History

What is the History of the South Essex Gymnastics Club?

The current premises were constructed in 1992 at a cost of some £300k. This was made possible through a huge fund raising effort over several years plus loans and grants – mainly from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the Sports Council.

In 1993 a full time Manager was employed and this soon led to an expansion of the gymnastics programme. There then followed a prolonged period of success which resulted in an expansion of all aspects of gymnastic activity and ultimately a substantial increase in demand for places. In time it became apparent that the only way to satisfy this demand was to extend the facility. Plans for a major extension were drawn up and outline planning permission was granted by BDC. However these plans were put on hold in 2002, at BDC’s request, so that joint discussions could proceed on the possibility of the club moving into the then proposed Centre of Sporting Excellence on the Gloucester Park site, at the opposite end of Cranes Farm Road.

In 2006, with the delays in discussions, the Club was offered the opportunity to lease a second building on its site which had been run by the Basildon Sports Council – who had been unable to run it economically. The Club applied for funding assistance to specialize in the provision of equipment for those with special needs and to expand the recreation programme. The equipment was funded by grants from the Cleanaway Veolia Trust and the Jack Petchey Foundation: the Club paid some £60k for the building renovation on the basis of a minimum 5 year lease which was expected to terminate with its move into what became the Basildon Sporting Village. This expansion was seen as the opportunity to try and expand the range of classes on offer and the open new areas of gymnastics opportunities in advance of the move to Gloucester Park.

The special needs classes were offered to local schools and these have continued ever since. This was followed by the development of new services for adult gymnastics and then freestyle classes -initially for adults and then also for younger gymnasts. Links were also built with schools through the appointment of a coach who, in conjunction with the then Basildon Schools Sports Partnership, visited local schools to train and facilitate improved coaching by school staff

It is hoped to continue these links although the SSP’s are being closed in 2011.
In April 2011 the Club will move into the new facilities – designed jointly by the Clubs coaches and by Continental Sports – which provide the opportunity for another leap forward in terms of expanding opportunities and the quality of gymnastics equipment and training facilities. The Club has provided almost £100k of its own funds towards this investment and this was supplemented by grants from English Gymnastics and the Cleanaway Veolia Trust. In conjunction with British Gymnastics and SLM – the operators of the Village – the Club also looks forward to hosting international competitions as well as competitors for the 2012 Olympic for which the Club has been awarded official training venue status by LOCOG.

Organisation
As a charitable company the Club’s general direction is managed through an Executive Board which has six (unpaid) trustees, many of whom have previously coached gymnastics but who are now able to bring their varied professional expertise to the benefit of the Club. The day to day running is of the Club is through the Director of Coaching who now carries professional responsibility for all Head Coaches of the various disciplines.
Public notes on the trustees’ meetings are posted on Club notice boards and elsewhere on this site.