Who are we?
The Beartown Armature Boxing Club ethos has remained unchanged since the club was founded over 10 years ago – to provide an environment where the local community can access the facilities and coaching required to learn the art of boxing, whilst improving the physical and mental well-being of our members. The club has evolved in recent years to open up boxing to a wider audience, at heart we will always remain a fully competitive boxing club, which is why our classes for our non-competitive members follow the same rigorous training and skill acquisition process as our competitive squad. We endeavour to serve our community by reinforcing the importance of hard work, discipline, respect and community spirit.
Even though Beartown ABC is a relatively small club, the growth in club numbers and Boxers successes have increased exponentially. In the 3 years I have been at the club we have produced a GBR Boxer who narrowly missed out on competing in the 2024 Olympics, an England Boxer, a two time national champion, a regional champion, 5 Box Cup winners and a regional gold medal winner at the UK v Sweden championships. Not bad for a 'Small Club'. These successes are driven by a passionate coaching team that volunteer their services.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We have the Boxer's, Coaching staff and community support but what we don't have the training facilities that meet our expectations. As a none profit organisation, every penny we turn over is pumped back into the club so that we can provide the opportunity for our Boxer's to perform on the big stage but this can come at a personal cost. Competition entrance fees, travel costs and additional expenses can hit 100's of pounds.
Due to spiralling facilities costs, one of the biggest challenges we face is providing a safe, secure environment with adequate equipment without detriment to supporting our boxer's in regional and national competition.
Due to the nature of our sport, equipment is subject to high impact so we do have a high turn over off kit, some of which is not fit for use. Currently the club only has one fit for purpose boxing ring which limits numbers for sparring sessions.
In addition:
1. The facility has been subject to water damage which has damaged areas of the flooring, some off which are starting to lift.
2. The male toilets are also in desperate need off a refit.
3. The changing rooms offer no real security which needs addressing.
4. The gym is in need off a general 'make over'.
The above can only be made possible with your generous support.
How we’ll spend the money raised
Funds raised will is predominately used for facility upgrades and uplift. Due to the various skills coaches and club members have we can contain all costs to the procurement of stores and equipment only so minimal manpower funds are required. Work required:
1. Refit the male bathroom.
2. Floor repairs.
3. Panelling around new ring area.
4. Full paint of the gym and reception area.
5. Muriel in honour of our recently retired life time coach 'Bertie Basset'.
To boost security, lockers for the changing rooms and dummy CCTV (deterrent) is also key part to the project.
The current condition of boxing equipment if poor so additional funds have been requested for protective equipment such as boxing gloves, head guards and focus pads.
The main single funding request is for a new 14ft boxing ring.
After a long and successful season its believed that a team building event in the off season would gel the members. A mud-run has been costed whereby the club would pay for the kids and subsidise the seniors who would like to attend.
Community impact
The number of those attending the club has grown over the last 3 years. Therefore the number off classes and coaches has had to increase to support the needs of our local community. We now have people that travel from neighbouring towns to attending our classes.
Although our main focus is to our boxer's, we as a club offer much more to our local community. At the grass roots level our 'Boxing Tots' classes are fully established in the club and provide the youngest in our community the opportunity to learn new skills whilst being active and having fun.
Our juniors classes, targeted at the 8 - 13 age range have also been very successful and offer a more focused boxing session. Many of our active boxers originated from these classes.
The seniors classes offer a boxing fitness style workout which is attended by many of our none active boxers, those who have retired from completive boxing and new members.
Along with these classes, the facility is used by Kick boxers and a Weight Lifting group.
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!