About the project

Westway Boxing Club in Scarborough is a popular community gym offering boxing and fitness sessions for adults and young people. The project has kickstarted a wider transformation for the gym, which has recently been granted planning permission to build an extension to create a new community youth club for the local area.

The project

The team fully painted and decorated the interior of the gym in this amazing black and yellow colour scheme and boxed in pipework through carpentry, giving it a modern yet rustic feel. They also created a bike rack on the side of the building to help young people physically get to the club, and fitted specialist new flooring to the gym.

The impact:

• 21 NEET/at risk young people learning trade skills including carpentry and painting & decorating
• 16 entry-level City & Guilds accreditations gained in painting and decorating
• A modern and welcoming environment for visitors to enjoy their classes
• The new bike shelter will help attract more young people to the gym who will be able to store their bikes safely
• Lovell Homes kindly donated all PPE needed throughout the project – read more here

Julie Spivey, Change Direction Youth Mentor at North Yorkshire Youth for the Scarborough District told us: “Young people I work with, who are involved in or vulnerable to crime in the area, are crying out for more positive experiences like VIY. I saw significant changes in them on the project, and since too. Two in particular completely changed their behaviour and took ownership of their lives, knuckled down better at school and are now doing DIY at home for their parents/as carers.”