Mainsforth Amateur Boxing & Fitness Club – Improvements

The community gym (Mainsforth Amateur Boxing & Fitness Club) has been running for 30+ years, in a established community building of 95 years. The area has high levels of deprivation, with 80% living in the top 30% of national UK deprived area. Over 25% of under 16s are living in absolute poverty. Antisocial behaviour exceeds 20%, nearly 5% more that other areas in the County. The community gym encompasses people from surrounding villages and areas of Mainsforth, Chilton & Ferryhill to wider catchment areas of Sedgefield, Rushyford, Thinford, Spennymoor, Bishop Middleham, The Trimdons, West Cornforth, Hett, Coxhoe, Bowburn. The community gym provides a safe place with which to offer fitness facilities and boxing coaching within a lower demographic area where there’s limited outlets of sports available to kids in the community. Both the provision of boxing and a fitness facility offers a healthy environment to keep youngsters off the streets, make friends and encourage healthy choices growing up, and provides good fitness and training to foster achievements. The discipline in fitness also helps provide an outlet to channel youngsters and hopefully not be involved in social disruption, drugs, alcohol and substance misuse which can be prevalent within County Durham.

As the building is nearly 100 years old it requires improvement work to include:
1. Securing the skylight roof which has history of leeks, to remove windowed section and make to a secure roofed area with new waterproofed felt
2. Re-plaster hole section in roof which previously had let in water
3. Replace down pipe section of cast iron drain piping from roof which had become blocked solid with years of silt / sand / and concreted over
4. Plumbing required for Male & Female showers
5. Electrical wiring required for new electric showers
6. New Shower units to be installed
7. Locker & changing facilities (x2 for separate male & female rooms)
8. New flooring in both changing facilities