No Bulldozers – Yet
EDWARD LOFTS tells HIP why he wants to redevelop St Anne’s Mission Church
Ed Lofts
I was born in Hastings in the Buchanan hospital in 1982. I ended up winning seven world kickboxing titles by fighting all over the world and taught the GB kickboxing team, taking them to the World Championships in Germany. Martial arts led me to help people with mental health and complex trauma. It gives children a path to follow so they’ve got some discipline and concentration.
I’ve been teaching martial arts to people for years, and I’ve been trying to find full-time premises that are suitable to run a state-of-the-art physical training facility. We were at the back of Ashdown House at the social club but we were ousted so they could build 150 houses there.
Since then, I’ve been renting premises around Hastings and saving up money in order to buy a building and convert it properly, or to build somewhere from scratch. The redundant damp-ridden St Anne’s church was the only available place that was partly suitable for what we wanted. But it’s massively expensive to run and too small for our long-term needs. So if I can develop it for housing, then I can channel that money back into building a full-time facility that’s suitable for a commercial gym with a meeting hall where we can deliver therapy and seminars in Hastings about child development.
The reason businesses are failing in Hastings is because of the council. They are completely incompetent. They should never have rejected our planning application in the first place, and the planning inspector destroyed their reasons for doing so. The whole process and the appeal have been a huge waste of money – it’s cost me personally at least £80,000. It’s all my own funding which could have been going back into the business of helping children. I’m still in shock about how long it’s taken.
We’ve had a lot of bad press. I’ve had swear words written on my car. I’ve had people storm into the church and nearly have physical fights with me. I’ve had to put up with a hell of a lot over the past four years, and all I’m trying to do is take care of children’s mental health and development.
The bulldozers aren’t going to be moving in in the immediate future. I still have a fully functioning gym inside the church which is providing a home for the children I teach. Classes are on every day of the week and until we find a new home, that won’t be changing.
For information visit vfgym.co.uk
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