DEDICATION

Mel Corrigan, the long-serving Berinsfield coach, is sorely missed

THE long-serving Berinsfield coach Mel Corrigan has sadly passed away and, much admired in the sport, he is sorely missed.

Jordan Flynn, the professional prospect, dedicated his most recent victory to the memory of his first coach. “He started me off in my boxing career,” Flynn told the

Oxford Mail. “I won my first national title for him.

“He always wanted the best for me.”

“My way of repaying him is by being successful,” he added. “He was a great man and did it all for the love of the sport.”

Ben Stewart (pictured right with

Corrigan), now the Army Boxing Performance Manager and a GB Boxing Performance Coach is another who learned to box under Corrigan at Berinsfield and also starting coaching there himself. “There’s no doubt that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it wasn’t for Mel taking me under his wing and keeping pushing me,” he said. “All I ever wanted to do was box or go into the military and, when I got injured, I couldn’t do either. It was a tough time, but Mel kept me going and started me on my coaching journey when I was 19, and I spent 10 years with the club.

“I was about 14 when I started and it was quite a small gym then. which we shared with the scouts, but he built it up alongside Marge. They made a great team.

“The two of them epitomised what boxing volunteers are like – they helped you in any way they could, not just in the boxing gym.

“There are thousands of young people who have gone through the gym under Mel, and are much the better for it. He was like a second father to me and there were other kids in the gym who didn’t have the best of home lives and he was their father figure too.”

“He was a larger-than-life character and was one of those people who could light up a room,” he added. “I will be forever grateful to him and he will be sadly missed.”