens", is on the brink of shutting.

In 1985, the club was used as the setting for an iconic image of Manchester band The Smiths. The image brought global recognition and a source of funding from fans of the group who continue to make a pilgrimage to the venue.

The club offers sport and other activities six days a week to more than 200 young people in one of the most deprived areas of the country.