Welcome to the shared JustGiving page of Caspar, Hugh, Rupert, Alex, Johnny, Philip, Kenneth, D'Arcy, Marcus, James and Giles. Together we form the Cour to Roshven rowing squad, and we are rowing for Christian's Gym.

Christian Hobbs & The Heart of England Community Boxing Club 

On Boxing Day 2017, after a family Christmas at home with parents Caspar & Louise and younger sister Isobel, super fit boxer Christian Hobbs died unexpectedly of heart failure. He was only 17.

From the age of 14, Christian went from school in the evenings to Heart of England Community Boxing Club in Hinckley, Leicestershire 3 times a week and would make up his school work late at night or in the early mornings. Shortly before Christian died the Club was told that their premises were to be demolished for housing and they faced closure as they had nowhere to go. Christian was really worried about what would happen to his club and Caspar and Louise were talking with him about how they could help.

After Christian died, Boxing Coach Nick Griffin and the Club committee decided that if they ever managed to build new premises they would name them the Christian Hobbs Gym, Home of Heart
of England Community Boxing Club.  For Caspar, Louise and Isobel this was a ray of light at a very dark time which ignited a sustained fundraising effort to build Christian’s Gym.

Since Christian's death, the club has been evicted and moved temporarily to a derelict factory in the centre of Hinckley.

The vision for the Christian Hobbs Gym

The vision now is to build the best boxing gym in the UK. It will be used by about 80 active club boxers, boys and girls, who, if they can afford to, pay a few pounds per training session. It will have 4 rings,  training areas with free weights, class rooms for boxing analysis, a café and changing facilities. It will be used for international training camps and by England Boxing. There will be liaison with the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre and with Loughborough disability sports. It will also be a base for the development of rules for disability boxing which the IOC wants to be a new Paralympic sport, and which Nick is qualified to deliver. 

The estimate to build the gym is c.£1m. Fundraising continues in many ways through the efforts of the Club, Christian's family, Christian's Schools, as well as his many friends and colleagues doing such things as fundraising dinners, half marathons, climbing mountains, swimming, fun runs and countless other activities. Rowing from Cour to Roshven is our part in all of this.

What will the Gym achieve?

Boxing is predominantly a blue-collar sport and The Heart of England Club is no different.  You might have thought that the fact that Christian did not share that background would be an issue. It wasn’t at all, he was passionate about boxing, respected and very well liked. Once you are in a boxing ring, no one cares who you are or where you are from and the respect engendered amongst boxers is amazing.

More than that boxing has the power to transform lives. It has an almost unmatched capability to engage some of the most  disaffected young people and help combat a massive range of social problems including crime, gang culture, educational under achievement, it improves health, fitness and community cohesion and is recognised as being especially beneficial for such conditions as ADHD and autism.

It will be a gym that Christian would be proud of.

Cour to Roshven, Rowing for Christian's Gym

We are a collection of middle-aged men (aged 47 – 54) who became friends some 30 years ago when, with Caspar, we all served in the Scots Guards. Between 9th –14th June 2019, we will row from Cour in Kintyre, the childhood home of Hugh (one of our rowers) and also where Louise, Christian's mother holidayed as a child, to Roshven in Lochaber, which each year was the holiday destination of the Hobbs family and Christian’s favourite place in the world.

Our target is to raise at least £100,000, more if possible.

The distance is just over 102 nautical miles. That is 118 land miles and the equivalent of rowing the English Channel 5 ½ times. Our Boat will be a St Ayles Skiff (4 fixed seat rowers and a cox, rotating from a squad of 9) and most days, with a fair wind, we anticipate
approximately 8 hours rowing time.

The challenge will be self-funded by the team, supported by a small group of kind sponsors.

We are now looking for Corporate/Individual donors to contribute to The Christian Hobbs Gym.  UK Company sponsors should be eligible for 19% Corporation Tax relief on their donation.

Individual donations can be made (with the advantage of giftaid where appropriate) direct to Heart of England Community Boxing Club No. CH11605 through this JustGiving page.  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.