Calne Amateur Boxing Club will be officially opened next week, town mayor Howard Marshall has confirmed.

The first training session will be from 6pm to 9pm on Thursday at the Beversbrook sports facility.

Mr Marshall said: “I am really pleased that everything has come together and we are ready to open the club.

“We initially started talking to the Amateur Boxing Association in January and it has taken until now to get it up and running – I think that is quite an achievement.”

Several people have registered an interest in joining the club and application forms have been available, but Mr Marshall is keen for anyone who wants to get involved to turn up on the night.

“We have had a lot of people taking forms away, but only 14 have been returned,” he said. “I am not worried about that because with the summer holidays people have been away.

“The main thing is that people know we are starting and that they can come along.”

Mr Marshall has arranged for six potential coaches, including a woman, to start a training course next month. Initially the club will be overseen by people who have already been trained.

“For the first six to 12 months it will be completely non-contact,” he said.

“But once people get into the training and get fit, if they then decide that they want to go to the contact side of the sport we will purchase a ring and those people will be allowed to move into it.

“The excellent thing about the club is that youngsters will learn self discipline, self respect and respect for others.

“The main idea is to provide somewhere for youngsters to go, to get them off the street and to allow them to feel they are a part of something.”