John Robertson
Manager/Club Leader
John joined the team at The Bradby Club in April 2011 as a Substance Misuse and Youth Worker and later took over as Centre Manager in 2016. Now, John has over 10 years of experience of working with young people and their families in a wide range of settings from clubs to schools to outdoor residential centres.
John is dedicated and passionate about working with young people and although he is now the Manager continues to be involved in delivery of the projects and services at the Centre. In 2013 John was awarded an upper second class degree with Honours in Youth and Community Services from the University of Worcester and has continued to add to this many other accredited training and qualifications to better his practice. Outside of the workplace John enjoys spending time with his family and attending the gym.
Rebecca Thomas
Safer Relationships/Youth Worker
Rebecca joined the team at the Bradby Club in December 2015, after volunteering and raising money for the club whilst at school back in 2010. She has worked part time as a tennis coach since the age of 15 working with children and young people, and collectively has spent over a year volunteering in various schools. In 2015 Rebecca graduated from De Montfort University with a 2:1 in BSc (Hons) Psychology before returning back to Rugby. As the Bradby Clubs Safer Relationships worker, Rebecca has completed sexual health and consent training, as well as training surrounding child protection, domestic violence and youth mental health first aid, which allows her to deliver sexual health and safer relationship education to children and young people in Rugby and Warwickshire. She also runs the young parents group at the Bradby Club with the help of Barnardos. Outside of work Rebecca enjoys playing sport (particularly tennis and rounders) and baking.
Jenni Windle
Youth Worker
Jenni first started attending Bradby as a young person taking part in youth sessions, projects, residentials and trips; over time this turned into volunteering for Bradby. Jen has always stayed connected and involved at the Centre so when a development role became available she snapped at the chance to improve knowledge and youth work practice and continue to help Bradby Club. Jenni is now well on her way to completing her level 2 Youth Work training, gaining more confidence and experience by the day. In her spare time Jen likes painting, which we hope she will do at the club, films and eating out.
Steven Glover
Youth Worker / Level 1 Amateur Boxing Coach
Steven began his time at Bradby as a young person attending youth sesions and then later Rugby Boxing Academy ABC. As Steven became an adult he began volunteering for Bradby and eventually achieved his England Boxing level 1 coaching badge. Steven is now working towards his level 2 Youth Work course and has taken up 1 of the development roles Bradby offered. Steven is thriving in his new role delivering sessions and 121 support and continues to develop his Youth Work knowledge and skills.
Darron Forrest
Project Worker / Boxing and Fitness
Darron Began attending The Bradby Club as a young person and has now been volunteering here for over 23 years. Darron has worked with and trained many young people over the years most notably through his passion for Kickboxing. He himself has had 119 fights with 88 wins, 5 draws and still holds a number of national Kickboxing titles. Adding to his huge experience Darron has various youth work certificates to his name including NVQ’s and a community sports leadership award. Darron is a very practical person and so delivers many of the woodwork and building projects that we offer here which young people very much enjoy. He has been a part of a number of residentials and challenges here including; 24hr peddle cart race, 100 mile canoe test, camping at Hind Leap Warren and even exchanges with a youth group in Rugby’s twinned town Rüsselsheim in Germany. Darron is a well-known and respected member of the community and he has seen young people grow up and whose own children now attend The Bradby Club. If you ask Darron why he does it he replies “I get to be a big kid all over again” but in reality he likes to make a difference in the lives of young people, which he has in no doubt done for many years. A word of warning, eyebrows have been known to go missing when Darron is on a residential.
Byron Banton
Head Boxing Coach/Rugby Boxing Academy ABA
Byron is our long serving boxing coach here at The Bradby Club. Byron began boxing when he was 12 years old and had roughly 30 fights as an amateur boxer winning 25 of those fights. Byron has always done some level of coaching throughout his boxing life but he has been our Head ABAE Coach at the club for nearly 30 years. As well as being an accomplished boxer and coach Byron is also; a black belt in Karate, 3rd dan black belt in Taekwon-do, 4th dan black belt in Kickboxing, a black belt in Filipino martial arts and a Silat practitioner. With this list of combat sport accomplishments it is clear that Byron is dedicated and when asked what the key to success in these sports is, Byron would answer “dedication and hard work”. Byron gets a buzz from training and coaching but what really makes him feel good is seeing the improvement in young people’s ability and mentality through their training and hard work.
Volunteers
Owen Batchelor, Dan Glover, Brandon Hopkin.