Help Save Charnwood Boxing Academy

For 45 years there's been a boxing club at St Columbas Hall on Charnwood Road and for the last 18 months, that club has been Charnwood Boxing Academy. But on Feb 14th the club was forced to move out because Croydon Council SOLD the building. Why? Because the council is 1.4 billion in debt. Their solution? To sell community assets - buildings that are given to charities and community groups at low rent because their work benefits the local community. It means groups like us now have no home and nowhere to go.

So Charnwood Boxing Academy urgently needs your help to continue to exist. We need to fundraise money to help pay the hire costs for a new home.

The club welcomes everyone from the local area and aims to give young people a focus and a safe place to train. In just 18 months the club has built to 30 members, with over 20 of these members carded boxers with England Boxing. And in that time our boxers have won three London Championship titles, one Home Counties Box Cup Championship and one quarter finals at the Nationals.

Keeping the club open is crucial to the continued safety and well-being of its young members and for the entire community. The club's founder Patrick Boothe summed up the importance of the gym’s presence in the community best - describing it as “a lifeline” for Croydon youth. He started the club to better the lives of young people in Croydon and he fears what will happen to the members if they lose it.

Patrick explained: “I’ve had people leave their gangs to join this club, I’ve kids who get dropped off by their social workers.

"Boxing is about much more than winning. It’s counselling, it’s helping to solve social problems, developing self awareness.

“Boxing helps them get through life, as tough as it is. We’re trying to keep them out of gangs and away from violence.

“I don’t want to read about these kids with knives stuck in their chests, I want to help them. The club helps them.

"Everything is closed or defunded in Croydon and it’s left the kids with nothing. They have nowhere to go."

Last year Croydon was named as the violence hotspot of London, according to data assessed by defence solicitors Lawtons. The borough reported more than 10,000 violent instances in 2023 alone, marking a five per cent year-on-year increase.

The club urgently needs your help. For the next 4 weeks we have a temporary home, allowing the club to keep some momentum and members to train twice a week. But we don't have the finances to pay hire costs beyond that.

We are close to confirming a permanent home for the next 12 months where we can hang punch bags and train every night of the week, but we need help to afford the hire costs and installation costs. Our target amount breaks down as follows:

£3000 - 6 months hire costs. This is our first target and would allow us to keep going in the short term

£1,500 - Installation and set up costs. £650 for punchbag brackets, £600 to install the brackets, £250 for other costs such as first aid kit, shelving, storage boxes, all things we lost from the old building.

£3000 - further 6 months of rent. This would take us to a full year's hire.

The above would allow us to operate similarly to what we have been whilst giving us time to apply for grants and other fundraising avenues to keep the club going longer term.

Please help us by donating anything you can, so that we can keep this lifeline open for the young people of our local area.

Thank you so much,

Charnwood Boxing Academy