A £50,000 crowdfunding appeal has been launched to back an ambitious plan to continue a transformation of the former Co-op building in Stanton Hill into a boxing gym with a new youth club area.

Foster carers Kevin and Karen Henshaw have developed StarBox Amateur Boxing Club at the old building over the past five years, turning it into a community hub – hosting fundraising events and allowing it to be used by other groups.

But the building needs an adequate heating system, better lighting and further changing facilities to enable it to help more people and groups in the area.

The gym, which is a registered charity, run by volunteers, has secured a further 10-year lease. It said people already used StarBox for a variety of reasons, such as fitness, to socialise, for weight loss goals or simply to learn or to progress in the sport of boxing.

Kevin and Karen, of Mansfield, said: “We want to be able to make the building more welcoming and more accessible to people with disabilities by improving its energy supply and providing sufficient heating.

“We already create revenue, which just about covers the running of our facility and provides for equipment, by charging a fair membership fee and gym usage fee.

“We also plan to hire out the facilities to bring in more revenue, but we need a heating system to do this. We have already spent a considerable quantity of our own money on improvements and upgrades but we now need help build on our good work.

“If we can upgrade this building with a heating system, better lighting and changing facilities, we could then offer hire of the building during the daytime for a much more diverse range of services, such as aerobic fitness classes, weight loss classes, adult education courses and workshops, conferences/meetings, etc, which would bring in more revenue to provide and maintain equipment, improve our self-sufficiency and also would make StarBox a central hub of this much neglected but deserving community.

“There are many people in this village who suffer social isolation so making our building more functional means that our village’s community group who don’t have their own building, can also make better use of our building.”

Already community group Friends of Stanton Hill use the gym for its meetings and there are plans to develop an area in the building for a much-needed youth club.

Last year the gym hosted Stanton Hill Spring Fayre and a Nutrition, Fitness and Wellbeing workshop, in conjunction with Active Notts and Deli on the Hill. It would like to hold further workshops.

Kevin and Karen added: “Children in this area, particularly in this village, have little or nothing to do within this community.

“We plan to use our building to voluntarily provide a youth club and we already allow Friends of Stanton Hill to use the premises for their activities without charge, but we need adequate heating to make this practical and comfortable rather than people having to sit in a cold environment.”

They said the gym, its trustees and committee were all “dedicated to helping people in a deprived area and people who are in less fortunate circumstances than ourselves.”

“This is a village-based gym where people of all ages can learn a sport and can be included socially. We and the qualified coaches are all volunteers,” they added.

“No-one involved in our organisation receives a salary. We do this because we are passionate about giving back to our community.

“The building is large and has so much more potential. It was a supermarket prior to our lease and doesn’t have a heating system or an efficient or economic energy supply, which includes the lighting. It also doesn’t have changing cubicles or showering facilities for gym users.”

They have been given a quote by Ashfield District Council for the work and are now appealing to the community to back their ambitious plans.

To make a donation go to: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/starbox-community-boxing-club-better-facilities?fbclid=IwAR2eAs_Nd12pXlK3PtaXzmGdXGYOX73UWy9DQ4hbas4B4ekyPz7Hm8V4W2w