Trustee Annual Report (April 2022-March 2023)
Membership
We had 94 members this year, this was a drop from previous years as COVID 19 pandemic had a massive impact on our club and delivery. We did get more members due our schools boxing 4 wellbeing programme and newcomer night programme which was funded by the Belfast city council. We have more and more girls/women joining our club and this is due to the success of these programmes. Our partnership with the local community organisation Ligoniel Improvement Association has helped us get more people into the club as they have signposted and used their social media outlet to advertise the clubs programmes.
Things related to the club
We used this year to get back up and running after COVID 19, this was a very challenging year as a lot of our junior and senior members didn’t come back due to taking up no hobbies or becoming sedentary as a result of the pandemic. We participated in the County Antrim’s with some of our boxers coming out successful in the novice or senior level. We have ran 1 boxing show in the club, bringing clubs from all over Ireland up to Ligoniel to compete with our fighters. This has enabled us to build great relationships and we look forward to a return trip to the other clubs to compete. As part of the rebuilding job within the club we have started to increase the number of sessions in the local schools to try and get more members into the club. The three local schools we are currently in our; Mercy College, Ligoniel Primary School and Saint Vincent de Paul Primary School.
Refurbishment
We got the club repainted due to discolouring on the walls and a leak due to weather conditions. We had to get the roof fixed and also replaced some equipment which we got funding from Sport NI. This grant was to enable clubs to get back on their feet and attract current and new members to the boxing club.
Upskilling Volunteers
We have done first aid and safeguarding training. We are going to put the volunteers through their first aid in the next couple of months.
This coming year
We hope to continue and grow as a club and try and get 140 members into the club. This will be manageable due to the upskilling of volunteers. We hope to get funding to replace some of our gym equipment as its outdated and some aren’t fit for purpose. We also hope we have participants competing in all titles in the county. We are constantly growing as a community with new houses going up every week. There is estimated that there are 6000 residents in Ligoniel so we need to try
and reach as many people as possible. We are working in partnership with the local community organisation to help build the club and implement a strategic plan which benefits the club and the local community.
Other Business
Can I make it noted that our amazing coaches and volunteers went out at Christmas to help the foodbank deliver toys, food and hot meals to people in need in Ligoniel. This has to be highly commended and shows how caring our coaches and volunteers are.