Boxing club wins £200,000 prize

A HINCKLEY boxing group facing eviction has won £200,000 in a national competition aimed at getting youngsters into sport.

Heart of England Community Boxing Club, based in Burbage for more than 15 years, won the gamechanging amount of money at Persimmon Homes’ Healthy Communities Finals in York on Thursday last week, beating 29 regional finalists to the title.

The prize money couldn’t have come at a better time for the club, who have been asked to vacate their current premises in just four weeks’ time to make way for a small housing devel- opment in the area.

Nick Griffin, head coach at Heart of England Community Boxing Club, said: “We’re overwhelmed by the news and still can’t believe that we’re the overall winners of the Persimmon Homes Healthy Communities Finals.

“This is a game-changing amount of money that has secured the club’s existence for the foreseeable future.

“We can’t thank Persimmon Homes enough for this donation, in particular, Persimmon Homes North Midlands, who had the foresight to see the club’s potential and who were kind enough to nominate us as their regional finalist.

“We’ve been gifted a new location but currently the building is derelict and in a serious state of disrepair so we’re now considering buying a premises of our own.

“This money will help us fulfil our dream of creating a boxing gym that will benefit young people in the area for generations to come.”

Established in 2003, the boxing club helps around 80 young people each week overcome issues such as ADHD, autism, anti-social behaviour and bullying and also offers dietary advice to its members and tips on how to keep fit.

Liam Scott, managing director at Persimmon Homes North Midlands said: “We’re overjoyed to hear that Heart of England Community Boxing Club has won the £200,000 prize.

“We were touched by all the hard work that was being put into the local community and we knew right away that the club would be a worthy winner.

“Boxing has a proven record of tackling anti-social behaviour and obesity in young people and we’re thrilled to know that this money will help with much-needed repairs to the new gym and create a lasting legacy in Leicestershire.”

Persimmon Homes launched its Healthy Communities scheme last May, and has since given £615,000 to support amateur youth sport in England, Scotland and Wales.

As part of the scheme thousands of groups and individuals applied for monthly donations of £750 to pay for kit and equipment. As part of their entry they had to say what they would spend the £200,000 on if they were lucky enough to win the top prize.

Persimmon Homes North Midlands gave away £6,000 locally as part of this and nationally, Persimmon’s 30 businesses donated a grand total of £180,000.