Big Birthday Project - Leaping Into The Future

Aim

To make some big and necessary upgrades to the layout and equipment within the centre to improve the facilities for all our members.

Who are we?

We are Axminster Gymnastics Club, a small club with a big impact. We run gymnastics sessions for over 550 x members/week aged 6 x months to 60 yrs as well as providing regular sessions for local schools and nurseries. 

We run a successful young leader programme for children aged 11-17years endorsed by British Gymnastics.

We participate in local events such as the town carnival, through to Devon county, South West regional and even our first English Gymnastics event this year in 2025.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our club has grown and we now have over 550 regular members through our doors weekly. In 2021 we made a big step into our facility bringing with us the equipment we had and sourcing a large amount of older and second hand equipment to make the space safe and useable. So much of our savings had been lost through surviving throughout the Covid pandemic and we kitted the centre out as best we could. However we now need to upgrade some of our equipment with some of it now being very old and worn. We also need to provide new landing areas and ensure that they match the level of the gymnasts we are now producing as our attainment level has improved over the years. 

The new equipment provides more items that will make classes better adapted for all our users being easier to change in height and size. The majority of members are school aged children 4-16 years and we are the only competitive women's artistic club in East Devon. This means we cater for a large number of girls within our sessions alongside our mixed recreational and competitive groups and retain many of these throughout their school years keeping them involved in sport and activity.

The layout change will provide a designated beam landing area (in replacement of the current one on our existing floor) which will allow for improved classes for all as there will be more floor space for everyone during their lessons and improved safety as landing areas are no longer shared.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We will spend the money on the following new equipment as shown in the picture above:

New safety landing mats for vault and tumble track =£3,400.00

New Sprung floor so all can fly = £24,0000

New Bars with better adjustability for all on width and height = £7,250.00

Rearrangement of layout for beam dismount to no longer be onto our main floor and the incorporation of new beam landing mats = £8,000

Community impact

Our club has a wider impact on the whole community with us providing regular sessions for local nurseries and primary schools.

We run a successful young leader programme for children aged 11-17years and recently hosted a British Gymnastics training day for these members and young leaders from other local gymnastics clubs.

All our coaches are local and have been trained through our in house training programme with the National Governing Body for our sport, British Gymnastics.

We offer opportunities for those participating in Duke of Edinburgh schemes and have hosted work experience candidates from local secondary schools. This year in 2025 we attended a sport + wellbeing day at one of these local secondary schools giving a large number of children the chance to try some gymnastics which was great fun for all involved.

We participate in local events and support local venues with us in 2025 having been a part of the The Axminster Carnival, The Axe Vale Show, Offwell Fete, The Folly Nursery Open Day and having our award ceremony hosted at The Axminster Guildhall.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made