Help Spiral Thrive

Spiral Freerun CIC 

History

Spiral Freerun first formed in 18/03/2012 as a group of teenagers just training and making videos together. The team had the eventual goal/dream of being able to work within parkour and eventually run our own parkour facility. in 2014, Spiral Freerun had the opportunity to coach in Gt Denham Primary School in Bedford, before proceeding to organised workshops at the Higgins Museum in 2015 and eventually forming as a company in 2016. The transition is evident from the videos we have published on our YouTube channel, where you will see the transformation in direction as an organisation.

We started our journey coaching at Bedford Academy, Kings Oak Primary school and Bedford International Athletic Stadium where we would provide one session a week at each venue. We began to save the funds received from the services we provided to purchase our own equipment. For the first year of operating, we were using the equipment that was owned by the schools/ leisure centres we worked within, and so we used this time to grow our name as a professional organisation and continue to grow our audience, equipment range and develop the structure of the company. We spent the majority of 2017-2019 moving from venue to venue, as our client base was growing and so was the need for additional space/storage, unfortunately many of the venues we resided in could not provide this. In 2019, after moving venue a total of 3 times already, we made the transfer into Trinity Arts & Leisure which has been our home since. It wasn't until 2021 where we decided to make the jump from part time (running just 4 classes per week) to full time, running between 15-23 classes per week. It was up until this point that all members of the team were working multiple other jobs whilst maintaining their focus on Spiral Freerun. To make the jump from part time to full time, was a huge commitment from everyone as this was a make or break for our company.

In June 2021, we made many changes to the companies structure and successfully achieved CIC status, which has opened the doors for the demographic we can reach and allowed us to cater for a much wider audience with the help and support of organisations, charities and local councils.

Introduction

Spiral Freerun CIC is a community based club that specialise in teaching parkour and Freerunning to members of the local community. Spiral currently has over 370 members, including varied ages and ethnicities, with classes currently operating inside of trinity arts and leisure centre. We are proud to have a highly skilled and diverse team made up of varying ages and ethnicities (African/Caribbean, Polish, British and mixed ethnicities) with a combined 40 years of specialist experience.

Our aims are to:

• Improve the physical/mental health of participants, by showing students they can overcome physical obstacles and challenges. building self confidence, strength, and having fun learning fundamental movements.
  
  
• Make parkour classes more inclusive and accessible to the local community by working with local groups and charities to create classes that are more financially accessible. Recently we have worked with two charities (PLACE & Fun 4 young people) to create an inviting inclusive class and community for both home educated children and children that the F4YP charity work with.
• Create a welcoming and safe environment to learn parkour in, with the help of our highly trained coaches and purpose built equipment.

Spiral Freerun offers a wide range of classes and services to the local community for ages 4+ ranging from junior classes, video tutorials, and clothing production. Everything at Spiral is proudly done in house, we build our own equipment, produce our own clothing and plan events/performances in converted workspaces in our own homes.

we offer:

• Minis parkour classes for ages 4-6 - This class is adapted to the younger age range as an introduction to parkour and how to practice safely. With its own unique grading system

• Beginner/intermediate/advance skill level class for ages 6-16 - Parkour classes that are available to all experience levels. where we will teach you a range of Flip/Wall/Ground/Bar/Vault movements
• Squad classes - A more intense class for our highly skilled students to progress their tricks and movement towards outdoor environments.

• Adult classes - We also offer 14+ classes so that our students can continue their learning and so that adults are able to learn parkour too.
• Accessible classes - We are currently working with local charities and organisations to run classes that are more accessible to those who may struggle socially or financially.
• Holiday camps - During the school holidays we run multiple parkour camps at our current site & local schools. We also work with local charities and councillors to bring school holiday programmes to disengaged communities
• School classes - We work with local schools, delivering after school clubs to their students, improving their strength and coordination
• Specialised grading system - At spiral we have created our very own parkour grading system ensuring that students can track their progress and constantly improve by building up to new moves.
• 121 sessions - Private sessions are also available for those who find a class overwhelming or would like to have the focus of the coach.

• Performances - We regularly work with different communities in our local area and other surrounding areas to perform a choreographed parkour performance to boost awareness of our sport.
• Party and Events - Spiral offers parties to our members and event workshops for local businesses and organisations.
• Opportunities to work in our unique sport - Currently have 4 junior coaches who have transitioned from students into highly trained coaches who can now run their own classes.

