LCB is working tirelessly to embed a sustainable, community-led charity that delivers our mission and vision for the long term.
Over the past ten years we have actively engaged with thousands of people across South London, a majority of whom were previously inactive, marginalised or excluded members of their community.
We believe that we do offer something for everyone, with no exception!
Grant funding helps us to provide outreach activities to venues and participants on either a free-of-charge basis or heavily subsidised: please click the images below for more details:
YOUNG PEOPLE
THE ELDERLY
MENTAL HEALTH & DISABILITY
MOTHERS & CHILDREN
YOUNG PEOPLE
Every week during the year, LCB runs about 20 hours of sessions for young people in the gym. Most are non-contact sessions for young people between 17y/o and as young as 5. These sessions include fitness exercises, technical learning drills and boxing-related games. The cost to the participant is £1.
These classes are open to young people of all abilities & our fully inclusive & fun! 5-8 y/o classes are 30 minutes, 8-12 y/o are 45 minutes and 13-17 y/o Junior development sessions are 1 hour.
For several years now, we have run non-contact sessions for young people in Southwark Council’s Youth Offending Service. Several young people in the programme have gone on to employment, including with LCB. These sessions are free for the participants.
YoS (YOUTH OFFENDING SERVICE)
MENTAL HEALTH & DISABILITY
CONNECT (IN YOUR CORNER)
Connect is a non-contact boxing programme in the LCB gym with an integrated emotional wellbeing offer for young people aged 11-18. It builds on the strong partnership developed between In Your Corner (a clinical psychology led social enterprise) and London Community Boxing during a successful 9 week pilot project in 2017, and has subsequently become a permanent part of our programme. The project will comprises of three x13-week blocks each year.
Connect targets young people who would benefit from support for their emotional wellbeing but whom clinic based services find it hard to engage. The project acknowledges the risks for young people growing up in South London, particularly challenges to staying safe in the community, remaining engaged in education or activity, and physical and emotional wellbeing.
The project uses evidence based ideas from psychological intervention, and delivers these flexibly alongside non-contact boxing skills in group settings. Young people are referred to the programme from a range of local agencies across health, social care, youth justice, and education.
The objective of the programme is to improve physical and emotional wellbeing, while developing non-contact boxing skills and a sense of community and connectedness in participants.
After graduation, the young people can attend a weekly graduates session and are offered free access to other activities for young people in the LCB gym for a period of time. Training, volunteering and, when possible, employment opportunities are also made available to them.
COMMUNITAS
In 2022, we launched a pilot programme based on our learnings from Connect and ran non-contact boxing sessions with a mental health component in two primary schools that are part of the Communitas Education Trust in Southwark. Coming out of the pandemic, with mental health issues among young people and staff of great concern, the programme sought to address these in a 12-week programme involving selected pupils as well as a separate session for staff, with overwhelmingly positive results. The Project involved 2 x 12 week, 1.5 hour per week group boxing programmes for children in Year 5 from two Communitas schools. Each session had 12 participants and covered boxing skills and emotional wellbeing activities. Project facilitation was by a clinical psychologist, an accredited boxing coach, and a member of school staff, using a therapeutic coaching model and receiving clinical supervision by a child psychotherapist.
Alongside the children's groups, we offered a parallel group for staff. By supporting staff emotional wellbeing, the programme indirectly supported the emotional wellbeing of children in the wider school community, in addition to those accessing the boxing groups. Staff sessions lasted 1.5 hours, with staff attending a boxing fitness session for 45 minutes to begin, with some staying each week for a further 45 minutes to attend a reflective practice group, facilitated by the clinical psychologist. These groups are an opportunity for staff to reflect on their experiences of teaching, particular challenging situations and their impact on themselves.
Following the success of this programme, we are in discussion with Communitas to extend the programme into the next school year.
“The boxing therapy sessions run by In Your Corner and London Community Boxing have been a bit of a revelation. After a tough day, it turns out that there are few better releases than learning to hit something. The sessions are fun, high energy, welcoming and meet you at your level, whether you’ve boxed before or not. I’ve found myself thinking back to the issues discussed in a new light and looking forward to the next session pretty much immediately. ”
STEP
We run weekly sessions for adults of various ages in the Southwark NHS Team for Early Psychosis programme. These sessions are free for the participants, who range from 18 to 35 year old, some of whom have struggled even to leave home. The results so far have been encouraging and other NHS teams have begun to send participants as well.
DISABILITY
We run regular weekly session for the Cherry Garden Primary School in Peckham, a special school for children with complex mental and physical disabilities. We also host occasional sessions for older young people with disabilities, who are brought in by minibus by council services who provide them with youth club and other activities. These sessions are free for the participants. Some of our coaches also offer 1-2-1 personal training to people with disabilities.
DISABILITY SESSIONS SPONSORED BY SPORTSWORKS
Every Wednesday between 2-4pm we run Additional needs & disability non-contact boxing & fitness sessions. These classes offer a fun & accessible way to learn how to punch & defend, improve your fitness & have fun along the way! Each class is based on the needs and wants of the participants on the day to facilitate an enjoyable & welcoming experience. To find out more, or if you would like to attend our sessions please contact Jake.ramshaw@sportsworksltd.co.uk
Get Back Up was made by a group of young people from CONNECT, Our young people had complete creative freedom to produce this music video, coming up with the concept, beats, and lyrics.
MOTHERS & CHILDREN
Since early Summer 2022, we have teamed up with Burgess sport to run a session for mothers with small children from the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark. They have come to the gym to train bringing their children to the sessions when needed. This has allowed them to get fit and make friends. These classes have been extremely successful, with 100% of the mothers saying it has improved their self-esteem. These sessions are free for the participants and are currently funded by Sport England.
PARTNER WORK
At various times during the year, we have run sessions for partners, such as Burgess Sports, Southwark Council and Dream, Believe, Achieve. These sessions are free for the participants. We also partner with schools and run after-school clubs and other specially tailored sessions for their pupils.
HOLIDAY PROVISION
During Holiday periods, especially the long Summer Holiday we run special sessions for young people, either as an addition to our regular £1 sessions for kids or alongside partners. For example, in summer’22 we ran 40 hours of special sessions during the month of August – 10 hours each week Monday-Friday – with partners, such as the Southwark Council, Burgess Sports and Dream Believe Achieve. These sessions were great fun, full of variety including; boxing, archery and laser tag! These classes were free for the participants.
ELDERLY
Social Club
we run occasional Social Clubs, including a boxing fitness class, at the gym for The Elderly. Social clubs offer a chance for older people and their younger neighbours to share time, laughter and new experiences that help everyone to feel a part of our rapidly changing city, rather than left behind by it. We partner with organisations such as South London Cares to run these sessions.
