£15,000 award for boxing club

WARRINGTON’S Phoenix Fire Amateur Boxing Club has won the top award of £15,000 from the Active Cheshire “Active Anywhere” fund.
The total £25,000 Active Anywhere prize fund celebrates the 25th anniversary of Active Cheshire – the lead body for physical activity and sport in Cheshire and Warrington.
Their mission is to get 50,000 people more active, more often by 2017.
Phoenix Fire ABC will use the money to build on the work they do at Winwick Road Fire Station Gym.
Their plans are to engage with the wider community.  Following research, an opportunity was identified to involve new people by getting out of a traditional gym environment.  The club are well established locally but they want to reach out further through the county to motivate inactive people sample boxing using a mobile arena.
Head coach Damian Ridpath said: “Boxing notoriously has been associated with a reduction of anti-social behaviour in various areas through the ‘Gloves not Gangs’ campaign and this award gives us a great opportunity to build on that programme”.
Phoenix will work with Wirral Amateur Boxing Club, Ellesmere Port to deliver the project and it is anticipated that it will encourage a minimum of 500 people to take part.  In addition to this, the funding will allow a minimum of 12 volunteers to be trained.
Sarah Tilling, voluntary sector lead at Active Cheshire said: “Phoenix Fire are a forward facing, ambitious club with a genuine desire to support their local community.
“Active Cheshire want to harness the positive work of the club and enable them to grow and enhance the opportunities for more people to get active.  Phoenix Fire have worked hard to establish the community club and are now looking to build on this work away from a traditional environment.  It’s great to see Phoenix working with other clubs across the county to achieve maximum impact for physical activity across Cheshire and Warrington”.
The funding will also allow for extra sessions to be put on at the club’s Warrington base to support the additional members that the project will bring in.
Once the project finishes, participants will be encouraged to continue boxing with support from Phoenix.
Anne Boyd, chief executive officer of Active Cheshire said: “We are so pleased to be able to award Phoenix Fire with such a substantial amount which we know will make a massive impact on the lives of many people within Warrington and the wider area.  We look forward to keeping in contact with Phoenix Fire throughout this exciting programme and sharing in their successes.”
Picture: Anne Boyd  with the kids from Phoenix Fire Amateur Boxing club receiving their cheque for £15,000.