Garry’s Winning ways celebrated at boxing club
SPORTS HALL IS RENAMED SO COACH WILL BE REMEMBERED
A SPORTS hall in Clifton has been renamed after respected boxing coach Garry Winning.
Mr Winning was affiliated with Clifton ABC for 45 years, as a featherweight boxer and a coach. He died from cancer in February at the age of 63.
At a ribbon-cutting event at the weekend, the club’s sports hall was officially named after him.
His daughter Leah Godsell-fletcher, 38, said: “We are obviously immensely proud – it’s bittersweet for us that dad isn’t here to see just how he influenced so many people from so many different walks of life.
“He had touched the lives of so many over the years.”
Clifton ABC’S base at the Clifton Playing Fields, in Farnborough Road, is now the Garry Winning Hall. A commemorative plaque marks its reopening.
It says: “Clifton ABC Garry Winning Hall opened by Councillor Kevin Clarke and Pat Winning [the wife of Mr Winning] on August 28, 2021. We would like to thank Garry for all of his dedication towards Clifton ABC.”
Mr Winning’s parents separated when he was a child. His father moved to Australia and Garry went to live in Clifton with his mother.
Mrs Godsell-fletcher, a company director who lives in Wollaton, said her dad lacked a father figure as a youngster and boxing helped to fill the void.
He worked tirelessly to keep the club going.
Clifton ABC recently moved from Clifton Community Centre, in Southchurch Drive.
Mrs Godsell-fletcher said: “It’s a real coup for the club really. They have got a huge facility now. I would say it’s the biggest amateur boxing club in the East Midlands, if not the whole country.
“They have two full-size show rings as well as space for training.”
Up to 40 people can now train in each session at the club’s new sports hall.
The gym is run by Mushy Stevenson, Lee Rogers, Mr Winning’s nephew, Gene Warburton, Tony Sheehan and boxer Ross Simons.
Councillor Kevin Clarke, leader of the Nottingham Independents, who represents Clifton East on Nottingham City Council, helped Clifton ABC move to their new home.
“They had really outgrown the community centre, to be honest,” he said.
“The opportunity came along when the council were disposing of the barn... they were going to close it and probably demolish it I should imagine in the short term.
“They obviously could not keep up with the maintenance of the place. I’m assuming [it’s] what they would have done, it’s what they do with buildings once they close them down.”
The building was used for football and Councillor Clarke stepped in and helped the club to move in.
He said: “Eventually we negotiated a deal for the club for a 10-year lease on the building, at an affordable rent.
“Since they have been there, they have spent thousands and thousands on it bringing it up to spec.”
Councillor Clarke said that Mr Winning had been “an ambassador for boxing on the estate” and crucial in “getting kids off the streets and taking them in”.
“I am still there for them. They know if they need anything that I will always be there,” he added.