Ex-boxing champ Jane Couch staging sponsored all nighter on Fleetwood beach
Former world boxing champ Jane Couch MBE is staging another sponsored sleep-out on Fleetwood beach with a bunch of pals.
Last year Jane and fellow members of the Chill Lounge, the women’s support group she set up in 2022, took part in an all-nighter on a freezing night in March.
Jane hoped it would become an annual event and this Saturday the girls, as well as friends, family and sponsors, will be doing it all over again.
The difference this time is that the event will take place in the middle of summer!
The former boxer says sponsors have helped the group raise £500 so far, and this will help local causes which don’t normally receive funding.
Jane said: “it was fun last time, even though it was freezing!
“This time it will be cool, because when it gets late the wind off the sea isn’t very warm, but it won’t be as cold.
“We just want to have a good night and use it to try and help some good causes in Fleetwood, local groups that don’t get support.
“If anyone is passing on the night and wants to bring us a few biscuits, a bag of chips or some coffee, they would be welcome to join us.”
Sponsors include Darren and Debbie Greenwood from Wyre Marine Services Ltd, scaffolder John Jordan and the King’s Arms pub on Lord Street.
Jane and the group will be on the beach behind the Marine Hall from around 6pm on Saturday (August 3), until around 8.30am on the Sunday morning.
Jane won the WIBF light welterweight title on four occasions, under the name the Fleetwood Assassin, after taking on the British Boxing Board of Control for the right to box professionally as a woman.
She scored a knock-out win over the board and this blazed a trail for other women boxers in the UK and Ireland for years to come.
After leaving boxing Jane became a boxing promoter in Bristol but has since spoken about mental health issues and set up the Chill Lounge, a female version of Men’s Shed, to help tackle social isolation.
In June, Jane joined the likes of legendary fighters Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis when she was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in America.