The Bury Defence Academy (BDA) are a Martial Arts and Boxing Club providing classes for men, women, and children in Bury and are part of the Violence Reduction Unit’s community-led programme in Bury. The community-led programmes enable the VRU to work closely with communities to understand the strengths, challenges, and needs of the community and determine how local investments will be made.

 The BDA held an inter-club boxing competition on the 11th of March 2023 with over 100 attendees including team members from the VRU.

Other members of the Bury community including police officers also attended to show their support. The event was an opportunity for different clubs to come together and build relationships, compete, and build a sense of community and sportsmanship.

“We work to nurture young people at a grassroots level by directing their energy away from crime and anti-social behaviour and towards sport.” – Ifti Ahmed, Chairman, Bury Defence Academy.

The academy holds classes everyday with over 400 people attending per week, committed to encouraging young people to put their energy into sports and personal development. The VRU have been working closely with the academy to support their work.

VRU funding has enabled them to add four additional free classes across the week, which has led to 50 additional young people attending BDA.

Read more on the funding here: https://gmvru.co.uk/bury-awarded-funding-as-part-of-violence-reduction-units-investment-in-communities/ 

“A grassroots, bottom-up, collaborative approach is precisely what is needed to reduce the number of young people being drawn into violence.” – Ifti Ahmed, Chairman, Bury Defence Academy.

BDA have a few more events lined up in the upcoming months including an inter-club wrestling competition in summer and recruiting a part time charity manager to further expand their activities.

Read more about BDA and their work with the VRU here: https://gmvru.co.uk/community-spotlight-series-bury-defence-academy-encouraging-young-peoples-energy-into-sport-and-personal-development/

Watch the Mayor and Deputy Mayor visit Bury Defence Academy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20x0whNUOw&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fgmvru.co.uk%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

It is worth noting that weeks following the event, Bury’s local M.P James Daly took part in a parliamentary discussion on Boxing clubs and social mobility in March. He highlighted the impact that grassroots sport can have on transforming lives whilst mentioning BDA and the VRU funding. Watch here: https://fb.watch/i-eG0tZwxi/

 To find out more about BDA, or get in touch, see details below.

Address: Lord Street, Bury, BL9 0RE

Email: info@buryacademy.co.uk

Contact No: 07787 852892

Website: www.buryacademy.co.uk

Facebook / IG: Bury Defence Academy

Article posted on: 23/03/2023 05:03pm