An Abingdon boxing club is helping guide young people onto the right path through charity work.

Abingdon Amateur Boxing Club on Northcourt Road already has five fundraising events planned out for 2023 including a marathon and the Three Peaks Challenge.  

Their latest venture is an Easter Egg collection for sick children in the John Radcliffe hospital.

Club chairman, Paul Blair, said: We want to be a club that helps guide younger people and prevent them from going down the wrong path.

“We see our club as a community which is more than just boxing.

“Because everyone is going through tough times at the moment with the cost-of-living crisis, it is really rewarding to see our club members coming together and playing a part in helping the greater good.”

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Abingdon Amateur Boxing Club is a not-for-profit organisation that currently has over 180 members.

They are also starting a sell-out all-female class on a Tuesday evening from March 7.

It is the first England affiliated boxing club to be set up in Abingdon and has been open for six months.

But charity work has been part of the club since it was first opened. 

This December a group of boxers slept rough in Oxford city centre and raised £12,000 for charity.

In the past they have also climbed Ben Nevis and Snowdon and taken part in other extreme fundraisers.

Mr Blair explained that the exciting initiatives that adults and coaches from the club take part in, inspire the junior members.

A young boxer recently set up his own appeal for the Turkey and Syria earthquake with the help of the boxing club.

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He has collected a large number of clothes and sleeping bags to support those affected.

Abingdon Amateur Boxing Club is open to all and they recently appointed a coach who is double amputee and just passed his level 1 coaching award.

Mr Blair said: “Luke Milligan will be a great asset to our club and an inspiration to the junior and senior boxers proving to them you can achieve anything no matter what disability you have.

“We would like everyone to know that we are inclusive to all, and we have recently taken on two boys with very complex special educational needs and are able to give them some 1-1 attention and integrating them into our club at their own pace.”

The club has also played a role in helping young adults secure work placements with outside companies, including one recently with a gardening organisation.