TIMES are changing for Droitwich Spa Amateur Boxing Club.

With proposals for a £850,000 revamp of their Kidderminster Road site in the pipeline, the club faces a period of uncertainty as it tries to move forward.

It is also a time for celebration as the club marks its 25th anniversary this year, honouring a quarter of a century of boxing in the Spa.

Founder and club coach, Chris Andrews, said: "The premises we have at the moment have real character and it's got a great feel about it which we will be sorry to lose."

So where did it all begin? Although a boxing club existed in the town in the 1950s, Droitwich Spa Amateur Boxing Club as we know it was affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association in December 1977. Now it is the only one of its kind in the region north of Worcester and attracts fighters from far afield.

It started as a summer activity but became a regular fixture on the calendar due to popular demand, operating every Sunday afternoon out of a youth centre in Old Coach Road, also using the gym at Witton Middle School.

Within two years the club moved to the changing rooms at the old brine baths complex and stayed there until they were demolished for the current private hospital.

That forced the club to use the basement of a shop in St Andrew's Square during the time of the town centre development. Once that shop was eventually let in 1982, the club relocated to the old Covercroft Centre, in Ombersley Street.

During the next 12 months plans were put in place to move to the Kidderminster Road site, one time home to Droitwich's rural district council. For that to happen, the boxing club raised £14,000 to have the current cabin-like building transported from Sussex in time for the formal opening in January 1984.

Since then, not much has changed. The panels separating the shower room from the gym are still the originals from the old brine baths while the poles holding the roof up have been there for many years.

Much of the equipment has been added since the 1980s, with a ring, punching bags and weights filling the structure, and it is hard to believe that up to 25 boxers use it at a time.

Chris added: "It was a real DIY job. It hasn't changed a great deal, it's largely the same, but it does have character and atmosphere.

"The roof leaked like a sieve and we had to have the roof done. We were told the roof would last 15 years and those have passed."

Chris, aged 65, boxed at school and university and came to the Spa via Liverpool and Birmingham. He qualified as an ABA coach in 1974.

He is one a several coaches at the club, together with assistant Alan Bray and qualified coaches Matt Greening and Todd Reeves.

During the past 25 years the club has enjoyed a great deal of success and has even seen a few of its ranks turn professional although none have hit the big time.

But Chris is quick to distance the amateur code from the circus of the professional game, although he thinks the amateur sport can do a lot of good.

"Boxing is a ready-made vehicle for young men wanting to test themselves in a combat arena," he added. "If they can get it out of their system in the amateur ranks then that's good.

"I have no objection to them turning professional but it's not necessarily the best thing."

The club's success on the national stage has been predominantly in its junior section. Several adult fighters have reached Midlands finals, although no titles have been won at that level.

Some of the club's prize assets down the years include Martin and Chris Duffy, who both represented the Birmingham division. Chris, together with Alan Gandy, still involved with the setup today, jointly holds the club record for 12 successive victories.

Gandy himself was a double winner of the national schools' title and had the honour of captaining England schoolboys.

More recently, Greening has excelled on the national stage, as has Michael Pardoe, while Adam Mytton reached a national final earlier this year.

Chris added: "The success has exceeded any expectations people had in those early days. Alan was our first title winner and won the schools' title in 1983 and that was quite emotional.

"We had two more champions in 1998, which for a small town club was quite exceptional.

"It's been phenomenal and I don't really know why. To get a regular stream has been quite remarkable."