'The excitement outweighs the sadness': Chorley Academy of Gymnastics moves to a new home after 18 years
From 10 members to 450, a Chorley gymnastics club has officially outgrown its former home...
A gymnastics academy in Chorley have moved to a new home after nearly two decades.
Chorley Academy of Gymnastics had been based at Clayton Green Sports Centre since 2008, when it began as a gymnastics programme run in partnership with Chorley Borough Council.
18 years later, the group- which went on to become the independent Chorley Gymnastics Club before rebranding last year- have just moved to their new “forever home” at Thorntree Business Park in Leyland.
Owner Michelle Hall, 53, told us the move was due a "combination of reasons”, namely their rising numbers and the need for better equipment.
Michelle, who now runs the club with her daughter Milly, said: “We're expanding so we have been looking somewhere for a very long time and the right place finally came up.
“We started at Clayton Green with maybe 10 kids as Chorley Gymnastics Club. A year ago, we decided that we were going to reinvent the club, and that's when we started running Chorley Academy of Gymnastics as a charity so that we could offer more opportunities for the girls and look for a purpose-built home for us.”
Over the past 12 months, membership has grown particularly fast: a year ago the club boasted 300 members and now they have 450 plus a waiting list.
This has however meant their former home was no longer fit for purpose.
Michelle said: “Seeing our membership grow has been amazing, we’re really happy with it but we’ve completely outgrown Clayton Green, to be honest. We've utilized it as best we can, but we weren't able to have any high-level equipment there. In our own premises we are, so Olympic-sized bars and a sprung floor have been installed so I think the level of gymnastics is going to be able to really improve as well.”
Chorley Academy of Gymnastics held a sponsored walk last Saturday to celebrate the move.
As a symbolic gesture, glow stick cladded members walked from the old gym to the new gym, each carrying a piece of equipment.
Asked if they felt sad to be saying goodbye, Michelle, whose four children and four grandchildren have all been members at the club, replied: “In a way because that's where it all started but I think the excitement is definitely outweighing the sadness.”
As part of the excitement, they wil alsol be holding a community open day this Saturday (October 17) between 11-3pm.
The free event, which will be attend by the Mayor of Chorley, invites the public to see the new facilities and find out what else the club has planned for the future.
Michelle said: “We're really excited about it. Just come and get involved, and then obviously, if anyone wanted to become more involved within the club, they can say that they've been there from the very beginning.
“We have a combination of fantastic coaches that are really there for the right reasons. They have a passion for gymnastics and they really care about the children. And the members, the members are amazing. It's a really, really nice community to be part of.”
As they welcome their new home, the Post asked what’s next for the club.
Michelle responded: “Settling in but we're also really excited to expand our SEN program, which is something that we've not been able to do in our old premises, and we're also really excited to expand our funded program now that we’re in a bigger place, so we're able to offer more places to children that can't necessarily afford to come. And then we're just building up towards the end of the year. We are going to have our big Christmas club competition in December so that's going to be the next big celebration”.