Ted with boxer Stevie Bell, who went on to captain the England boxing team in the 2002 Commonwealth Games
A boxing coach from Hyde who paved the way for a number of boxers including Ricky Hatton has sadly died at the age of 84. (2021)
Ted Peate first became interested in boxing after getting in scraps at school.
His headteacher told him that if he wanted to continue fighting, he’d have to join a boxing club.
He would later say that getting into boxing was ‘the best thing’ he ever did.
Ted first came across a ten-year-old Ricky Hatton at the Nicholls Police Club on Martin Street back in 1988.
But before too long, Ricky was training at the Louvolite Boxing Club, now the Hyde & District Amateur Boxing Club, under Ted’s watchful eye.
"I said he'll make a brilliant boxer and sure enough he just got better and better," Ted recalled to the M.E.N back in 2006.
Throughout his career as a coach and mentor, Ted taught a number of boxers who’d go on to make names for themselves including the likes of Tony Feno and Alan Page.
Stevie Bell, one of the country's top professional featherweights, was also coached by Ted.
“For me and many other young boxers who visited Louvolite boxing club, Ted was a mentor, friend, father figure and fantastic boxing coach who thought of every boxer in there as part of his family,” Stevie said.
“From entering the club for the first time as a 13-year-old back in the early 90s, Ted treated everyone like a potential champion, showing us respect whilst instilling the right amount of discipline to keep us all on the right path.
“Our club was somewhere we could go to feel part of an established team with an amazing spirit and strength which was credit to Ted’s ability at keeping many young streetwise kids active and inspired with his wit, charm and strength of character.
“His team was his life and we all felt his passion in preparing us to become better fighters which made us all determined to succeed not only for ourselves but for Ted.
“Ted’s input and way of getting his point over was an incredible talent to have. In defeat, he would explain how to improve our weaknesses whilst giving us praise for showing our strengths, something which made us strive for greatness.
“He had such a massive impact on my success as a fighter, helping me become the best in my division - winning 2 ABA titles and becoming an England Boxing team regular and giving me the confidence to become the man I am today.
“Ted Peate will be sorely missed but our love for him and his legacy will stay forever.”
Boxer Alan Page was also amongst those to pay tribute to Ted.
“I’m from Hattersley and he was running a gym at the leisure centre at the top of the estate there,” Alan said.
“As a nine-year-old in 1985, I was running a bit wild and my dad said he’d had enough of me and took me to Ted.
“I can’t say I fell in love with boxing right away but there was something about Ted, we had a bond where I felt like I was the special one.”
Alan says Ted would take him along to shows while he trained up until he was able to progress through his career
“I was fighting from the age of 11 and I turned professional at 24, so I was fighting with him for a long time,” he added.
“He saw something in me that no one else could see. He told me that if I was dedicated and worked hard, I could do anything.
“When I got picked for England, he was there. It was a massive moment for me, and he travelled up to Scotland with me and my dad to see me make my debut.
“He not only taught me massive things about boxing but he instilled things in me about life in general.
“He’s been a massive influence on my life and he still does to this day. I have six children and every one of them, apart from my youngest, has been in that gym and met Ted.
“I still teach them things that he’s taught me.”
Boxer Steve Strong was Ted’s first champion at the boxing club back in 1982 and said that Ted often treated him like the son he never had.
“The man was a genius,” Steve said.
“Ted came to my gym when I was nine and I'm 57 now. He’s been in my life all that time.
“I’m the person I am now because of him. He just changed so many people’s lives for the better, whether it be through the boxing club or just talking to him.
“He was the closest person to me in my life. He filled my life with joy all the time and changed me as a person.
“He always made people laugh. In the gym, we’d all be training hard and sweating our socks off and he’d shout “come on, my budgie trains harder than that” and he didn’t even have a budgie.
“He was comical, he could be serious, there’s nothing that he wasn’t.
“I was his first national champion and he always said he would hand the club over to his first champion.”
Steve took over the club from Ted in 2012. Even in his later years, Ted would still turn up at the club and show young trainers from the sidelines how to perfect the sport.
“I’m the head coach there now and everything I do is because of him,” Steve added.
“He’s changed people’s lives. There’d be people who were maybe heading down the wrong path and he’d get them helping out at the club and then they’d be coaches themselves.
“He got me my first job after leaving school. Nothing was too difficult for him.
“He’s known from this side of Manchester to the other side and even beyond that - everyone knew him.”
Caroline Lomax knew Ted for 14 years after he taught her son how to box.
“Ted Peate dedicated his life to coaching amateur boxing in Hyde,” Caroline said.
“He was a wonderful character who always had a story to tell. Ted welcomed everyone into his boxing club and treated you like family.
“I’m the head coach there now and everything I do is because of him,” Steve added.
“He’s changed people’s lives. There’d be people who were maybe heading down the wrong path and he’d get them helping out at the club and then they’d be coaches themselves.
“He got me my first job after leaving school. Nothing was too difficult for him.
“He’s known from this side of Manchester to the other side and even beyond that - everyone knew him.”
Caroline Lomax knew Ted for 14 years after he taught her son how to box.
“Ted Peate dedicated his life to coaching amateur boxing in Hyde,” Caroline said.
“He was a wonderful character who always had a story to tell. Ted welcomed everyone into his boxing club and treated you like family.
“He also discovered Ricky Hatton, who we always call Richard because he’s been knocking around our house from a young age.
“He took him with him to Atlanta and it was wonderful for him to see him do so well.
“He was very family-orientated, he loved us girls and he was always in touch with us.
“One of his proudest moments was when his first grandson was born and another very memorable moment for him was getting his first ABA champion in Steve Strong.”
And Steve says that moment is also one of the highlights of his life.
"“He wanted a national champion and I kind of produced that for him and that made him the happiest man in the world," Steve added.
Ted was a diamond.
“There are so many great boxing coaches in the world but I just feel so lucky that he was mine.”