Welcome to 2009

Happy New Year for 2009 to all of our visitors, friends and members.  The gym is now fully open again after the Christmas break, and we hope you all had a great holiday season.  2008 ended on a real high with the Christmas party and club competitions, and two highly successful bag packs in Morrisons Supermarket in Redcar.  A big thank you to Morrisons for welcoming us, to all the parents, coaches and gymnasts who packed, and to the shoppers who contributed.  We raised over £1,800 from the two days.

The site will be updated with the pictures from the Christmas party and the Denis Hamer club competition this week.  They will, of course, be in the members only area for which you need your own username and password (E-mail me).  I am also looking at putting a new game in the members area as well.  A report from Diane about Denis Hamer will be on the public news pages in the next day or so, and the details of the Denis Hamer award winners will be in the awards section of the gymnastic groups area.

This year could be a really vital year for the club.  We have the new beginner gym sesssions starting this month, meaning we can offer gym to even younger children - see the leaflets in the gym or mail/phone for more information.  We also have on this week and next for the elite gymnasts a parents consultation - see the coaches to book an appointment.  If the idea is successful, we will try to extend it to the other gym groups as well.

We are gradually establisihng ourselves on the national competition scene and are looking forward to another successful year in regional events.  I will put the 2009 competition dates, both regional and national, on the calendar shortly.  In July we will have the very special honour of being represented in the British team for the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel.  This is the third largest sports event in the world, and it is well over 20 years since a British female gymnast was entered.  Dana Murray has been selected to represent her country, and will be accompanied by our head coach Diane.  Brilliant for both Dana and the club, the only downside being that we need to fund them for the event.  We have already made good progress, but any bright ideas for funding will be gratefully accepted.

We are almost ready to apply for planning permission for the new gym building.  The only thing outstanding is a site inspection, for which we need some documents from the council.  Once we have permission, we need to draw up a final business plan and then seek funding.  Given the current economic climate, this is going to be harder than ever but we are still very confident we can succeed.  We will also be looking for other groups who may be albe to use the new facilities and help share the costs.

Lastly, but not least, please remember our annual parents meeting being held at 7pm on 19th January in gym.  The club is wholly operated by volunteers, so we need as much support from you all as possible - see you then.  Steve.