Gym club’s Bank-ing a cash boost
A SUCCESSFUL Northumberland gymnastics club is on a roll thanks to a four-figure grant from North East renewable energy property and minerals firm The Banks Group.
Cramlington-based Northern Gymnastics Club CIC provides a range of fun and exciting recreational gymnastics classes from preschool to competitive level and has around 450 members aged from four years upwards.
The club has used a £5,000 grant from the Banks Community Fund to install a competition-standard 14m x 14m sprung floor at its 16,000-sq ft gym hall on the Northumberland Business Park West to provide local gymnasts with the best possible practice facilities.
Founded 15 years ago, Northern Gymnastics Club attracts members from across Northumberland as well as from Newcastle and North Tyneside and holds the Sport England Club Mark accreditation in recognition of being a safe, effective and child-friendly club.
Its recreational sessions enable youngsters to develop core skills across all disciplines, including artistic gymnastics, sports acrobatics and tumbling, rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining.
The club’s competitive teams regularly take part successfully in regional and national competitions while an eight-strong squad also qualified for and attended the 2019 IAIGC World Gymnastics Championships, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Training sessions are run by a team of 18 coaches, many of whom came up through the club as gymnasts and have achieved their coaching qualifications through its coaching academy.
Gemma Wilkinson, founder and head coach at Northern Gymnastics, says: “As well as helping our young gymnasts develop their sporting skills we are also very focused on the personal benefits they gain through learning about teamwork, patience, confidence, commitment and friendship.”
Leslie Hodgson, senior coach at Northern Gymnastics, adds: “It is important we offer the best and safest possible surface for our members to develop their skills on and to ensure anyone competing in events is used to the type of sprung floor on which they will be performing.
“The Banks Group’s generous support saved us a great deal of fundraising time and effort and has allowed our gymnasts to gain access to this excellent surface much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible.”
Jamilah Hassan, community manager at The Banks Group, said: “We are very pleased to be able to support another community sports club in an area where we have worked for more than four decades and wish everyone at Northern Gymnastics every success.”