FOR the second year in succession, County Durham amateur boxing club Brandon ABC has scooped Tyne Tees Wear Association awards, this time taking home three gongs.

After a successful third year for the club, coaches Alex Oliver and brother Adam, Simon Patterson, Paul Bainbridge and Paddy O’Connor have witnessed continuing success in the ring, culminating in their two Golden Girl protégés, Georgia O’Connor and Megan Bainbridge, claiming international honours.

Brandon seniors Karl Turner, Peter Hardman and captain John Dixon also continued to make great strides as the club, a central hub for the community, picked up three awards.

Turner claimed the Senior Boxer of the Year title, coach Patterson followed in cousin Alex Oliver’s footsteps by adding the Coach of the Year award and Brandon also claimed the overall Club of the Year award. The latter two were won for the second successive year.

The family connections at Brandon go back a long way. Alex Oliver and Patterson both started at Spennymoor – roots they will not forget – coach Paul Bainbridge is the father of Golden Girl Megan and then there is the plethora of seniors and juniors causing a stir.

Now, with the three awards this year adding to last year’s double success, the club's Sport England bid for new premises to go into the new season has never looked so good.

Oliver said: “The support for this has been unreal, whether it be local businesses or the community overall.

“The bid for Sport England has been submitted though and it’s now a waiting game we’ll play of around eight weeks. We should, fingers crossed, be in new premises, our own premises, for the start of the new season and that’s in part down to the amazing success we’ve had with the TTW Awards the past two years.”

It is hard to think that the club has been going three years this month, and only two years on the amateur circuit. But for some, it goes back much further than that.

Patterson said: “Alex and I started as kids at Shildon and then Spennymoor, with Rob Ellis, before I joined the Army for a few years.

“Although I was coaching and training with the Army, there’s a lot more continuation with the civilian side. With the military, you only have it for a few months of the year. Saying that though, I am coaching the 101 Reservist Regiment as well as being at Brandon.

“Personally though the past 12 months have been great. There’s a fantastic relationship between the coaches and the boxers and that’s what has spurred us on. Now we are looking at even further progression this year and pushing the team on more, more so the girls because the competition is tougher for the lads, but they all train really hard and there’s the realization there of the dedication and commitment.

“A lot of these have begun from scratch with us and look where they are at now.”

Senior Boxer of the Year Turner, although only having four fights to his name in the amateur game, has made great strides and will be entered into this year’s Novice Championships, where expectations are high.

Alex added: “Both Simon and Karl deserve their awards more than anything and I’m looking forward to helping pushing Karl on more this year.

“You get 100 per cent commitment and dedication from him, as well as perfect execution in how he does things – we saw that much at the Meadowfield show. We’re now going to test him against more experienced fighters and you just never know as to how far he’ll go; he has the talent.”

Patterson also sees a lot of progression for the senior quartet in 2016, with the novices this year before pushing on to the Elite ABAs in 2017.

He said: “With Peter (Hardman), John (Dixon), Karl (Turner) and Jay (Wilson), we know that, with experience, they aren’t that far off before we actually put them into the elites.

“Karl is being put into the novices this year and we’ve got a full conveyor belt coming through now, ranging from nine to 30 plus, so further development, and hopefully new premises, will see continued success at the club.”

Brandon’s next amateur show will be the annual charity outing with Durham University at the Ramside Hall Hotel on January 29, when the award-winners and the club's two Golden Girls will be in attendance.