Spit 'n' Sawdust Multi Sports Summer Camp

Spit n Sawdust Summer Camp For Primary School Aged Children

It's that time of year again. The first week of the summer holidays are approaching and people are off on their holidays. This used to be the time of the year I dreaded most as my gym would become empty due people going away or finding other things to do in the sunshine. But last year I decided to run a summer camp here at Spit n Sawdust and we had a great time.

This year I have decide to run the camp to coincide with school hours so that working parents can carry on with their usual routine and not worry about finding child-minders. The camps this year will run from 8.30am til 3.30pm with the option of an extension til 5pm for those who require it.

The Camp starts each day with a drink and a chat about what the day will involve and then the fun will begin with a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities which will include sports such as tennis, rounders, boxing training, basketball, football and games including stuck in the mud, British Bulldog, snooker, table football etc.. There will be a selection of soft drinks and snacks available and each day will finish with an Xfactor competition for the children who want to showcase their talents.

Having 4 (CRB Checked) trainers will ensure that all age groups will be catered for and the fun will flow thoughout the day. Expect your children to sleep well in the evening and be a whole lot fitter at the end of the course.

We have 30 places for primary school aged children every day of the week. Each week costs £60 (£1.71per hour) so we work out much cheaper than child minders, unless your family are helping you out of course. For those who wish to book daily, the cost is a reasonable £15 per day (2.14 per hour)

This Camp will run on every school holiday thoughout the year and bookings a first come first serve basis. So keep your children, yourself and me happy by booking a place today.

http://www.spitnsawdust.co.uk/ for you booking form

Good 'Evans

Good 'Evans Above

I have just been asked to nominate a young person for a Cherwell sports award. There are so many people who are talented at Spit n Sawdust. We had classy boxers like Imtiaz Khandokar, smooth skillfull boxers like Wesley Avery, cool boxers like Ayaz Muhammed and lots more who have come and gone as well as up and coming boxers like Ashley Crane, Max Kirkwood and DJ Patterson. But purely down to his hard work and dedication to the sport I had to choose Robert James Evans.

Although there has been many success stories at Spit n Sawdust I feel the person who has developed as a young person is most is Robert Evans.

I met Rob outside McDonalds just over 5 years ago when he was hanging around outside with his mates. I suggested to him that he join my boxing club. When I first met Rob he was just bumming around the streets, getting into scrapes with the law, smoking, including recreational drugs, drinking, which caused him to get in fights in the streets and he had no job and seemingly no ambition. His positive life change in my opinion was joining the boxing club.

Since joining the boxing club Rob has enjoyed success at every level of boxing. In his 1st year he entered and won The National Novice Amateur Boxing Association for boxers who had less then 10 bouts. Although Rob had only 2 fights before entering he won the national title at cruiserweight that year and went on to win the Intermediate National Championships the following year (Under 20 bouts) and then again after only 13 bouts entered the all England National Championships winning the championship Live on Sky Television.

Whilst all this was happening Rob was tee total. In fact after his 1st fight I took him out for a drink to celebrate and instead of getting drunk he had a soft drink. That was it he said and he trained everyday of the week for 6 hours a day. He never had time to get in trouble because he was always with me at the gym.

During these early times of him boxing many of the friends he used to 'hang with' were featuring on the front pages of the local papers for crimes and ended up in prison whilst he was making the back pages of the local papers for his acheivements in boxing. After reaching the highest level you can acheive as an amateur boxer Rob was then spotted by a photographer via facebook and through him met an agent got signed up as a model and went to Paris (the 1st time he had ever been abroad) and started modelling. He is now recognised as one of the worlds leading Supermodels and spends much of his time travelling the world on photoshoots with other 'supermodel' including Naomi Cambell. He is partying with the likes of Lennox Lewis and Beyonce on roof top parties in New York.

He recently was part of a campaign (through modelling) that was helping the victims of the tragedy in Japan. He also visited his old school, Warriner in Bloxham to let the children know where he was from and how hard work can get you anything you want in life. He is now having acting lessons and is in line to become an actor in the States. They say he is the biggest ever model (in size and popularity) to ever come out of England.

Rob now features on the front and back papers of Magazines and also on Billboards all over the world as the new face of CK One




The reason that I nominated Rob for this award is because he proved that hard work can result in great things. Everybody can acheive greatness as long as they believe they can and are prepared to put te work in. He refuses to be 2nd best at anything and this is why he has achieved so much. I remember Muhammad Ali saying whatever he chose to do in life he would have been the best in the world at it. Virtually everybody has the opportunity to be the best, most of us don't want it enough or are not prepared to work for it. Which is ok as long as we don't spend thed the rest of our lives thinking 'if only?'

