Whitby Boxing Club is going from strength to strength – with support from the Woodsmith Foundation.

The club received a £50,000 grant from the Foundation, an independent charity funded by Anglo American, owner of the Woodsmith Project, to help with the costs of relocating to a purpose-built facility and also purchase state-of-the-art boxing and fitness equipment.

The club has already reaped the rewards of their move, seeing their membership numbers almost doubling in a matter of months.

Club Coach Stewart Lorains said: “The funding we received from the Woodsmith Foundation has had a massive impact on the Boxing Club, it’s booming at the moment.

“The funding bought our new boxing ring, rowing machines, steppers, bikes, bags, gloves and more, and the impact has been enormous.”

Gemma Scire, the Woodsmith Foundation’s Grants & Programmes Manager, said: “As a Whitby lass, it’s great to see the impact the Woodsmith Foundation has had on the local boxing club and in turn benefitted local people.

“This is an amazing space and just another great example of the huge impact our funding has, not only in Whitby but in all the communities we support.”

The Foundation was set up to bring wider community benefits in addition to the positive economic impact of the Woodsmith Project. It has supported almost 500 projects in Redcar and Cleveland Borough, Scarborough Borough and the North York Moors National Park since 2017, distributing over £1.7million in grants in 2022.

Anglo American pledged a four-year, £4m funding package when it acquired the Woodsmith Project in March 2020.