McLaren Construction (Midlands and North) and Miller Developments have announced a partnership with Martin Murray ThinkFAST academy, to provide support and development for young people through the discipline and ethos of boxing.

Donating a total of £30,000 to the St. Helens-based Martin Murray Academy, McLaren Construction (Midlands and North) and Miller Developments have joined forces to help hard-to-reach young people with high quality social support and development through the academy’s ThinkFAST programme.

The six-week programme, which is supported by schools and parents, involves offering guidance to students of the academy through the teaching of coping mechanisms, keep fit and boxing.

The ThinkFAST student benefits include working alongside boxing coaches as strong and inspiring role models, where they are taught fitness, teamwork, anger management and discipline skills, alongside how to improve concentration and confidence through positive engagement and empowerment.

McLaren Construction Midlands and North has a long-standing relationship with Martin Murray and he has supported the contractor with past charitable events such as the Broughton project, which in partnership with British Land, engaged in a successful initiative to help ex-offenders back into employment.

Miller Developments and McLaren have collaborated previously to deliver a joint venture project at OMEGA Warrington and through introductions, the partnership and opportunity to support the Martin Murray academy was formed.

Gary Cramp, managing director of McLaren Construction (Midlands and North), said: “We are incredibly proud to be supporting Martin and the boxing community at the academy with their exceptional hard work and dedication to this fantastic programme.

“Enriching so many lives in the St. Helens and Warrington community, the ThinkFAST programme really inspires and supports young people, shaping lives for the better by introducing skillsets to nurture and grow confidence. We look forward to continuing our support to ThinkFAST with future events and initiatives.”

David Milloy, managing director of Miller Developments, said: “We are delighted to assist ThinkFAST in continuing the superb work they do to support and encourage vulnerable young people, to ensure that they have a better future.”

Martin Murray, founder of the Think Fast Academy, said: “We would like to thank Gary Cramp and the excellent teams at McLaren Construction and Miller Developments for all of their help and support with Think FAST Academy.

“The money that they have kindly donated will help us to continue to be able to deliver our crime prevention programmes to the young people of Merseyside and Cheshire. As well as working closely with the Youth Justice Service, we have also worked with the majority of high schools in both boroughs. This has meant that we have managed to help over 300 young vulnerable young people so far.

“Our vision is to continue to run as many programmes as possible in order to make the future brighter for our young people and in order to do this we need financial support, so we would like to thank you again for your faith and belief in our Academy.”

McLaren Construction (Midlands and North) and Miller Developments are planning to further support the academy with a future charity event and details will be released in due course.

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