Connect  

In partnership with Kathy Adcock (HCPC Registered Clinical Psychologist) and her social enterprise, InYourCorner, we continue to run a non-contact boxing programme with an integrated mental health component for young people aged 11-18, referred to us by partners, such as Southwark Council and Southwark NHS CAMHS unit. It is now in its 6th year. The positive impact of the programme on the young people has been remarkable (M&E reports attached).  The current cohort is funded through a grant and we are applying to Children to Need to cover the next three years.

 

Communitas

During the last year, 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.  Again, the results were overwhelmingly positive (M&E report available), and we are seeking funding to roll these sessions out in future for both Communitas and other schools. This pilot was part funded by the Mayor’s Office (Sport Unites). We are working with Communitas to run these sessions in their schools starting next Autumn, and are seeking to attract multi-year funding for the purpose.

STEP

We have run weekly sessions during the year for young adults in the Southwark NHS Team for Early Psychosis programme. These sessions are free for the participants, who range from 18 to 35-year olds, 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.

YoS

For several years now, we have run non-contact sessions for young people in Southwark Council’s Youth Offending Service.  These resumed after the pandemic but did not have external funding on resumption. Several young people in the programme have gone on to employment, including with LCB. These sessions are free for the participants. We have recently won funding to continue these sessions for the next few months.

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.

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 run special sessions for schools in the area.

Single Mothers and Children

Since early Summer, we have teamed up with Burgess sport to run a pilot targeting young mothers – especially single parent 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.  The pilot has been extremely successful and will be made a permanent feature of the calendar. These sessions are free for the participants. The pilot has been funded by us directly, we recently won one-year funding for the programme from Sport England.

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.  Last Summer, we ran 40 hours of special Summer 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 free for the participants. We are discussing Easter and next Summer currently with partners and funders.

•     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 (a small fee we wave if we are aware that a family is struggling to even provide that modest contribution). On Saturdays, for example, we run 4.5 hours for 5-7 y/o, 8-10 y/o, and 11-17 y/o.  During a recent month, these classes averaged over 40 kids each Saturday. We also have sessions for the older children during the week.  During the last 12 Months, total footfall in these sessions has been about 5000 and 480 individual young people participated. 

Our mentorship scheme with the Peckham Levels – a converted multi-story carpark that houses over 75 small businesses – mentioned previously stalled due to staff changes at Peckhham Levels, but has recently restarted, with a number of businesses signing up for the initial phase.  Young people who graduate from our programmes will be mentored by the local entrepreneurs in the Levels and gain valuable work experience and exposure to diverse activities. We are hoping the first placements will occur this Spring.  As previously mentioned, this is a significant extension of our exit routes for young people, which we have long wanted to put in place.