Boxing stalwart wins Make a Difference award

A boxing coach has been recognised for her dedication to promoting the sport in Guernsey.

Mandy Hobart has been named as the winner of the 2026 BBC Radio Guernsey Make a Difference Awards.

She dedicates hours each week to training youngsters at the Amalgamated Boxing Club, after-school clubs as well as special classes for over-65s and people with Parkinson's disease.

Hobart, who was surprised with the news of her win via a video call, said: "It's amazing and it's great for the club to be out there [and] for everybody to see the good that we're doing."

Hobart first got involved with boxing more than 20 years ago when the club opened its doors for women to train.

"I realised there was lots of children there but not really anyone focusing on the children," she said.

She started working with the youngsters on pads, soon became a coach and then took responsibility for the club's juniors.

From never having boxed, she has gone on to become a level two coach and a judge.

Hobart said: "I just see the good it does in everybody, mainly the children - giving them confidence, self-esteem and just belief in themselves and feel more confident in the world."

She started separate training sessions for children with additional needs, as well as introducing classes for people with Parkinson's disease.

Dean Lee has been coming for three months since his diagnosis and praised her "endless enthusiasm".

"She loves seeing us here and helping us though our daily lives," he said.

"When I go home my right arm is a lot better having been in a session of boxing with Mandy."

Before Covid there were plans to rebuild the club in St Martin's, where green mould grows on the walls no matter how often they are repainted, but the original cost of £500,000 doubled after the pandemic.

The club managed to hit its £1m target in summer.

Hobart said: "We just want to create a nice environment for the adults and children, make it more enjoyable and a safer place to train.

"I think I'm still quite overwhelmed by it but having reached that goal, it's just going to be amazing."

Keni Domaille, from the Amalgamated Boxing Club, said: "Mandy works around the clock, seven days a week.

"When she isn't physically here, she's at home or in the schools still working... she's helping the community, she's out advocating for the sport.

"She honestly doesn't stop, I do wonder what the club would do if we didn't have her, she's everything to the club."

Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey Sir Richard Cripwell praised Hobart for her work in the community and helping foster "the life skills that come from the sport that she's promoting".

"All of those things I think really did make a difference," he said.

Hobart said the recognition was nice but it was not the reason why she did it.

"My reward is seeing the kids and seeing that improvement and seeing them realise that improvement," she said.

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