Club back fighting after closure shock
Dec 18 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
A FLOURISHING amateur boxing club has dragged itself off the canvas after the shock blow of being forced out of its home of 21 years.
Young fighters and officials at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Boxing Club in Northumberland were dismayed recently to find an eviction notice pinned to the door of their gym at the rear of the village’s Dolphin pub which has been sold to new owners.
The building has been the club’s base since the late 1980s and the training centre where it has prepared its young boxers to compete in national and international competitions.
Now, with the help of Wansbeck District Council, the club has started a new era by moving its HQ to a former squash court at the village’s sports and community centre.
Over three days, officials and boxers have equipped the space with a fight ring and punch bags which they will use for training five nights a week.
Yesterday Paul Scott, who runs the club with his father Ray, thanked the council for coming to the rescue.
He said: “Without the facilities we are being allowed to use at the sports centre, we would have been floored.”
The club – which has changed its name to Newbiggin Sports and Community Boxing – has the use of the centre until at least the end of March, when Wansbeck Council will be merged into the new Northumberland unitary council. Talks are being held to try to ensure the move becomes a permanent one when the new council is formed.
Paul said: “It’s brilliant. We have somewhere to continue to train and provide facilities for young people who want to box.
“A few weeks ago the future was looking bleak, but we are back in business and looking to continue the great run of success our boxers have been enjoying.’’
Successes include seven national titles, a score of Amateur Boxing Association championship final, quarter and semi-finalists, more than 20 England vests for its boxers and the Wansbeck Civic Award for outstanding achievement.
The club now has more than 30 fighters in its stable, aged from 10 to their mid-30s, including two girls. One of them – Carly Wealleans – recently reached the quarter finals of the European Union Female Boxing Championships in Bulgaria.
Coun Ken Parry, the council’s cabinet member for leisure, said: “This club and its young boxers are a credit to Wansbeck and deserve nothing but praise.
“To have seen the club go out of existence would have been devastating.’’
