National Lottery winners from across the North West, who are worth more than £60 million combined, have been helping to breathe new life into a Wirral boxing club.
The winners, including Crewe’s Kevin and Michele Jones who won £ donned their painting overalls and spent the day at Birkenhead Venture Boxing Club. In addition to giving the club a lick of paint, they also helped to create inspirational boxing murals for the walls.
The winners were joined by some of the boxers from the club who will directly benefit from the work, including Sean “Masher” Dodd, Commonwealth Lightweight champion and WBC International Lightweight Champion.
Tasha Jonas, the first female British boxer to go to the Olympic Games, also joined in the day.
Sean Trodden, head coach at the club, which has previously received £95k of National Lottery funding, said: “We are so grateful to the winners for giving up their time to paint our club.
“This will make a huge difference to our facility which is a vital lifeline for so many young men and women.
“The murals are fantastic too – we pride ourselves in providing the very best facilities for our men and women and being as inspirational as we possibly can. All the little extra touches and attention to detail will have a huge impact on everyone who trains here.”
Dean and Stella Hardman, from Heywood, Greater Manchester, who won £6.7M in November 2006, are keen boxing fans themselves and have previously sponsored boxers.
Dean added: “It’s been a brilliant day; we have loved being at the boxing club, giving it a lick of paint and creating some funky artwork too.
“It’s a really important facility for the community here and the club is clearly a lifeline for so many young people. It’s amazing to see the talent which the club is helping to nurture too.
“For all of us winners, our luck and good fortune means we can help people beyond our own families. This is not the first time we have put our means and spare time to good use. One fella is an ex-painting and decorating expert for Dulux and he has definitely led the way today. I think we did a decent job of it, thank heavens!”
Birkenhead Venture Boxing Club has previously received £95k of National Lottery funding. This money has been used to pay for an extension and also to buy new equipment.