"2 Chicken Balti's 2 boiled rice and a nan bread?... that will be £91.20 if you forgot to put a ticket on your car .... please"

Town Centre Evening Parking Charges
killing independent businesses and ‘driving’ shoppers away

In 2008 I became a Town Councillor with a view that I could be of use to the public of Banbury. It has to be said my work has mainly been with youths and in particular turning the lives around of youth offenders. I have to say, despite the bad press councillors have been getting recently from the media, I am proud and honoured to be chosen by the public for this post.

We as ‘Councillors’ all get to vote on different issues and we always go with the majority. Once such recent vote was in favour of charging the public of Banbury eighty pence to park in the town centre from 6pm until 12am. Although this may seem like a small amount it has shown to have an impact on the businesses in the Banbury Town Centre. Although I am a Councillor, this was a Cherwell ‘District’ Council matter and being a ‘Town’ Councillor I was unable to influence the vote, I opposed this vote via an email to the Town Council in their defence they told me the money raised from the parking, would be used to regenerate the town centre buy building more shops and homes in the town centre. This initially seemed like a fair argument but why regenerate a town centre using ‘your money’ to drive people out of the town centre? Brackley offers free parking as an incentive for people to visit their town as do Witney, Chipping Norton and many other towns in the area whilst we seem to be driving people away. A recent article in the Banbury Guardian highlighted the fact that a disabled lady now shops in Brackley due to the fact we are now charging ‘Blue Badge’ holders to park.

Whilst retail parks and supermarkets are offering free parking and you can get a take-away from most housing estates, the town centre businesses such as cafe’s & restaurants, the cinema, the snooker club pubs and clubs etc… are suffering and under threat of closure. Just as we seem to be climbing out of the recession and more people are finding money to maybe go for a drink or a meal in the town centre the council makes it more difficult,

The action taken by the Council has led a local business to start a petition to re-install the free parking in the evenings. I believe the regeneration that promises more shops and residential accommodation will cause more problems for the town centre. Where will all the new residents be parking there cars? Especially now as landlords don’t have to provide parking for their occupants.

I think the Council have done a wonderful job recently with pedestrianisation of Parson Street and the Market Place but we need to attract people to Banbury so they can see it and spend their money here. Call me old fashioned but I feel the town centre of Banbury should be the heart of the town and we need to fight to keep it that way. If you want to sign the petition visit Veritas or Spit n Sawdust both on North Bar Street or use the link End Evening Car Parking Charges in Banbury www.thepetitionsite.com to voice your opinion

Life aint so bad

It has been a while since my last blog and there have been many contributing factors. Including finding enough time, choosing what to write about, dealing with situations and members at the gym etc... but the main reason for me not writng is because at times I have been angry with one thing or another and haven't always been happy with my reactions. If I am angry the I will write with too much emotion and probably miss the point, so I decided to hold back from writing until I could get it clear in my head as to what I would write about. I also wanted to ensure that I could approach it without offending people or coming across, as someone suggested as 'thinking I was God Almighty' It is easy to give advice, as I am sure most of us know, whilst not taking the advice ourselves and therefore coming across as a hypocrite.

I will try to keep todays blog about how my personal situations have impacted on my life in the hope that others can relate to my situations and how I have dealt with them, or not, with the hope that it will inspire others to a happier or more fullfilled life.

Growing up in the 1970's in Coventry as a mixed raced kid had it's problems for me. Racism was probably my biggest concern as it was far more open and flippent comments made by 'friends' made me feel insignificant, but I laughed them off. I would watch documentarieis on the television which would serve to highlight how life was not going to improve as I grew older and left school. I watched programmes such as 'Love Thy Neighbour', which to be honest I did find funny but I couldn't imagine it being shown now.  It was so openly racist it was incredible looking back.  But as I say I found it funny, it was just the way things were. I remember watching a documentary that showed the different reaction a black man got to a white man when going for a job. How the black man who showed the same qualifications was dismissed as being underqualified and then how the white man was offered the job. The documentary also showed how a black man was refused entry to a golf club as there were no spaces for new members but when the white man was sent in he was accepted with open arms. As a adult in Banbury whilst working a factory, an Asian man was interviewed for a job. The interview went well but as the man left the interview room his interview papers were torn up and derogatory remarks were said of the mans colour.

