Members of the Raphoe Amateur Boxing Club got the perfect present yesterday to help kickstart the club’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Next year, the club will celebrate its 30th anniversary and yesterday evening it was confirmed that they had been allocated €48,500 under the Sports Capital Programme.
The grant assistance will be used to refurbish and modernise the club, located at St Eunan’s Terrace.
“This couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Raphoe ABC President and founder member Peter O’Donnell.
“The clubroom was built in 1988 and the club is going 30 years now. In 2018, it will be 20 years since we opened the club as we know it. Since then we have put on three extensions. The County Council have been very good to us, through a range of funding programme.
“We have been able to add a new heating system, PVC doors, windows, a new gutter, tiled toilets – a total facelift.
“We are extremely thankful to anyone who has supported us and to anyone who aided in obtaining this funding.”
The club recently added a new weights room having put on a 400 square foot extension in 2012.
Raphoe ABC Head Coach Gary McCullagh has around 50 boxers on the books at the moment and Donegal professional boxer Jason Quigley is a regular user of the facilities.
Raphoe ABC started off in a room above McBrearty’s Bookmakers before going to Raphoe VS and subsequntly the Marathon Hall. Building on the current clubhouse started in 1994. The club transformed old waste ground into a new home, with the assistance of former TD, Paddy Harte, and it was opened officially in 1998.
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