'We haven't got much, but what we do have we respect'

'Each for all, all for each,' reads the engraving on the tower above Collyhurst and Moston Boxing Club.

It's a reminder of the building's origins as a Victorian reading room. But its message of self-improvement and community is as true today as it was back then.

On Monday morning a small group of teenagers are doing an English lesson in a classroom off the main gym. On the wall a TV is showing a re-run of Saturday night's Canelo V Alvarez fight from Las Vegas.

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'That's not enough. You need to write more than that,' the teacher says to one lad, as he looks over his worksheet. It turns out the task involves writing down the names of different punch combinations.

He suggests a double uppercut, demonstrating the move by getting the teen to his feet and showing how the punches could be thrown in a clinch. And, while all this is going on, in the gym next door lessons of a very different kind are taking place.

There, the likes of former Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Lyndon Arthur and super-featherweight world title contender Zelfa Barrett are being put through their paces by legendary Manchester trainer Pat Barrett. It might seem like an odd mix, but it's a typical scene at one of Manchester's oldest and most-respected boxing clubs.

Every weekday, pupils from across Greater Manchester who've been excluded from school, or are on the brink of being kicked out, come to the club on Lightbowne Road to take their classes. Some of the kids are in care, others have got involved in petty crime or are mixed up in gangs.

It's part of what's known as the 0161 Project, a pioneering scheme which aims to use the unique power of boxing to give these kids the chance to turn their lives around. Named after the Bugzy Malone song Late Night in the 0161, it's the brainchild of former WBU light-middleweight champion Tommy McDonagh.

After retiring, Tommy and Pat took over the gym from Manchester boxing great Brian Hughes. And, on a couple of occasions Tommy was asked to go into schools and speak to kids who were in danger of going off the rails.

"We found boxing was a real good way of reaching them," he said. "Bringing them to the gym had an effect on their whole outlook."

Part of the reason for that, Tommy believes, is the gym's unique atmosphere of discipline and respect.

"This gym has got a reputation," he said. "The way it looks, the way it smells, the characters that come here. It's like something from a Rocky film. We haven't got much but what we do have we respect, and that rubs off on them."

And, from there, the idea for the 0161 Project was born. Now, around 150 kids, teenagers and young adults attend the gym and four other centres across north Manchester every week. Some are taught conventional school lessons, before spending the afternoon in the gym.

Others learn basic life skills, such as cooking, or how to use a washing machine, while some of the older ones do vocational courses with a view to learning a trade or getting an apprenticeship.

"We are not a school and we are never going to be a school," says Tommy. "There's no point us talking to them about politics or anything like that, because none of us have got a clue.

"Instead we talk to them about knife crime, gangs, grooming, fitness, discipline - the things that are going on their lives. And while that's happening they've got people like Lyndon Arthur and Zelfa Barrett training next to them.

"It's like 'Why can't you do what they've done?'"

And Tommy says he now gets as much satisfaction from helping turn a young person's life around as he does from watching a a top prospect climb the boxing ranks.

"I left school at 15. I never sat an exam. So I can relate to them," he says. "I can help these kids, so if I didn't do that I'd be an idiot. I get texts telling me they've got a job, or they've been offered more hours at work. I love it."

Adam Lindpaul is one of the 1016 Project's mentors. The 18-year-old fled to the UK from Mosul, scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the Iraq war.

His dad was killed during the conflict, leaving his mum to bring up four kids alone. The family moved to Manchester and in 2020 Adam walked up the stairs of the gym for the first time.

"Boxing is like therapy for me," he says. "It makes me feel good about myself. It boosts my confidence."

Adam, a promising amateur fighter who dreams of turning pro, hopes by sharing his story he can help the kids he coaches choose the right path'.

"Kids round here, it's easy for them to go out and sell drugs, carry knives and hang around with the wrong people," he says. "This [the gym] is something that can get you off that negative path.

"Where I come from we didn't have these privileges. I try to speak to them and make them see that they have choices, choices that I never had.

"Mine is a different story and hopefully by telling it I can help them make wise choices."

Jessica Cooper, 18, joined the project after finding college was not to her liking.

"I lasted four weeks," she said. "It just wasn't for me. I was crying in the toilets. Nobody listened to me. I was just overwhelmed."

But, Jessica, from New Moston, says when she started at the 0161 Project she instantly felt at home. "They just get me as a person," she said. "Everyone here has listened and been patient with me."

She's now resitting the maths and English GCSEs she failed at school, taking a boxing coaching qualification and is also gaining work experience at a hairdressers in Prestwich. And more importantly she says she's now looking forward to her future.

"I really don't know what I would be doing [if it wasn't for the project," she says. "I was going from job to job, not really sticking at anything. I didn't have a future, now I have so many options I can't decide what I want to do."

And it's not just the youngsters being offered hope by the project. Mentor and boxing coach Frank McDonagh, 26, says he was 'a bit stuck' when his uncle Tommy offered him a job in the early days of the project. Now he can't imagine working anywhere else.

"This job is like being paid twice," he says. "I'm not a teacher. I didn't got to university," he says. "I'm not in a suit and tie, I'm here in a tracksuit. I think they can relate to me and know that I'm telling them the truth.

"Boxing teaches you you have to rely on yourself. And coming in here dents their ego a little bit.

"I've seen kids who, don't get me wrong, I imagine they'd be a bit of problem out there, but in here it's different. When they're being sick after a minute in the ring, it humbles them, but in a good way. I think everyone can change, but you have to want to change."