A boxing club has been awarded funding by one of the region’s largest social landlords to help young people get into the sport.
Boxers at Durham Community Boxing Club based in Belmont have purchased new gear to cope with burgeoning interest, including specific equipment for their growing number of female boxers. The investment was made possible thanks to support from County Durham Housing Group.
The club has around 45 members who travel from as far afield as Crook and Ludworth, Consett and Coxhoe to train at Belmont. Coaching focuses on general fitness as well as boxing skills, discipline, and respect for your peers.
The club works with the ‘Fight for Peace’ initiative, which was set up to tackle antisocial behaviour, crime and bullying while building confidence, as well as ‘If You Care, Share’, which helps young people affected by suicide.
County Durham Housing Group provided £500 through its ‘group grant’ scheme to allow the club to purchase new gym equipment and head guards. It has also helped with the purchase of body protection designed specifically for female boxers.
County Durham Housing Group Funding Officer, Damian Pearson, said: “This boxing club do great work with young people from right across County Durham. Their passion is infectious and its clear to see the dedication rubbing off on everyone taking part.
“I hope this funding will help them reach even more young people. It’s exactly the kind of grass roots project that group grant was designed for. ”
Paul Lysaght from Durham Community Boxing Club said: “With Bullying, obesity, unemployment and mental health issues above the national average in Durham, we do a lot of good work with young people. It was lovely for County Durham Housing Group to fund £500 towards new equipment for the boxing club which will help with these issues. We appreciate any help we can get with the club, which is growing at an alarming pace. The funding will hopefully help us to attract new members from all over Durham to come and train, socialise and help the local police with antisocial behaviour issues in the area.”
The application process for ‘group grant’ has been kept deliberately simple and funding decisions will be made monthly to ensure local groups are not waiting for lengthy periods to find out if they have been successful.
Full details of the group grant scheme are available at www.countydurhamhousinggroup.co.uk/groupgrant, by calling 0191 349 7777 or emailing groupgrant@cdhg.co.uk