Now this is not a blog about racism, it is a blog about how I was affected by these incidents. As a child I had little confidence. I had a father who was a strong role model who had educated me to be proud of my colour and heritage. I took strength from other role models such as Muhammad Ali, The West Indian cricket team who were flying at the time and winning everything and I also knew there were people far worse off than I was. But at school things were different, I struggled with confidence. I felt less capable of learning than my fellow white students, I found myself sitting at the back of the class praying the teacher would not ask me a question I didn't know the answer to. When I thought I knew the answer to the question I would raise my hand but would still worry that if I was chosen that I would get it wrong. So school was difficult and not having confidence has helped me understand what some of the children, and adults, who come to my gym are going through or have been through. What I try to do is to give them confidence through showing them they can be good at something and in almost all cases this confidence spreads to other aspects of their lives.

I was convinced as a youngster I would end up with no job, I had no prospects, would never afford to pass my driving test so never have a car. No girl would find me attractive so I wouldn't get married have children or a family. I did have dreams like every kid but my sights were aimed lower than most. As far as girls go I assumed all girls would be too embarrassed to go out with me because of my colour and was once told by a girl later in life that she would have married me but her dad was racist? But I did eventually get a girlfriend and I had my first kiss at 17 years old. How embarrassing was that. I remember thinking what is she doing with her tongue? It was like she was searching for my chewing gum that I had just used to freshen my mouth.

I remember drifting through my school years and outside of school fearing gangs of skinheads which is why I eventually joined a boxing club. Another thing that I found difficult was, although to all my white school friends I was 'Black Dave' When I left school and started hanging with some black friends they called me 'light-skinned' Dave or 'Red Skin' I didn't seem to fit in anywhere? I wanted to be seen as BLACK because that is how I was brought up by my father.

What I have learnt over the years is that you will always suffer and never find happiness whilst you are blaming others or circumstances for your unhappiness. I am now a reasonablly successful man. I am a Town Councillor and business owner who is happy with life in general. I am happy in my skin and have no race issues. I believe I can achieve anything I put my mind to but also know I need to work much harder if I want to progress.

In the past I have carried burdons along with me. You could even say I had a 'chip on my shoulder' Most things wrong in my life could be blamed on something. I would never openly use the colour card but to myself it was a reason for not acheiving what I wanted. I have blamed the economy for the gyms failings when all I need to do is work harder on the business side of things I have blamed so many things on the way I was bought up and my lack of formal education. But then some times I stand back and have a good look at my self and think 'Dave you are a lucky B****rd' I am healthy happy and have a great family. I can and do help people with their lives which gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction. I am living proof that not having a formal education doesn't mean you can't gain the respect of your peers.

I once read in a self help book that if you make a list of everything you have ie: partner, kids or the school they go to, the car, your house or area you live in, your friends etc.. and then ticked off the things you would change, then all the things that you wouldn't change are the areas in your life where you were already rich. In our society we seem to dwell on what we don't have instead of what we have and it is fair to say most of us want more. But in my opinion we shouldn't forget what we hold dearest to us.

I still read every day and the book I am reading at the moment is 'The Art of Happiness' by the Dalia Lama and an American Psychiatrist called Howard Cutler. Whilst I have no desire to become a Buddhist Monk or a phychiatrist reading this book has made me realise more than ever that once you are happy with yourself it is far easier to show compassion to other people.

Former friends lock horns & 7 year old headlocks another under water to make friends

The Headline was as much to get your attention as it was true and the story features later in this blog. The story is more about compassion

On meeting people I always try to meet them with compassion. I imagine most people are going through similar trials and hardships that I have been through in my life. Many people I know have suffers losses of loved ones, divorce and separations, lost their jobs their homes etc... So when I meet someone new I keep this in mind. If you meet people with compassion you will find the atmosphere is far more relaxed than if you meet with hostilty. By showing a caring honest nature people will me more open and trusting of you. If on the other hand you are defensive or try to let a person know of your significance and self importance you are likely to get a less than warm welcome.


As a doorman I would often meet young men with a point to prove. They would appraoch me and tell me what fights they had 'apparently' been involved in, some would offer to watch my back if any trouble started and often smaller men would tell me how they were much tougher than they looked. On a rare ocassion I would get challenged by a drunken man who was out to impress his mates but would always diffuse the situation and have even told some that we could have a spar at my boxing club as I wouldn't want to take advantage of them whilst they were drunk. No one ever comes to the club to fight me and that's the way I like it. I know these people are drunk so I show compassion as it is far easier, nobody gets hurt, nobody's pride is damaged and I don't have to 'watch my back' next time I walk through town.


