Darnhill & Heywood Amateur Boxing Club has been established on Darnhill Estate since 1965, 59 years!

The club had been a hub for children and adults of all ages to meet, to pick up the sport or just to keep fit. The Club produced many talented boxers under the coaching team led by head coach and leader Mick Rosser Snr, Arthur Gardiner and Stuart Hampton.

Following a devastating fire in 2015, the original boxing club burnt down.

To keep the Club alive, a committee was formed with Dale Gaucas as Chairman, Peter Mulligan as Vice Chair, Arthur Gardiner and Stuart Hampton. Together, a team was set up to help bring the club back from the ashes.

For 9 years, the team has worked with members of the public, voluntarily dedicating their time and effort to fundraise and work to get the new hub out of the ground.

The vision is to build a Community Hub for all the community on Darnhill, an Estate where they have seen many local facilities closed and demolished. The new hub will be a Boxing Club and a new personal and professional, Self-Development Centre. Taking its place in the very heart of the community acting as a focal point that breathes lifeblood back into the community. A place to provide education, training, employment, welfare, health, recreation, and leisure opportunities and bring back the Boxing Club.

Computer Generated Image of finished club

The team staged numerous funding events where we made tremendous headway. We were backed by Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, Conor Benn and other national sports men and women. We raised just short of £60,000 with great contributions from the local community.

The committee also won funding of just under £300,000 which was a one off from Valencia, where out of 10,000 applicants we were the ones they chose. This was the best news, we as a committee heard for a long time. This was the lifeline after many years, many hours of time. The amount awarded was calculated as enough to build the centre.

Now, due to Covid delays and increased materials costs, in order to finish the project, we need to raise a further £100,000 to fit-out the Club.

Help us, Fund us, Back us and Stand with us. we require an additional £100K to kit out the inside of the Club with lighting, heating, toilets, offices, boxing rings and equipment, plasterboards, painting etc, etc...

We have letters of support and endorsements from - Action Together, Your Trust Rochdale, Rochdale Government, NHS, The Big Life Group, Well Mental, Living Well, As well as numerous independent organisations.

To Support, help and transform the community as a whole. That is our promise.

PLEASE BACK DARNHILL & HEYWOOD ABC & SELF-DEVELOPMENT CENTRE.