• Community videos - The team are constantly making videos and social content to engage with and build our parkour community. This ranges from parkour tutorials/Podcasts on YouTube, to Parkour showcases and event posts.
• Parkour clothing - We proudly design and print our very own clothing in house, with a high number of students wearing our various clothing ranges.
  
  
  - Our mental health awareness day t shirt
  
  

Parkour

Parkour is a sport which utilises efficient movement to overcome obstacles and express oneself through movement, using a mixture of jumping, landing, vaulting and climbing techniques. Traditionally, the focus is on getting from point a to point b in the most efficient way possible however as the sport is developing, the use of somersaults and movements from various other sporting backgrounds is becoming much more prominent. The way in which you train parkour is very much independent to the individual. Modern parkour is very much taking towards the direction of self expression using a combination of skills to create an aesthetic/ challenging series of movements. What's most attractive to most about parkour is that the individual is responsible for dictating their training path and style, and can adapt the movements they practice in accordance with their own desires at the time, meaning progression is ultimately determined by you as an individual.

Why are we fundraising again?

Since our last crowdfunder, we have encountered a numerous amount of hardships. So much so, that all of our members have commented in some way at how comical it is that we have been through what we have, as it almost seems unbelieveable. The type of thing that would make you say "not even someone in a story book/ film is that unlucky"... well, you clearly haven't met us yet.

Condensing what would be a ridiculously long monologue into some key points is probably the wisest thing to do but if you are interested in hearing pretty much everything, head over to our podcast where you can listen to directors Luke & Jesse discuss in detail, the events of 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XM2ki7XcUc - To summarise:

- We had to withdraw from our prospected property in Ravensden as we were lied to about the correct status of the buildings usage.

- We were forced out of Bedford as there was nowhere locally that could provide us with the timeframes we needed to operate our classes/ did not have sufficient storage. This caused a loss of over 30% of our customer base in just 12 hours.

- After moving into our new venue at Ride Leisure (which was the only location that could accomodate our needs), we experienced a number of closed classes as our new venue was based inside a marquee that unfortunately was not weatherproof, nor did it have any thermoregulation.

- Jesse was involved with an accident with our company vehicle at no fault of his own, which caused £3,000 worth of damage as the head gasket and radiator have blown. over 2 months later, and we are still struggling to find someone to fix it for us as no one wants to take on a job that big. As a result, we are poaying £500 a week to hire a van for all of the services we have running outside of our our new HQ such as our school/ grant classes.

- We secured two units in Biggleswade in September which we spent over £20,000 on from things such as surveys, applications, rent, legal fees and more. 

- We closed our classes at Ride Leisure for health & safety reasons as it was unfit for purpose between early December and late January. This meant that we lost out on a whole month of memberships during our already difficult time.

- In December, unfortunately after applying for planning, we were rejected meaning that we were not able to access the £105,000 we had lined up to enter the new year. This meant that we had to re-apply for planning. 

- On the 4th January 2024 after closing our classes and losing a chunk of funds as a result, Ride Leisure experienced a flood which covered our marquee floor and all of our companies belongings inside it 3ft deep in water. This caused around £5,000-£10,000 worth of damage and effected our operations as all of our equipment required a major renovation.

- We unexpectedly moved into the old Argos in the Haprur Centre after a crazy 48 hour turnaround and conducted some much needed renovations. This in combination with new expenses that we had not expected such as broadband, gas and electricity meant that we had to fork out expenses after not receiving income for nearly two months which is obviously never ideal. Whilst this is amazing, we experiuenced another 30% reduction in members for the second time within 9 months.

- We completed our second planning application in early February but were not able to afford the cost to send it off, nor did we have the funds to include the pivotal information requested by the council from the first applications rejection.

These are the main hurdles that we faced financially that ultimately has resulted in us requiring the conduction of our second crowdfunder. We are currently operating in our new HQ on a short term license for 3-6 months, whereby from the 9th April, we can be removed from the premises within a months notice. It is for these reasons, we desperately require the help of our community to keep us afloat and allow us to keep on top of the additioanl expenses we are having to pay, as a result of our recent hardships whilst we rebuild our memberhsip for the 3rd time.