Bill the Brexit battering ram quits politics for charity work
The Black Country’s Brexit battering ram has announced he has quit politics to focus on charity work.
Bill Etheridge spent years rowing with Remainers as he backed Britain’s departure from the EU as both a West Midlands MEP and a Dudley UKIP councillor.
Now the 52-year-old says he has turned his back on politics and is aiming to be a force for good in the charity world.
“I started out in politics wanting to make a positive change in people’s lives,” Mr Etheridge said.
“I suppose I became a bit of a Brexit battering ram and when I look back on it the message sometimes got lost and I never really achieved what I wanted to.
“After going through some hard times during the lockdown I came out of it deciding it was time to explore a different way to help people.”
Mr Etheridge was a Euro MP from 2014-2019 and a Dudley councillor for four years.
He said after experiencing mental health issues he went to a boxing gym and did hypnotherapy to help get himself together.
He has now founded Support Futures, a charity that provides sports scholarships to help young people from working class backgrounds in the Black Country.
He says a pilot scheme earlier this year at The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton was a “roaring success”, with most of the dozen or so participants ending up in employment or on work experience. They include Paige Smith who is setting up a business as a dance instructor.
The charity’s programme, which targets people aged 18-29, currently features a mental health workshop and a non-contact boxing session, with dancing sessions and indoor cricket planned for the future.
Mr Etheridge said: “Young people come to us and they go from saying ‘I can’t do this’ and having no belief in themselves, to becoming real go-getters. At the moment we’re doing a lot of good work in Wolverhampton, but I want to see us grow across the whole Black Country.
“There’s this fantastic untapped resource of young people in our region. All we need to do is give them the belief they can do something, and they will fly.”
Support Futures has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Sport England, and is backed by sports stars including Frank Bruno and Wolves legends Bully and Carl Ikeme.
Upcoming fundraising events include a show at the Robin 2 in Bilston with former England keeper Peter Shilton.
Visit supportfutures.org.uk/ for details.
