“I’ve lost friends to knife and gun crime, I’ve been to prison. Nothing positive comes out of that life.”
Seven years ago Andrew Groom changed his life. As a child, he’d gotten involved in a ‘bad crowd’. Out of fear, he began to carry a knife and things spiralled from there.
Andrew, from Birkenhead, said:
I started smoking cannabis and drinking at the age of 11. By 14 I’d left school and I had no positive role models. I was attracted to the wrong kind of people who I thought were role models - but were anything but.
I ended up involved in drugs and, through fear of the people I was around, I started carrying a knife. I was never a bad child, I never wanted to harm anyone, I was completely motivated by fear.
Through his teenage years Andrew continued down a path which involved petty crime until he was involved in something much darker.
I was attacked when I was 19/20 and I dealt with it in the worst way possible. I ended up being arrested for attempted murder. I was found not guilty but I still received a five-year prison sentence as it was so serious. When I came out of prison in 2001 I was involved with more hardened criminals and carried on in that criminal lifestyle for many years.
I had no support and things got worse and worse.
In 2018, Andrew decided that something had to change. He started volunteering with Wirral Ways, the drug and alcohol service, in his community. He joined a local boxing club and started helping out, coaching kids and young fighters, before getting his license through the British boxing board and becoming a personal trainer.
Fast forward to 2024, Andrew decided to use his life experience to help others. He founded ‘Weapons Down Wirral’, a non-profit CIC aiming to build safer communities. He also opened Argyle Community Fitness with the help of volunteers, local businesses, and national lottery funding.
Andrew said:
I wanted to help people who were in a similar situation to me, to share my experience and give some guidance.
Andrew had his sights set on helping kids in his community to avoid making the mistakes he did.
My target was the youth offending team because that was my background. They got involved a while back and now we host regular sessions, early interventions, with young kids who are at risk of committing offences or have committed minor offences - minor or petty crime.
Funded by Wirral Youth Justice Service as part of the Turnaround Project, Andrew and his team host weekly boxing sessions with children and young people who are receiving support from youth justice. While the sessions help the young people focus on something positive, they also offer the opportunity for mentoring from Andrew, someone who understands what they’re going through.
I don’t tell anyone what to do I just tell them what happened to me. That I’ve lost friends to knife and gun crime, that I’ve been to prison myself. Nothing positive comes out of that life.
The kids who come in are reluctant at first, but we do team building, boxing, pad work and we talk to them like mentoring but informal. By the time they’re finished they’ve knackered but they’ve got a smile on their face.
The sessions, which started in October 2025 are already helping children and young people.
We have a young lad who is struggling in school with bullying and his family being targeted. He’d been caught carrying a weapon into school. He’s been coming to us regularly now and it’s not an overnight thing, but he sees our coaches as role models. I’ve spoken to him about my own past and the ripple effects of that crime affecting my victim, his family, my own, the local community. It’s massive.
Wirral Youth Justice Service is always on the lookout for innovative and inspirational providers who can support young people to engage in great activities. If you think you could offer something, read more and get in touch via Wirral Youth Justice Service - Family Toolbox.
Argyle Community Fitness is a volunteer-run organisation based in Birkenhead. They offer weekly classes for the recovery community, care leavers, youth justice service and more. To find out more or get involved, find them on Facebook.
Free memberships to Argyle Community Fitness are now available to care leavers and people involved with the Wirral Youth Justice Service, thanks to funding from Magenta Living. To learn more about Weapons Down Wirral CIC, visit their Facebook page.
