Gymnastics club finally gets 'home for life'

"The old building, we used to call it a waterfall, because every time it rained, it rained inside as well as outside."

Hannah Gibbs recalls Erewash Valley Gymnastics Club's old building in Long Eaton - a former sofa factory with a leaky roof.

It wasn't even high enough for the rhythmic gymnasts to train without their hoops hitting the ceiling.

But now the facility has been demolished and replaced with a brand new £1.3m facility.

"I think the really nice thing now is we've got a home for life," says Mrs Gibbs, who is the club's operations manager.

"It's so much better now. When it rains we don't get wet or have to run around trying to find somewhere to put the buckets.

"Our rhythmic squad can build and keep expanding because the ceilings are now high enough for them to be able to train fully and build within that squad."

Erewash Valley Gymnastics Club was founded 50 years ago, originally in partnership with the borough council.

"It started off as an artistic women's gymnastics team, a very small amount of girls at West Park and Friesland Leisure Centre," says Mrs Gibbs.

"Then over the 50 years we've built and built to being in our own premises and having two premises."

The club now has more than 1,200 members and has sessions catering for anybody from babies to adults.

As well as the Long Eaton facility, the club has a training centre in Ilkeston.

The members had to move out of the Long Eaton facility in August 2023 so it could be rebuilt, and they moved back in two months ago.

A trust that owned the old building and owns the new one funded the rebuild.

The ribbon for the new building was officially cut by rhythmic gymnast Mimi-Isabella Cesar, who has represented England and Great Britain at international competitions.

Jo Nicklin, the club's director, says there was "a lovely turn-out for our official opening".

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