PARENTS at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School are to launch a boxing club for children in the village and surrounding area.

The Holmes Chapel Boxing Club will be based at Goostrey, and is being launched with an open day on Sunday, January 20.

It will be led by Kevin and Zoe Brownlow, Mark Milward and Helen Cliff, and aims to teach young people discipline and structure as well as inspiring them to achieve.

The club is aimed at 10 to 16-year-olds, with a fun, non-contact session for six to nine-year-olds.

The spark for the club was a warning by Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School headteacher Denis Oliver about the dangers faced by year 7 and 8 students who had been arranging fights after school at the Hermitage playground and local parks.

He said the fights were pre-arranged and gloves were worn, but they were unsupervised and protective headgear was not worn.

Kevin is an experienced amateur boxing coach, and was overwhelmed by the support of parents when he sought backing for the club, which will be based at Active Fitness behind Goostrey Home and Leisure.

“There is tremendous demand out there from parents for this club, and I want this to be something the community feel they own,” said Kevin.

“Boxing is such a powerful sport for mental and physical wellbeing, and the benefits for confidence and composure are immense.”

Kevin will be head coach, with the committee being led by Mark, who runs Holmes Chapel Karate Club, as chairman, alongside Zoe as secretary and Helen as treasurer.

He added: “Our aspiration is to achieve charitable status in 24 months, to achieve affiliation to England Boxing, the national governing body, by February, build a strong membership by March and secure and fit out a gym by July.

“We also want to become a Clubs for Young People member by September, have boxers in skills bouts and competing in club competitions by October, and attend two Boxcup tournaments before the end of the 2019/20 season.

“We need to secure the dedicated gym and necessary equipment, such as a ring and punchbags, to take the club to the next level - competing and running classes for adults.

“For this to be a reality we will hopefully run local fundraising and seek support and sponsorship from local business.

“The club has big plans for 2019, including expanding into adjoining premises.

“In addition to the dedicated premises, new coaches will be trained and achieve England Boxing coaching qualification to enable the club to offer a broader range of training for children and adults.”

The open day runs from 1pm to 3pm, and in addition to the club coaches and committee, established members of England Boxing will be on hand to share knowledge and answer questions about amateur boxing.

There will also be pad and technical sparring demonstrations from established Elite boxers.

For more details visit the Holmes Chapel Boxing Club on Facebook, @boxingchapel on twitter or email hcboxingclub@gmail.com