Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin recently visited Runcorn Amateur Boxing Club (ABC) in Runcorn Shopping City and posted a video where she suggested her team had helped secure financial support for the club for the next 12 months.
The not-for-profit club works with people of all ages, teaching them boxing, fitness and martial arts skills and has been a mainstay of the Runcorn sporting scene since the 1960s.
In her video, Mrs Pochin praised the work of the club and added: “My office has managed to help them get funding to keep them going for another 12 months – because they do great work for young people in Runcorn.”
But ABC swiftly responded on social media branding the claims ‘complete fiction’, they also took a swipe at the Runcorn and Helsby MP for filming a video inside their gym, which they said they had not given permission to do – and asked for it to be taken down from her social media channels.
Posting on Facebook, they said: “Having spoken to Reform we have asked for the video to be removed immediately and an apology for this to be issued, and do not appreciate complete fiction like this.”
They added: “As volunteers we give up our time away from your family to help wherever we can and are proud to do so, we do not appreciate this at all. All of us could make a far better living stacking beans in Iceland. We do this because it’s our passion, nothing more.”
In a subsequent post on Facebook, Mrs Pochin sought to clarify her position.
She posted: “There has been some confusion around funding for Runcorn Amateur Boxing Club in Runcorn Shopping City.
“My team made the case to Juniper Training to continue the funding and, despite them being unable to secure additional funding at this stage, they have continued to run the education provision because of the positive impact it has in Runcorn as a result.”
She added: “To clarify, there has been no additional funding sourced for Runcorn Amateur Boxing Club, or for the provision that Juniper Training run at those premises. The funding has come from existing resources which have been allocated for a further year.
“I also want to make it clear that Juniper Training operate within Runcorn Amateur Boxing Club, but they are entirely separate organisations. The video posted earlier this week did not make that distinction clear enough.
“Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to visit the club recently and see first-hand the difference they are making for young people across Runcorn.”