A North West gymnastics club which
lost its former home in a fire is to get a new state-of-the-art
facility thanks to a £995,000 Sport England National Lottery
grant.
Bury Gymnastics Club has been based at a
converted industrial unit since its old premises burned down four
years ago, but can now look forward to moving to a new gymnastics
centre at Goshen in Bury.
The new centre will include improved football
changing rooms, a community room, a new play area, a multi-use ball
zone and sports pitch improvements. It is due to open in 2012,
boosting the area’s sporting legacy from the home Olympic and
Paralympics Games.
Sport England’s North West Champion for
Community Sport, Pam Jervis, said: “This Lottery investment is just
reward for a sports club that has thrived in adversity and now has
over 500 members, from pre-school children to international
medalists.
“We are confident that the new centre will see
even more people taking up gymnastics and the other sports on
offer, creating an enduring legacy for grassroots sport.”
The plans have been made possible by the hard
work of gym club members whose fundraising netted £65,000 and the
strong support of Bury Council on a project that will cost of total
of £1.95 million. The remaining funding includes a £540,000
pay-out on fire insurance, £200,000 of approved capital investment
from Bury Council and £150,000 from the National Play Builder
programme and the council's Planning Section 106 fund.
Keith Waddington the club’s Managing Director
said: "This is fantastic news for the club and for Bury. The plans
for Goshen put our town firmly on the map as a top notch facility
for our future Olympic champions. The club and Bury Council have
worked extremely hard to get the funding for the centre and we want
to ensure that everyone in the local area enjoys it when it comes
to fruition."
Councillor Mike Connolly, Leader of Bury
Council, commented: "I was on site at Goshen four years ago
watching the gymnastics facility go up in flames and witnessed
first hand the heartbreak and devastation of the gymnasts and
the organisers who put so much of their time voluntarily into
running gymnastics. This funding is great news for our
borough as well as for today’s and future gymnasts. The
council and the gymnastics club will continue to work together to
make sure the new centre and its facilities sit right at the heart
of the community.”
The new gymnastics centre will be fully fitted
out to meet British National standards with local, regional and
national capability for training and performance.
Building works for the new centre will start
in summer 2011 with completion expected in spring 2012.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Sport England
Sport England is focused on the delivery of a
mass participation legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. We invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding in
organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation
in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at
their chosen sport.
Bury Council
For further information, please contact: Neil
Long, Assistant Director (Operations) Email: n.s.long@bury.gov.uk | Phone:
0161 253 5735
Bury Gymnastics Club
For further information please contact: 0161
253 5340 or BMOGC@hotmail.com or visit http://www.burygymnastics.org.uk/