Halifax Boxing, Sports and Fitness Club is a fantastic community asset located in Ovenden, one of Halifax's community-led areas. More than just a boxing gym, the club offers a welcoming, affordable space with a fully equipped gym, boxing area, exercise class facilities, and a café. It serves as a hub for the local community, providing a range of tailored weekly sessions for women, adults, older adults, children, and families, encouraging households to participate together.
The club also plays a vital role in the community by delivering targeted programmes with local schools and groups, as well as running the Healthy Holidays provision, ensuring that its offerings are inclusive and far-reaching.
Raising the Club’s Profile and Expanding Its Impact
One of the key goals in working with Halifax Boxing Club has been to raise awareness of the club and its services, and to connect them with other sectors such as healthcare, social care, and voluntary organisations. The partnership has also helped the club secure additional funding, which has improved the accessibility and inclusivity of its programmes. This funding has also enabled investment in a data capture system to support the club’s long-term sustainability.
Partnership Meetings and Collaboration
As part of the community-led approach, quarterly partnership meetings are held to bring together various stakeholders from different sectors. In June, the Illingworth and Ovenden partnership meeting was hosted at Halifax Boxing Club. During the meeting, Mick and Lyn, who run the club, gave attendees a tour of the facilities, and the café was used as a space for discussions.
This meeting allowed partners to see first-hand the club's offerings and opened up opportunities for collaboration. At the end of the meeting, attendees were asked to note an action they would take based on their visit. Some examples included:
- "I am going to start referring my patients to Halifax Boxing Club." – Social Prescribing Link Worker
- "Make clients aware of this great place." – Family Support Worker
- "Include the over 60s class on our activity guide and promote on social media." – Staying Well Worker
- "Start using the café for social and group meetings."
‘Get Off The Streets’ Project
In partnership with Halifax Opportunities Trust and funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Halifax Boxing Club has launched the ‘Get Off The Streets’ project. This outreach programme targets young people in parks and green spaces across North Halifax, including Shroggs Park, Beechwood Park, Akroyd Park, and Mixenden Urban Park.
Outreach workers from the club spend two evenings a week engaging with young people in these areas, inviting them to the gym for free boxing sessions. The goal is to reduce anti-social behaviour in parks and create safer, more welcoming spaces for everyone. Young people who attend 10 free sessions are offered a 16-month gym membership.
The project has been a collaborative effort with local organisations, such as Newground Together, the Police, Social Prescribers, Invictus Wellbeing, and Family Support Services, all helping to distribute membership cards to eligible young people.
Positive Outcomes So Far
The impact of the club’s outreach has already been felt in the community. To date, 75 visits have been made to the gym by 22 different young people, and 8 memberships have been handed out. The club continues to work closely with local organisations to ensure more young people can benefit from this initiative, helping them stay active and engaged in positive activities.
Halifax Boxing Club is not just a place to box—it's a community resource that is making a difference by fostering inclusion, promoting fitness, and creating a safer environment for everyone in Ovenden.
The partnership and support from Active Calderdale has enabled us to invest in key areas of the club - including more fundraising activities and marketing. It has also created opportunities to develop more partnerships. This has led to increased revenue both through retaining customers in a very challenging marketplace (a brand new gym opened just down the road) and through additional grants we have received. Grants have included a three-year programme funded by the lottery to support unemployed people and a partnership project with local schools funded by UKSPF. We are now in a much stronger financial position and looking at how we expand our activities even further to get more people active from across our community"
Paul Evans, Club Chairman
It doesn't stop there...
Creating Accessible Leisure Provision at Halifax Boxing, Sports & Fitness Club
Active Calderdale met with the Over 60's circuit training group at Halifax Boxing, Sports & Fitness Club to discuss how a mixed-ability exercise class in a friendly atmosphere has helped improve their health and wellbeing. Watch the video below to see what they had to say: