Dear Community,
We’ve had an amazing summer full of events, new projects, and exciting building upgrades. As we head into the next few months, we are focused on strengthening our community and creating more opportunities.
Thank you for your continued support!
On 26th July we launched “Carney’s Cycles” our newest social enterprise. Our Bike Workshop has been transformed into a shop open to the public every Saturday from 10am to 2pm. It is staffed by our trained young people and our qualified mechanics. Carney’s participants who complete our 5-week bike mechanics course can apply to be part of the Saturday shop as a “Junior Mechanic”. Giving each of them invaluable work experience and their first paid job. Our launch was a huge success, with the Mayor of Wandsworth officially opening the shop with a ribbon cutting and a video and article in the SW Londoner:https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/news/21082025-watch-the-charity-owned-carneys-cycles-supporting-wandsworth-youth. Thank you to everyone who came. We’re here every Saturday, so if you have a bike that needs repairing, or parts for your bike or a bike that you never use that you’d like to donate to us to refurbish, please come and visit.
As a core member of the Battersea Alliance, we finished off the Summer with the Battersea Community Festival. We came down to Shillington Park with our boxing ring and hosted free boxing sessions throughout the day. Our amazing team of coaches and young volunteers worked tirelessly from 12-6pm, whilst also enjoying the day, by taking a look at the community stalls, having a bite to eat, watching the young people perform on the stage and mixing with all of the other community organisations involved.
This year we will be taking part in the first ever charity Dinner Boxing match at London’s Guildhall. The historic Guildhall will be transformed into the ultimate sports arena on Wednesday 8 October 2025 for the inaugural Lord Mayor’s Fire Fight Night which will see exhilarating amateur boxing matches take place between London vs New York – celebrating links between these two leading global cities.The famous Fitzroy Lodge and members of the London Fire Brigade will represent London. They will compete against a visiting team from the Fire Department of New York. Expect boxing legends to mingle with politicians and members of the City and Wall Street. To help promote this we delivered a free open boxing session outside the Guildhall on the 6th of August.
Over the summer holidays, we ran two weeks of female boxing sessions, one at the start of the half term and another in the final week before school began.
The girls had an absolute blast, with plenty of pad work, circuits, and core training to keep the energy high. Across the sessions, we covered the boxing fundamentals from footwork and stance, to throwing a jab correctly, and developing a solid range of defences.
The sessions were led by Saskia and Jasmeen, with brilliant support from Stevie and Janaiya. Together, they created a welcoming and supportive environment, helping girls who may not have tried boxing before, get active, build confidence, and discover a new hobby.
Boys’ Group Counselling
Over the summer, our Boys’ Group Counselling sessions provided a safe, supportive space for young people to open up, share experiences, and build their confidence.
One of the highlights was a boat trip to Greenwich, where the group bonded together whilst enjoying the day out.
Jack Petchey Award Celebration
To celebrate one of our young people receiving a Jack Petchey Award, we took a group of ten participants on a trip to Gravity for an unforgettable day out! They enjoyed mini golf, VR games, and bowling!
Cake Decorating Competition
Our latest cake decorating competition led by Michael was a huge success! The standard of entries keeps getting better and better as our young people continue to develop their skills. It was fantastic to see their creativity, attention to detail, and confidence shine through in every cake.
As part of our Employment Support programme, we headed to Bounce at Battersea Power Station for an evening of ping pong, pizza, and drinks. It was a fantastic way for everyone to relax, connect, and have fun together outside of our usual sessions.
A huge thank you to Bounce for making this trip possible!
Week Of The Warrior
A huge thank you to Grappling with Life for running a brilliant jiu-jitsu session at Carney’s with our participants. The turnout was fantastic, and so much knowledge was shared throughout the session.
“I loved jiu-jitsu! I never thought I’d enjoy it, but I was buzzing after the session. Now I want to start doing regular sessions after trying it.”
We also want to thank Coach Kru, who came in to deliver a Muay Thai session with our participants. The participants learned boxing techniques and how to use kicks and knees effectively.
“The session was intense, but I loved every minute of it. I learnt so much and really wish Coach Kru could do this regularly at Carney’s”.
Layla and Alice have recently started hosting monthly Employment Support Socials, they’ve been a big hit so far, we have had Paint & Vibe, Movie Night, and a trip to Bounce.
Our music Studio “Great Minds Conquer All”, which launched in January this year is going strong. We have had many participants attending the free sessions every Monday and Wednesday, revealing musicians, engineers, photographers and rappers. We are now planning a podcast, that will be run by our participants … so watch this space.
Over the summer, Michael led a series of exciting cooking classes for our youth club participants. From tasty dishes to creative presentations, our participants cooked some fantastic meals and displayed their new skills!
This summer, as part of our employment support programme, we ran a 5-week eyelash course at Carney’s through the training provider, Gold Beautique. Seven of our participants completed the training program and are now qualified and excited to deliver eyelash extensions to the public.
This year (as with every other year) we took part in the Big Play Out, where we ran free boxing sessions from 10-4pm every day from the 28th July-1st August. We had a team of coaches and young volunteers who did brilliantly, with loads of positive feedback.
A complete transformation: from storage to a space for counselling, meetings, and more.
Our old backroom storage area, once a gloomy space and even a toilet many years ago, has now been transformed into a bright, modern meeting room here at Carney’s Community. The renovation was no small task: it involved removing old toilet pipes, fixing persistent leaks, installing new electrics, and carrying out a full demolition and rebuild. The result is a completely revitalised space, ready to host meetings, counselling sessions, and community functions. It is also available for external bookings, providing a fantastic new resource for everyone to enjoy at Carney’s!
We took a group of our participants to The Feel Good Bakery for a Barista Training Taster Day. Together they learned how to make great coffee, had a go at coffee art, and did some team building and role play exercises.
We are pleased to share that two participants are now in employment with a yearlong contract!
Employability Group
We’re excited to be currently running a Gym Instructor course for 9 participants in partnership with Performance Plus, and to announce that we’ll be employing 20 participants to support us with our upcoming fundraiser with Media Fight Night, a great chance to gain hands-on experience and try something new.
A big thank you also to Diversity Media, who have offered three of our participants the opportunity to apply for six-months of paid work experience, at London Living Wage.
We are always looking to build new partnerships and open more opportunities. If you would like to get involved or support our programme, reach out to Alice at: alice.jhugro@carneyscommunity.org.