Amalgamated Boxing Club is fighting to secure its future

Its headquarters at Route des Coutures in St Martin’s are loved and used every day by the island’s aspiring boxers for training and competitions.

But the building is rapidly deteriorating – including suffering leaks and damage to the roof – and financial support is desperately needed to keep it going and make long-overdue improvements.

‘Once the season finishes we will still have training but no competitions, so we are going to have a big clean of the club, throw all of the rubbish away and paint it to look a bit better and then put it all back together,’ said junior coach and boxing development officer Mandy Hobart.

‘But we don’t know when we’ll be able to do what we really want to do, which is to have the big build.’

The club is appealing to the public and businesses to get behind a larger project to transform the building into more modern facilities to help it survive and thrive as it approaches its centenary anniversary a little over a decade from now.

The club recently received planning permission to extend the height of the building and create another level, allowing it to make better use of the space.

The redevelopment is planned on the same footprint as the current building but would extend its height to accommodate a mezzanine floor.

‘It will allow us to use the space better,’ said Mrs Hobart.

‘At the moment we’ve got different rooms, but it would be great to open it into one large space and we could see what’s going on in the club at all times.

‘We know it will take a long time to get the money to do the big build, so in the meantime we have to maintain what we’ve got.’

The building belongs to the club and there are no rental or mortgage costs on it, but it must be maintained in its current condition. Work on the roof alone will cost between £20,000 and £30,000.

Fundraising is ongoing and the club is also looking for sponsors to broaden the opportunities available to younger boxers.

‘We’d love to take the kids away.

‘I’ve done it once or twice before and taken them to Jersey, and they come back taller, chattier, happier and more confident, just from doing a training camp somewhere,’ said Mrs Hobart.

‘We’d love to have money to be able to send our kids away to get experience, but unfortunately they come way down the pecking order because our seniors are doing so well and the funding is used to send the seniors away to championships to progress.’

The amateur boxing club is the last in the island. It is run as a charity to provide opportunities to box at the lowest cost possible.

n Anyone interested in finding out more information about the club’s project or funding appeal can contact Mrs Hobart by emailing mandy@gabc.org.uk or calling 07781 102340.