Joy for Monarchs as move goes ahead (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

Joy for Monarchs as move goes ahead

4:30pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News

AN exciting future awaits children at a gymnastics club after it won permission to move to a bigger, better base.

The Weekly News has reported how the Monarchs Acrobatic Gymnastics Club had applied to Sedgemoor District Council to make a unit at the Walrow Industrial Estate in Highbridge its new home.

The Monarchs has become so popular that it has outgrown the King Alfred School gym, where members have trained for 30 years.

Last Tuesday the council gave the club permission to change a unit at Leakers Removals into a state-of-the-art gymnastics centre.

Sue Merrett, who runs the club with her husband Tony, told the News: “We’re absolutely over the moon.

“We’ve been looking for 15 years for somewhere high enough for us.

“At King Alfred, we have to put all our equipment away every time we use it and we are restricted in the number of children we can take.

“All the big clubs have their own premises and this new base will be absolutely marvellous for us.

“Tina Keddy, the owner of Leakers, has been absolutely brilliant.”

Monarchs has seen an upsurge of interest since the Olympics began.

Sue said: “Before the Olympics we had 75 gymnasts in our recreational class; we have 120 now – they have been flooding in.

“We’re also going to be able to start adult classes and toddler and parent classes, probably in the new year.”

Sue said the Monarchs hope to move into their new home on December 1.

In a second piece of good news, the club has also been invited to a friendly competition in Portugal next April, to coincide with the world championships.

Gymnasts from Monarchs will be competing against talented opponents from Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland and other nations.