HOLMES Chapel Boxing Club has been praised for cutting anti-social behaviour in the community.

The praise comes from Cheshire’s police and crime commissioner, who visited the fledgling club to see how it’s benefitting from a grant from his Safer Communities Fund.

The club launched earlier this year to promote community cohesion and to give young people a safe place to practice their boxing skills.

It was set up following concerns raised by the Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School about the dangers faced by year 7 and 8 students who were organising unsupervised boxing matches in local parks after school with no protective headgear.

The club received £5,000 from the Commissioner’s Safer Communities Fund earlier this year to buy new equipment including a full-size boxing ring.

This has enabled the dedicated volunteers to get the club off the ground to provide an outlet to prevent young people causing trouble.

Since then, it’s managed to attract nine registered boxers who have all won the opportunity to compete regionally for the North West Region of England Boxing.

Knutsford Guardian:

A sparring session

The Goostrey-based club has also recruited two additional box coaches to support even more young people.

It’s also started offering nutritional support to ensure the young boxers are eating the right foods to support their exercise programmes.

PCC David Keane said: “Holmes Chapel Boxing Club is not only having a huge impact on the development of the young boxers but is also having a positive impact on the local community by reducing anti-social behaviour.

“Young people often commit anti-social behaviour because they have nothing else to do, which is partly a reflection of the underfunding of youth services and diversionary activities.

“I want to use my Safer Communities Fund to fund projects like this throughout Cheshire to ensure young people have an outlet to positively focus their attention to stop them trouble-causing on our streets and help them achieve their goals.”

Holmes Chapel Boxing Club head coach, Kevin Brownlow said: “It’s been fantastic to see the positive impact the club has had on the wider community over the past few months.

“We’re thankful for the support from the police and crime commissioner which has helped the club develop and attract new members.

“All of our boxers have demonstrated commitment, self-discipline and technical ability which has helped them achieve their goals.

“We’ve even putting three young boxers through coaching training which will enable them to coach their peers and gain vital work experience and life skills.”