Crawley Self-Defence CIC

Crawley Community Action (CCA) has played key role in setting up my CIC and I have been fortunate to access the incredible knowledge and contacts that Karl Parks has within CCA and to all of the other charities and CICs.

Since I first met Karl, he has been nothing but approachable and helpful, guiding me in helping me to achieve my vision of setting up a martial arts centre to help all groups of society and he has really opened my eyes and given me fresh inspiration to helping under-represented groups within the community to be able to train in a martial art to help with many aspects of their lives.

I first wanted to teach the blind and hard of sight a martial art that i have been training in for over 22 years that relies on feel and touch, Karl was really happy to help me plan and has taken lots of  his time and patience to really help me get started as I had no idea on how to set up a CIC and what sort of beneficiaries could be helped by my vision of a fully inclusive martial arts centre in Crawley.

I teach Self-defence and martial arts and have my own leased venue, Karl has even visited and supported me by giving me ideas and putting me in touch with other groups to try and help as many people in the community as we can. Crawley has a lot of martial arts clubs but there is a serious lack of a centre that is inclusive, can be mobile and can adapt and help many people in society.

We are looking at working with many different groups including women’s groups, domestic violence support groups, Deaf and hard of hearing, as mentioned blind and hard of sight, disadvantaged young people, teaching situational awareness and basic breakaway techniques to the homeless, teaching volunteers to keep safe, crisis and sexual assault recovery groups hard skills to give them some focus and confidence.

CCA are integral to helping us and other local CICs to grow, be sustainable and able to make a lasting impact on the local community.

Thank you CCA for always being there with your advice, regular information and for all the encouragement in developing our important services for the most vulnerable and marginalised in Crawley.