New homes are a champion tribute to swimming hero Doris

The development at Brooklands Avenue in Seacroft – which is being delivered for Leeds City Council by Wates Construction – will include a five-storey apartment building.

As part of a tie-in programme of community engagement, children from Seacroft’s Beechwood Primary School were asked to come up with a suitable name for the apartments.

And, after researching a whole host of possible choices, they decided the building should recognise the achievements of the late Doris Storey.

Champion swimmer Doris, from east Leeds, was just 19 when she won two gold medals in Sydney at the Empire Games of 1938.

The new apartment building – due for completion in spring next year – will be named Doris Storey House in her honour.

To show its appreciation for the children’s hard work, Wates has now presented Beechwood Primary with a gift of £500.

A giant cheque was handed over during an event at the school where, touchingly, guests included two of Doris’s grandchildren, brothers Darren and Damian Quarmby. Also in attendance were Wates senior project manager Alan Neal and social value advisor Leah Larkin.

Providing a total of 25 one-bedroom apartments, Doris Storey House will stand alongside eight two and three-bedroom houses that are also being delivered for the council by Wates at Brooklands Avenue.

A further 55 homes are currently taking shape in Gipton – on Amberton Terrace, Amberton Crescent, Amberton Street and Montagu Avenue – as part of the same scheme.

The new homes are all being built under Leeds’s Council Housing Growth Programme and will be made available at affordable rents.

The council is meeting most of the cost of the scheme, with additional support coming from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund.

Councillor Jess Lennox, Leeds City Council’s executive member for housing, said:

“Doris Storey was a genuine Leeds sporting hero and her trailblazing exploits deserve to be remembered and celebrated, both now and into the future.

“I’m delighted, therefore, that this new building is being named in her honour. Well done, too, to the children at Beechwood Primary for playing their part.

“The scheme at Brooklands Avenue is a great example of how our Council Housing Growth Programme is helping to provide good-quality affordable homes for people right across the city.”

Leah Larkin, social value advisor at Wates, said:

“What we’re building at the Brooklands Avenue scheme will be a part of Leeds for years and years to come – it’s so important to us that we recognise the city’s history and involve local communities as much as possible.

“Doris Storey was a sporting icon and it’s fantastic to see her legacy remembered and celebrated by Leeds’s next generations at Beechwood Primary with the naming of Doris Storey House – we’re honoured to have been able to support it.”

Melissa Callaby, a teacher at Beechwood Primary School, said:

“In Year 3, the children get involved in different local projects each year. They researched the history of the area as part of this.

“When another teacher from school told them about Doris Storey, they were really interested in finding out more about her.

“It felt important to tell others about her life to make sure her achievements and what she stood for were not forgotten.”

Speaking about the Beechwood Primary School event, Doris’s 51-year-old grandson, Darren Quarmby, said:

“My brother and I were both extremely proud to visit the school and meet the children who helped decide on this lovely new tribute to our grandmother.

“They were so knowledgeable about her achievements – we came away hugely impressed and with big smiles on our faces.

“It will be great to see the new building when it is finished, hopefully it will inspire even more people to learn about our grandmother and the success she had.”

Doris represented Great Britain at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin then struck gold two years later at the Empire Games, the forerunner to today’s Commonwealth Games.

Twice world record holder in the 100-yard breaststroke, she trained at Leeds’s old York Road baths, fitting in the sessions around her job as a machinist at the Burton’s factory on nearby Hudson Road.

ENDS