25. PCYC
Walking along Wollombi Road a little way, you should soon see the PCYC whose life began in 1945 with a committee under the then mayor Alderman John Brown to raise funds for the building. Unfortunately because of war restrictions on buildings, the project was delayed until 1953 when they finally started the actual building work.
Situated on 6 acres of ground which was part of an orchard and vineyard established at the turn of the century by George Brown, a pioneer of Cessnock, it was regarded at the time as the best club in Australia, with some visitors going as far as to say it was the best of its kind in the world.
Originally with a membership of less than 30 boys, the club grew so that by the early 1960s it had 2500 enrolled between the ages of 6 and 20 with a daily average attendance of around 200.