A GROUP near Tenbury led by Paddy Brennan has received the highest possible award for voluntary service.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest honour that can be given for voluntary service and is the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups.

Mr Brennan, the man behind Tenbury Boxing Club that transformed into the Paddy Brennan Boxing Academy and Fitness Centre, says that he is knocked out by the honour.

He has developed the group beyond a boxing club to a community organisation that provides training and support for vulnerable young people.

“It has been only through hard work and painful effort, and with enormous effort and energy and resolute courage that we move on to better things,” said Mr Brennan, aged 53, a businessman and former international boxer.

‘The Boxing Club a most remarkable organisation, not only for what it delivers to local people but also for its outstanding achievements,’ states the citation from the Cabinet Office

It is affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association and has four dedicated and committed volunteers.

The citation praises the ‘exceptional leadership’ from Mr Brennan and his ‘excellent team of volunteers'.

It continues: ‘The Boxing Club is an exceptional organisation which has a total community focus. It provides training, personal development and support to over 300 local people from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds and abilities who reside in the local area.

‘This is delivered through the medium of boxing and personalised fitness and health and well-being programmes. It is very inclusive in terms of diversity and people's backgrounds, gender, ethnicity and disabilities.’

The centre provides confidence building and self-defence training for women referred from the Rape Crisis Centre.

In addition The Women's Institute also attend self-defence classes, and there are a range of health and well-being activities available at the club.

It also provides support for and programmes geared for those young people who are not in education and training (NEETS), and those who are at risk of offending.

Some of the activities available include: literacy and numeracy, business and administration, construction, animal care, horticulture and sport and leisure.

It also has developed a unique rehabilitation and fitness centre, where sport and fitness is used as a medium to achieve psychological and physical well-being, which increases self-esteem and confidence that can be transferred to other areas of the person's life.

People with a range of conditions have been or are being helped and supported. They include those who have multiple sclerosis, acquired brain injuries, dementia, cardiac problems and obesity.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work in their communities.

The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

The Paddy Brennan Boxing Academy and Fitness Centre will receive the award later this summer.

Mr Brennan met the Queen at a Garden Party in May.