Gym Geniuses Community Garden

Aim: We want to create a community garden accessible for young and old, with a memory wall and red bench, built and maintained by young people.

My children call me a ‘do-gooder’!!! They’re not being awful (well I don’t think they are 🤔!!!) they always say it doesn’t matter where I go I see something we can do!!

My middle son trains at our local gym, he had suffered with anxiety and struggled with his nerves. He was welcomed with open arms into a community I didn’t know existed….when people mention a ‘boxing family’… they really mean it!!! Very quickly I was part of the ‘mams’!!!
A conversation with one lady who mentioned her son’s awful experiences in Y11 led to me offering to tutor him before his boxing session. Due to the logistics of travelling, I asked the owner of the gym about the possibility of using a spare room to teach…his response was one I wasn’t expecting….he wholeheartedly agreed and waived his right to charge me…his exact words were ‘you can’t put a price on education’…..he went on to provide an entire classroom for me and my children.

What started as one to one tuition very quickly snowballed when word spread about our ‘classroom’!! We are now a group of 22 regular members!!! I teach every evening from 5pm…we have been gifted text books, equipment from parents, students, and anyone who is kind enough to help!!!

The owner of the gym has now offered to have a fully functional classroom purposely built for my students in time for September….when schools return after the summer break.

My students or the Gym Geniuses as they are now known!!! They want to create a garden outside of the building where the land is derelict. They have designed the entire space, complete with vegetable patch which they intend to grow crops for the community!!! They have included a safe space which will be dedicated to anyone who needs a quiet place to access….several of my students have suffered the loss of a loved one, they intend to incorporate a Red Bench which will act as a memorial along with a wall of hearts.

Young people are often categorised as being unruly, loud, unkind, lazy….i could go on….however, I wouldn’t be a young person in today’s world for all the tea in China!!! The pressures they face are beyond all expectations!!! The Gym Geniuses are like my ‘children’!! If you’ve persevered reading my mammoth text you’ve probably realised they are my world!!! The are phenomenal young people all of whom are my favourites for different reasons!!! Each and every one of them brings something to the party!!!

Seeing them plan this community garden, working together, sharing their thoughts and ideas….. who they can help….not one of them has mentioned giving up their time, quite the opposite!!!

They want the chance to create something that they can take great pride in for many years to come….xx

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 17th September 2025 at 12:25pm