Town rallies after boxing club flood

Coach Harry Fiaz has spent the past week drying out Wellington Boxing Academy.

A boxing club has thanked people for their support, after a frozen pipe burst and flooded its gym.

Walls, floors and ceilings were damaged along with boxing equipment and the heating system at the charity-funded Wellington Boxing Academy in Telford.

Coach Harry Fiaz said: "It's really good to see local members of the community piling in, volunteers coming through, the donations that are happening."

The club has launched a crowdfunding appeal, looking for £8,000 to cover the damage.

Mr Fiaz said the first sign of damage was "a little bit of a drip from the ceiling" when he visited the gym on 3 December.

"A few hours later I was just taking a walk past and I thought 'it's not raining, so why can I hear rain?'

"The floor was all flooded, the ceiling looked like it was going to come through and I thought 'I'd better get something sorted now!'" he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

The deluge damaged boxing equipment, floors, walls and ceilings

Since the flood, the club has had dehumidifiers running non-stop to reduce the damp.

"We empty these buckets of water two or three times a day, and that's been a week now," said Mr Fiaz.

He added that the community support showed how valued the club was in Wellington.

"A lot of people bring their kids, and when you see them running around and having a laugh it's really nice to see it. But obviously they can't do that at the moment," he said

Dehumidifiers have been running non-stop at the gym to help dry it out

The club said it would need to replace its boiler as well as damaged equipment and the fabric of the building.

"What's really good to see is the local community pulling together," Mr Fiaz said.