Despite many successes and a flourishing membership Breckland Forest Gymnastics Club is struggling to stay afloat through a lack of volunteers.Recently the club came runner-up in the category for Club of the Year in the West Anglia Sports Partnership Awards, writes Leilanie Llanes.

Despite many successes and a flourishing membership Breckland Forest Gymnastics Club is struggling to stay afloat through a lack of volunteers.

Recently the club came runner-up in the category for Club of the Year in the West Anglia Sports Partnership Awards, writes Leilanie Llanes.

Despite not taking first place, the nomination itself recognised the hard work put into the club, especially in achieving their GymMark accreditation, for creating a safe, effective and child-friendly environment for their members.

This was just reward for everyone involved, more so as the club is run completely by volunteers, including all the coaches.

However, with the appeal of working in local universities tempting coaches to work elsewhere, the number of volunteers are becoming few and far between, causing the club to experience hard times.

In 2004, a group of parents in Brandon rallied together to re-open a gymnastics club after popular demand and the collective belief that it was such a big part of the community.

Located on Wimbledon Avenue in Brandon, the club now boasts over 100 members and has very much become a hub of sport within the local area.

The club holds classes for those aged three to 18, of any ability, every Monday and Thursday evenings, providing more than just gymnastics coaching, but encouraging young people to get involved into sport.

Tracey Hannon, a parent of one of the gymnasts, said: “They have a new chairperson and secretary in Lyndsay Gathercole and Pamela Wainwright for the committee, without whom the club would be lost. The amount of work and hours these two volunteers dedicate to the club to ensure the continuation of its success is second to none.”

She added: “They struggle terribly with getting coaches and are desperate for anyone able to volunteer for a class. The three permanent coaches are amazing.”

The club would love to hear from you if you are willing to volunteer either as a coach or just to help out.

Simply get in touch by emailing bfgc2004@hotmail.co.uk or call Pamela Wainwright on 01842 812940.