Boy, 10, helps secure funding for boxing club
A boy from Coalville has helped to secure hundreds of pounds in funding for a boxing club.
Will, 10, said there was nothing for children to do in the area, so wrote to North West Leicestershire District Council.
Following his plea, he secured £750 for a new venue for Coalville Town Amateur Boxing Club, which is currently based at the Coalville C.A.N community hub in Memorial Square.
Will is one of 20 children who come to the club every Tuesday night, where all the hour-long sessions are free.
Will said: "I really enjoy boxing and it makes me happy. I can put my mind to it and when I do boxing I don't think about anything else."
Will wrote to the council asking for funding so the current club can expand and buy more equipment.
Owen Neeson, a coach at the club, is hoping to register the club as a community interest company in the new year.
Mr Neeson said he wanted to give something back to the community after struggling when he was younger.
"I was getting picked up for ABH, GBH, assaults, common assaults, just all the time really," he said.
"I needed to get out of the way a bit or else I'd end up in a really bad place somewhere, prison, probably even worse.
"So someone took me to the gym and I never left."
The boys and girls who come to the club range in age from five to 16.
Coach James Bryan said: "Boxing also instils so many more important values into you like community, manners, discipline and resilience."
Local youth worker Sue Hibbert said she carried out a survey of young people and they all said there was very little to do in the area.
Ms Hibbert said she was keen to expand the boxing club to get children off the streets.
"We're a bit big now for our little room here and we need a bigger venue," she said.
"We're knocking on doors to try and find out from the local landlords who would actually let us in and we want to set up a proper boxing club, not just a room upstairs like this."
Coaches hope to secure a new venue in the next few months.
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