This is our club...
We are Eastburn Amateur Boxing Club, established for over 25 years. We are a grassroots, voluntarily-run, not-for-profit amateur boxing club, dedicated to building resilience and community among diverse backgrounds and ages. We use boxing to nurture discipline, self-confidence, and determination.
Eastburn ABC is affiliated to England Boxing and our senior coaches Naz and Mark are Level-2 England Boxing qualified and are both part of the Yorkshire Boxing coaching team. Neil is Level-1 England Boxing qualified and Isla and Simon are both volunteer coaches at the club. We are all first-aid trained, DBS certified and have all taken part in Safeguarding & Child Protection training and Donna and Mark are our two club welfare officers.
Over the years we have been successful in developing a long line of regional and national champion boxers, several of whom have gone on to enter the professional ranks. By optimising the limited resources at our disposal, our methods have proven to be effective and successful.
Our vision is to make boxing accessible to all members of our community, regardless of age, race, gender or ability.
Why are we Crowdfunding?
How we got here...
Up until 2020, the world was mostly normal. Since then, we've been hit with two punches bigger than any boxer has ever thrown - a global pandemic, and a resulting cost-of-living crisis.
The pandemic knocked us down - the cost-of-living crisis is now the 10 count we're trying to beat. It has driven regular increases to our costs and expenses and this has severely restricted our ability to invest in new equipment and improve our facilities, whilst also putting the club's future at risk.
Our club has never been about making profits and we therefore intentionally keep prices at a minimum to encourage and offer the opportunity for everybody to learn boxing. This philosophy however, coupled with the challenges listed above, mean that there are extremely limited opportunities for us to invest in essentials such as gloves, headguards and skipping ropes which are all vital to helping people who are unable to afford these items get started in boxing.
We've never requested funding before and whenever cash has been needed to invest in the club, it has been provided by Naz and Mark. In today's economic climate, as a not-for-profit community club, this is no longer sustainable. We're all working people with full-time jobs and families to take care of but our passion for giving opportunities to everyone to learn boxing is too strong to give up. This is why we are asking for outside help for the first time in our long and proud history.
How you can help...
All donations we receive, regardless of size, will contribute to all of the following:
Boxing essentials
- Headguards
- Gloves
- Skipping ropes
- Punchbags
- Flooring
We have tape holding our punchbags together, holes in the seams of our gloves and a majority of our headguards are almost as old as the club - safety for our boxers is paramount.
Facilities and decoration
- Reception area
- Kitchen facilities
- Waiting areas
- Bathroom repairs
This is the first impression of our club that people get and we want to provide a welcoming and comfortable environment for parents/guardians and carers. As you can see from our videos and images, these are in serious need of attention!
Getting stuck in...
We will be carrying out as much work as possible ourselves so none of our funding will be wasted on expensive labour costs where we can avoid them. Our own time will be dedicated to bringing our club back to where it belongs, as we've always done and continue to do.
Continuing our good work...
Your donations will not only enable us to continue with our current schedule of three one-and-a-half hour sessions per week but would also give us the opportunity to deliver open days to local schools and facilities/organisations where the sport of boxing and it's associated benefits would have a positive impact on the participants. This could include sessions at our premises or on-site visits, delivering non-contact boxing workshops to introduce and engage even more of our community. Our senior coaches have previous experience of teaching in these environments and helping those with learning and physical disabilities, so understand first-hand the benefits that boxing has both physically and mentally.
Eastburn ABC in the community
Our gym is a community hub where a diverse range of local people can learn essential boxing skills while developing life skills that translate far beyond the ring. It is a place where everyone is welcome to take part regardless of background, gender, beliefs or disability. Everyone comes together as one, under one roof to train and learn together.
Those who attend our sessions benefit massively physically by exercising and moving their bodies, and as well as the huge mental benefit, boxing builds resilience and discipline. The mental skills learnt in the gym go much further than just inside the gym, they translate into everyday life giving them the skills and confidence to deal with challenges that they may face.
Our gym is an inclusive space for all, where everyone is seen as equal and as one. We feel that with improved facilities and equipment our retention of members will be much higher and this will lead to encouraging new people to attend and join in, therefore increasing our number of members. The physical and mental benefits of boxing are many and by improving and expanding upon the equipment and facilities we provide, a higher number of local people will have the opportunity to experience these benefits.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!