A Raploch community stalwart has gone from delivering Boxing Day lunches to boxing tips in the ring – all in the name of giving back.
Vinney Coyle, who is the owner of Vinney’s Bar, has become a well-kent face for his efforts in helping out, particularly following the crushing impact of the pandemic.
He took inspiration after volunteering with the Start Up Stirling foodbank and is now a key part of a local programme which provides festive food hampers and Christmas gifts to those less fortunate.
The scheme, which receives donations from customers at the bar as well as the MXP Fitness gym where he works as a child protection officer, supports around 86 families this year.
The hampers deliver a full Christmas and Boxing Day dinner and breakfast, basic utilities and also gifts for families with young children.
But in addition to that effort, Vinney has been pulling on the gloves to help young kids and teenagers down at MXP with boxing skills, as well as teaching vital tools such as social skills and confidence.
Vinney told the Observer: “The hampers started off with about 40 people in the first year, then it was 60 in 2021 and now it’s growing even bigger.
“The pub and gym have donated around £7,000 in total between customers’ generosity and various events through the course of the year and the help goes out across Stirling, not just in Raploch.
“The people here generate most of the activities and I’m just the central pivot of things to pull it all together.
“For the hampers, the schools nominate families that might need the help and we try to get it organised by December 10 so the families know at least their Christmas dinner is sorted and they can allocate their money elsewhere.
“This year, it might help a family spend money on their heating and electricity, through the pandemic when people weren’t working, it was helping with getting kids some gifts.
“There are local people and friends who support everything we try to do; the customers of the gym and pub who always take a raffle ticket and there’s people like Bella from Bella’s Takeaway in Raploch who has been great in donating foods.”
The spirit of helping others has now extended to his role at the gym, where he attempts to help kids stay on the right path by learning key skills in between the ropes.
Vinney added: “It all started when my business had to close during Covid and my wife was a nurse so she was still going out to work everyday so I was sitting there thinking ‘what will I do?’
“I joined Start Up as a volunteer and then soon going to the gym and volunteering was helping my wellbeing because it had that social aspect of being able to see people and keep the mind good.
“They are confidence-building boxfit classes and it also builds communication skills. You see these kids develop and move on; I’ve known some of them for ten years now and those kids are getting ready for their first professional fight, it allows them the confidence to choose what they want to do.”
