DIY SOS GRENFELL

In June 2017 the community in North Kensington had their lives shattered by the devastating fire in Grenfell Tower. The disaster has been front page news for over a year now, as we all came to terms with the horrific images, and the tragic loss of 72 lives.

One less well-known victim of the blaze was the loss of the home of the Dale Youth Boxing Club, a community-based organisation offering young people a chance to improve their lives through their love of the sport. For over fifty years they have been training young people, improving their physical well-being and introducing a purpose and discipline to their lives. They have given talents such as James de Gale who won an Olympic Gold at Beijing, and the current WBA Super Middleweight Champion George Groves, a start to their successful careers in boxing.

The club had moved to a newly refurbished area in Grenfell Tower just a few months before the fire, and since then trainer Mick Delaney has been using a temporary gym in a disused car park, determined to keep the club alive. Many of the club's regulars know only too well the loss that this disaster has caused, such as fourteen-year-old Jodie, who says that boxing has helped him to come to terms with the loss of his school friend in the fire.

Nick Knowles and the BBC DIY SOS team took on the challenge of building a new community centre to give the residents a new centre for their lives, and to build a secured home for the Dale Youth Boxing Club. This was their biggest challenge yet, involving a two storey multi-purpose building, steel construction and located below a motorway. It is their longest and most complicated project to date.

Modebest are proud that we had the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful project, and we would like to thank all our staff and associates, and the many volunteers who took part in this project, for their time and hard work. We would also like to thank the BBC DIY SOS team for calling us and making this such a worthwhile and positive time in our lives.

DIY SOS Grenfell is broadcast in two episodes, Boxing Club Programme 1 on BBC1, Wednesday 5th September at 21:00; and Community Centre Programme 2 on BBC1, Wednesday 12th September at 21:00. If you can't see these live they can be found on the BBC iPlayer for a limited period.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/gG4wf5cl0TC26VzMJmlNL4/diy-sos-announces-build-for-the-grenfell-community