HIDDEN away down a quiet country lane in Compton Greenfield, lies one of the most successful sports clubs in South Gloucestershire.

Spaniorum Farm Gym has produced boxing stars past and present in former women’s world champion Jane Couch MBE and British Masters champion Danny Butler, and hope more will follow in their footsteps.

This Sunday the club hosts its annual Christmas Bash at the Marriott Hotel in Bristol with two of their talented boxers, Martin Robins and Peter Leworthy, in action.

The club has come a long way since boxing trainer Tex Woodward moved to Spaniorum Farm in 1976, when he initially coached young squash players, and two British heavyweight world champions have trained at the gym in that time.

Frank Bruno trained at the gym when working on a pantomime in Bristol, while Lennox Lewis trained there twice a day for a few weeks while training out of London.

At 76 and with over 50 years experience, Woodward has not lost his enthusiasm for boxing, although he now has the benefit of Couch’s support, who has recently become the first woman to gain a manager’s licence and has done lots of promotion work since retiring.

“The idea in the first place was to get enough of the public in to pay the overheads and pay the boxers,” said Woodward “The one thing I expect is improvement, whatever level they come to me at.

“Over the years, some have never boxed before and some just need their style changed a bit. Jane is the most successful I’ve worked with - not many get five world titles - and Danny is the best professional men’s boxer.”

Woodward used to be the chairman of the Women’s International Boxing Federation (WIBF) and it was while watching a show that he invited Couch to come down to the gym.

In 1998, the ‘Fleetwood Assasin’ became the first British woman to be awarded a professional licence and Couch is grateful to Woodward for given her an opportunity to break new ground.

“In women’s boxing it is hard to get anyone to train you so I jumped at the chance,” she said.

“I had nowhere else to train and the rest is history, I won five world titles and it’s all good. They all turned their back on me in my home town and once I had a bit of success they wanted me to go back.

“Without Tex I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to win the world titles or to get into promoting and managing. He’s like a father figure to me - he rescued me.”

Under the banner, ‘Best in the West’, the gym is an old cider brewery and the place has a quaint feeling about it.

Couch lives next door to Woodward, right next to the gym, and thrives on teaching young hopefuls.

“It’s one big happy family, she said. “It’s quite old fashioned but that is what’s nice about it, it’s a nice and friendly place to work out.

Enjoying her new role as manager, Couch added: “It’s going really well, I’ve signed three new lads.

“I’m following in Tex’s footsteps so when he gives up I can keep it going.”

Couch is currently negotiating a deal for Butler, who was a junior wrestler when he joined the gym aged 13, to take part in Sky’s Prizefighters for a second time in February.

Butler has split from his 12-month deal with Hatton promotions after a row over his decision to take on Darren Barker for the British and Commonwealth titles at short notice earlier this month.

On Sunday, Robins will be looking to extend his professional winning record to five as he faces Jason Nesbitt, while Spaniorum Farm stable-mate Leworthy will look to bounce back from successive defeats against Anthony Hanna. Tickets are available for dinner or just the boxing and can be booked by calling 07540 364766.