You see I think people are born into this world as gentle , caring people. That first look between a mother and child is magical and nature makes it this way. Apart from in rare cases most mothers will instantly bond with her child and compassion from the mother and daughter is off the scale. This is because of a chemical reaction in the brain, hormones are released to ensure there is a bond that keeps their relationship and therefore our civilisation going. The bravado I spoke of in pubs and clubs is normally an alcohol induced way of men showing they are 'Real Men'. Most of them when they go home will give their misses a kiss goodnight, Cuddle their children in the morning stroke the dog and get upset if they see a child suffering on TV.


What also can get in the way of compassion is selfish behaviour normally brought on by insecurity, too much pride and a lack confidence in the ability to solve a problem. People will use their upbringing as an excuse for lack of compassion. They will hurt people in either physical or emotional ways to be significant. I once asked a lad, who was asked to talked to me by his mentor, why he hurt people. He was 7 years old and recently whilst he was swimming he held another youth under the water in a headlock. His response was "It's how I get friends" At 7 years old he had older boys being his 'friend' because they feared him. Clearly they weren't his friends but they made him feel significant because they would rather be nice to him than face the consequences. Two other people I know and have taught at my club joined my club for the same reasons as each other. They had similar backrounds of a similar age and were going in the wrong direction. They were drinking too much, smoking, taking drugs and fighting on the streets Initially they became friends but over time they have grown apart and are now these once good friends are fiercest of enemies. I think it is crazy but they both have big personalities so are clashing and I fear it could all end up with someone getting seriously hurt or locked up.


The trouble is their pride is getting in the way of their compassion. Whilst I believe they should call a truce all their friends and family are encouraging them to do the opposite. It is now involving too many people and niether man is prepared to call a truce because of their pride.

Earning respect to me is about generosity and tolerence and looking for the good in people rather than imagining every person who didn't react the way you expected as being ingnorant or as I have heard people say "up themselves" Life can be difficult enough without adding more problems.





one love

Pleasure can be a pain

I meet and talk to people of all ages every day of the week. A few weeks ago I was talking to a man who writes the obituaries a National Newspaper 'The Guardian', yesterday I was talking to a man who writes the scripts for the TV show Casualty. Today I was talking to a retired school teacher and I speak often to a young man who was a heroin addict but is now sorting his life out but I am also talking to drug addicts who are struggling to see how their lives will ever improve and I talk to children with ADHD and Asperges and chat in the precinct to students whom I have met at Frank Wise School. I will sit down for my morning coffee at Cafe Nero to read a book in the hope that I can learn something that will help me understand peoples lives and give me an idea of how I can make a difference, how I can help or sometimes just to find out how the minds of world leaders such as Ghandi, Barak Obama, Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela work and imagine I can make a difference just like they have I will also read books about leaders like Genghis Khan and Adolph Hitler to see how there minds work.. Maybe I am just looking for something to make my life more fulfilled?

I haven't always wanted to make a difference. When I was young it was all about me. I wanted to be a world champion, I wanted fast cars, a big house, all the things I see youngsters craving for now. I won Championships in boxing and kick boxing and fought in Europe and the USA. The most important person in the world was me but I was never really happy.

I always wanted something more and I do think it is what most people want, and if I am honest I still want a nice car, a big house, holidays every year. Most people I know have these things so why shouldn't I? But now these things are not so important. Although I am writing about them now, I never talk of my achievements on the street and rarely at my gym because they are not important. Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to talk about my achievements if people ask but I don't volunteer the information. There are so many people who have achieved far more than me and they are less happy than I am. Frank Bruno was a World Champion who slipped into a well publicised depression depression as was Mike Tyson. They were rich but never found happiness through having money. All the money in the world won't buy you happiness but money is what everybody chases. We all think winning the lottery is the answer but it has caused resentment and has divided families. On the whole I think too money causes resentment.

Pleasure and Happiness

We all want to be happy. But sometimes we seek pleasure instead of happiness. I like to think that pleasure is short lived whilst happiness is something we carry with through our lives.

Pleasure can come in many forms; We take pleasure from eating, SEX, buying a new car, going on holiday, winning a boxing match was a pleasure. Even destructive actions can be pleasurable: getting drunk, putting a bet on the winning horse in the Grand National, the relief you feel when you take the first drag of a cigarette, the rush you get from a cocaine hit, even when I have seen a man kick his friend in the head in a drunken argument must have given pleasure as his foot landed even if he did feel bad about it when he sobered up.

I write these blogs because I know from the comments I get that many people can relate to what I am saying having been through similar circumstances. I like many people who are reading this have been a victim of destructive pleasure and I see it many times in people on a daily basis.

