Roman Boxing exists to provide accessible, structured and meaningful opportunities for people across Bath through boxing and physical activity. Our charitable object is the advancement of the amateur sport of boxing for the public benefit by the provision of facilities for participation in the sport of boxing. At the centre of the club are our members, but the impact extends much further into the wider community. We currently have over 150 registered members training regularly each week, with approximately 250 individual people benefiting from the club each year once holiday activities, outreach work and partnership programmes are included.

With a secure permanent base at Bellotts Road, we believe the club has realistic potential to double in size over the next three years, growing to over 300 active members while also significantly increasing the number of people reached through schools, community groups and partner organisations.

The demand is already there. At previous venues, capacity limitations often forced us to turn people away from popular evening classes. The new gym finally provides enough space and stability to grow properly and meet the needs of the community more effectively. We currently run 11 sessions each week. With long term stability, the facility can eventually support upwards of 30 sessions weekly, including evening, weekend and daytime activities. That growth would benefit a wide range of people across Bath.

Our classes currently begin from age eight, with no upper age limit. Members range from children attending their first ever sport session through to adults over forty training for fitness, confidence and social connections. Importantly, boxing reaches many people who do not naturally connect with traditional team sports. Some people enjoy the individual nature of the sport and the ability to progress at their own pace while still training within a supportive group environment. Others enjoy the technical challenge of learning a completely new skill. Boxing combines fitness, discipline, coordination, strategy and controlled physical effort in a way many people find far more engaging than repetitive exercise. Punching bags and pads also provides an intense physical release and stress outlet that many members describe as beneficial for their mental wellbeing.

Training takes place indoors, year round, in a structured environment supervised by qualified coaches and trusted adults. For some people, especially younger members, that consistency and structure is incredibly important.

We have repeatedly seen boxing positively affect confidence, discipline, resilience and mental health. Several members and former members have provided written feedback describing how the gym helped transform their confidence and outlook. Some have directly credited the discipline, perseverance and self belief developed through training with helping them secure employment and improve their lives outside the gym.

These experiences are increasingly important at a time when many young people face growing challenges entering employment. Recent reporting has highlighted rising youth unemployment across the UK, with more than one million young people now classified as not being in education, employment or training, alongside concerns about a decline in entry-level opportunities and a growing risk of a “lost generation” becoming disconnected from work and training. While a boxing club cannot solve those challenges alone, we play an important role in preparing people to face them. The discipline, resilience, confidence and sense of accountability developed through regular training are qualities valued far beyond sport. By providing structure, positive role models and a supportive environment, Roman Boxing helps people build the self-belief and personal skills that improve opportunities both inside and outside the gym.

Parents often tell us they see positive changes at home as well. One area of feedback we hear repeatedly relates to children with ADHD and similar challenges. Parents have explained that boxing is one of the few activities their child is able to fully focus on, and that the structure, discipline and routine developed through training often improves behaviour outside the gym too. The club environment reinforces patience, accountability and perseverance. Phrases like “trust the process” are common within the gym because boxing teaches people that meaningful progress comes through consistency, effort and listening to guidance over time. Members learn that setbacks are part of improvement and that failure is not something to fear, but something to learn from. Boxing demands accountability, respect, commitment and resilience. These values naturally transfer beyond the gym into education, employment, family life and wider community participation.

The social impact of the club is equally important. We regularly see friendships, mentoring relationships and peer support develop naturally within the gym. Experienced members help encourage newer members, while former boxers have themselves gone on to become volunteer coaches within the club. This creates positive role models for younger people from within the community itself, including both male and female athletes.

The club is intentionally inclusive. We keep participation costs low because we believe money should not be a barrier to involvement. Since opening in 2018, our prices have never increased despite inflation and significant rises in living costs. This has made a real difference for families, particularly those with multiple children or facing financial pressures.

The location of the gym is important to our impact. Bellotts Road places the club within reach of communities in Bath’s south western wards, areas which fall within the lowest 20% nationally according to the English Indices of Deprivation. Access to affordable organised activities can be far more limited in areas facing higher levels of deprivation, particularly for families without easy access to transport. Research consistently shows that inequalities exist in access to sport and physical activity. Sport England’s Active Lives survey found that children and young people from the least affluent families are significantly less likely to be physically active than those from wealthier backgrounds. Reduced access to positive structured activities can contribute to isolation, poor mental health and greater vulnerability to anti-social behaviour, gang involvement and youth crime. We believe clubs like Roman Boxing play an important role in addressing those issues locally, we’ve seen this countless times with England Boxing clubs across the country.

The success of community boxing clubs comes from their ability to engage people in a way that many traditional services and activities sometimes cannot. Boxing gyms create an environment built around trust, consistency and mutual respect, where coaches often become positive role models and mentors as well as instructors. This is why clubs across the country have successfully developed programmes supporting young people, improving wellbeing, increasing confidence and helping members make positive choices outside the gym.

The work of established organisations such as Bristol’s Empire Fighting Chance, alongside many other England Boxing clubs delivering community projects nationally, demonstrates that this approach is already proven. They show how a boxing club with a secure home can become much more than a place to exercise. It can become a trusted community hub where people access support, develop skills, build relationships and find opportunities that positively influence every area of their lives.

A safe, structured environment with trusted adults, positive peer groups and regular routine gives young people somewhere constructive to be during evenings, weekends and school holidays. Through our partnership with Bath HAF alone, we have already worked with around 135 children and young people during school holidays. With permanent premises, we expect this type of work to expand significantly.

We are already beginning discussions with schools, local police and community organisations about future partnerships and activities, opportunities that only become realistic when organisations know the gym has long term stability and permanence. The impact of securing the building therefore goes far beyond the current membership. It creates a permanent community asset capable of serving thousands of local people over the coming centuries.

Because the lease has 360 years remaining, the decisions made through this fundraising campaign will continue benefiting future generations long after the campaign itself has ended. Children who have not yet been born will one day train in the same gym made possible by the people supporting this project today. That is the true long term impact of securing Roman Boxing’s future in Bath.