Culture And Memory

The Champs Camp Archive Project: preserving the legacy and telling the stories of the UK’s first black-led boxing gym

We will preserve and open-up a hugely significant but largely unknown episode in Black British history though the story of the UK’s first Black-led boxing club. Its legacy will be preserving a unique and extensive archive of film and photography, recording a wide-ranging oral history, and producing a permanent digital archive accessible to everyone. The project has significant backing from local and boxing communities in Manchester and beyond and from young people, all of whom have all shown a strong interest in a series of planned engagement activities. The multi-partner nature of the project – bringing together an established heritage charity, a major university and a small charity located in an area of high socio-economic disadvantage, along with two local Community Interest Companies – is a particular strength, providing the expertise and experience needed to run a successful project challenging the long-standing association of Moss Side with guns and gangs.