How many of us have friends and families we have seen struggle through life and not been able to stop their destructive habits eat away at their happiness. Worse still, how many of us encourage the destructive behavior On the other side how many people have destructive habits and can see how much it is hurting the people closest to them? and how many don't realize or care enough about themselves to be bothered. My mother asked why, if alcoholism is a disease why can't they just cut it out, she clearly hated being an alcoholic. My mother died at 44 years old

Pleasures are great and a big part of our happiness. But I am learning to understand long lasting happiness is far better than short lived destructive pleasures. I am happier now knowing this but frustrated because there are people I care about who seem to be on self destruct and it breaks my heart.

To be continued........

You helped keep me in business Thank you so much

Wow!!!! What a response to my plea to get me out of trouble. I have to admit the emotions got the better of me yesterday after I paid the baliffs and a tear or two did fall from my eyes. So a massive thank you to all the people who helped. Because of you I am still in business doing what I love doing. I will be having a little party to celebrate soon in my bar when I open it at the gym and hopefully you can all come and see the gym you have helped save. The future of Spit n Sawdust looks a lot better than it did. I have so many plans. I want Spit n Sawdust gyms all over the country. I am going to work soooo hard to make sure it happens but first I will make sure this one stays afloat.

I have said over and over again in my blog and to anyone who wants to hear "I love my job and would never want to change it" So why was I up this morning at 5am stressing about it again asking myself why? I am fortunate enough to have a job where I can help people on a daily basis, not just children, adults too. There are so many people who moan about their jobs and hate their jobs and can't wait til Friday weekends are too short and weeks are too long, the boss is a w**ker etc etc... But I have no boss Other than the tax-man and I love going to work. For this I am grateful.

Much of my job, away from the fitness training is convincing people children and adults, they can be everything they want to be. I try to get people to live for the now whilst planning for the future. I believe we are what we believe we are.

If we think we are useless under achievers, nobody likes us, we will never have a decent job, have a nice house, fall in love THEN WE WON'T! If we think we are too fat or too skinny, if we think we are ugly and no-one will ever love us THEN IT'S TRUE. I firmly believe that we aare a product of our thoughts and we convince ourselves that everything is against us so therefore it must be.

But the reverse is also true. If we learn to love ourselves (not in a conceted way) and tell ourselves we important and can achieve anything we want to achieve, can have any job we want as long as we work hard for it then WE WILL. If we decide we are going to be fit and if we are a little overweight or underweight it doesn't matter because it can be fixed and if we love ourselves people are more likely to love us then these things will be true.

This is the reason I am up at 5am on a Wednesday morning. I was up because although:

• I have my own business with only 2 GCSE's and an O'level in art





• I seem to have the respect of the community in Banbury. Hey I was even elected by Banbury people as a Town Councillor





• I have my very own boxing club





• I have a lovely supportive family





• My gym is busier than it has ever been and the boxing club is growing in numbers

I felt let down by one individual who shall remain nameless because it was me I was letting down by over-reacting

There are lots more reasons for me to be happy about but I woke up thinking the world was against me and the gym would eventually fail and all the people who helped me will now hate me. Sometimes at work I will feel let down and totally deflated, and that happened in a class last night. But it shouldn't have. My mind over reacted and it made me wake up at 5am this morning questioning why I do what I do. But the answer is easy....... I love my job.

I spend much of my time talking to kids and sometimes their parents and have some fantastic results. To some of you, convincing a father to take his 15 year old son out and buying him a coke might not mean much, but to me it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. You see normally this man buys his lad a shandy. Hardly a crime and I am sure most dads do and most 15 year olds go out and get drunk. But when I found out I was so upset I had to talk to the father and do my best to convince him that he shouldn't buy his lad a drink because he is a boxer now and if he is a drinker and his opponents are not then it will slow his reactions and he could seriously injured.

You see I don't believe habits that have been passed down the family are always a good thing. The slave trade passed through many generations but I am sure my ancestors weren't happy about it. My mother had a drink problem that has passed through one side of my family and I know thats not a good thing. This is probably why I have a bigger problem with drink than most people and think children should wait a bit longer before hitting the alcohol. They are in the morning of their lives and they have still to live their day.

I am a bit of an idealist at times and expect the impossible. But I am wise enough to understand we are all individuals and I am not always right, that is what makes the world such a wonderful place to live in. But I do believe I can help and know I have helped some people and it's what I live to do now.

I can see that what I have written can be seen as not moving with the times. Maybe I should accept that kids are drinking younger experimenting with drugs younger and having sex younger but I can't. I have seen too many lives wrecked through drinking and drugs and too many teenage pregnancies to turn a blind eye.

I would like to be seen as a builder of dreams for youngsters, not someone known for stopping children having fun.