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 It's with huge thanks we acknowledge the generous donation from Gary Mayes of node3. Gary provided his services free of charge to help us get into our new facility. Node3 Contact details W: http://www.node3.co.uk/ T: 01449 499010 or 01223 967878 E: info@node3.co.uk
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It gives us enormous pleasure to be able to announce, after many years of effort and support from the community and local council that Haverhill Gymnastics Club have been able to secure an industrial unit in the town. Change of use has also been granted, loans have been secured and contracts are in the process of being signed. The new location will be Unit 2, Hollands Centre, Hollands Road, Haverhill. You can see the entrance to the right of the picture below. (To the right of Screwfix when looking from the road).  There is plenty of parking as can be seen from the rear view below.  Further updates will follow regularly from this point forwards as we make progress on our way into our new building - Watch this space :-)
I guess we have to start with a bit of an apology … You may have noticed that after an increase in communications and obvious progress within the club, things have gone quiet for quite some time... Well, there’s a story behind that; and, now the reason for our silence is past, and, as we receive so much support from the local community, it’s only right that we offer a bit of an explanation … by way of an apology… because actually, we are sorry that we haven’t been able to keep you all in the picture.
For many months before that, Kevin Woolcott (Club Chairman and Head Coach) and David Bovis (Club Vice Chairman) along with other volunteers around the club, had been meeting two to three times a week in the evenings, often fed and watered by Cheryl (Club Secretary) to construct a management model to run the club. This was a requirement from British Gymnastics before they could award the ‘GymMark’ status presented by Max. Attaining GymMark had been a strategic move, necessary due to events leading up to that point in time… The year before this activity, the Head Teacher at Samuel Ward had approached Kevin and made a fantastic offer. He (Howard Lay) had said he would ‘Gift’ the club a piece of land, worth approx. £100,000 in the school grounds, to build a dedicated facility, IF the club could raise the money for the building. The benefit for the school would be that they would have the facility to use during school hours while the club had full access at all times. At the time, the club, operating out of the Abbeycroft Leisure Centre on a Saturday, Monday and Friday morning, had around 200 active members and a further 400 or so on the waiting list. It had been painfully obvious that a full time dedicated facility was way overdue for a long time. The Olympics had only fuelled that fire! Mr. Lay’s offer had arrived in the nick of time … IF the club was going to be able to service those children in the town waiting to take up the sport, while simultaneously taking those forward who had the potential to get to higher standards, we had to do something about the lack of available time. The sports centre couldn’t provide any more time in the main hall (due to prior commitments), so a new home was the only solution Without GymMark the club couldn’t apply for funding from National Lottery Funds or through British Gymnastics. So it was essential that the club developed it’s management framework and secured GymMark to get that desperately required new home. Initially we held summer fun day’s and Christmas parties, while engaging a fund-raising consultant. We applied for the Inspired Facilities fund which allowed us to draw down £150K if we could match it. Initial plans and quotes were obtained, it looked financially feasible. We were off!
Our consultant promised to match the £150K through smaller charities, so he and we, went to work. Our own activities included, for example, much campaigning to local councillors by Kevin, which secured an opportunity to present to the council. We made a video to help us make that presentation and once we detailed our aims and objectives, the town council awarded us £25K to help realise the dream and make the town a better place for kids interested in this amazing sport. We also received £5K from One Haverhill alongside many other gifts and donations from other fund-raising events. This all took immense effort while all club leaders held down full time jobs… but after many months it looked like we would be able to make it. The next step was to go to the bank. Through all the campaigning and fund-raising we had been looking at different building solutions and the absolute lowest price we could negotiate while meeting all building regulations was £620K. Around the beginning of 2013, our fundraising had got us to £370K which meant we needed another £250K to make it happen. We produced accounts for the club in forensic detail showing how the turnover could cover a loan of this magnitude over a ten year period. As we’re ‘Not for Profit’, the numbers worked and the bank gave us verbal approval for the loan. The bank manager reassured us that the numbers were so robust, final approval was nothing more than a formality. So we started the next phase. Between February / March 2013 and June 2013 we had final meetings with Sport England representatives, we met with the builders, we engaged and paid for architects, we applied and were awarded planning permission by borough council… we were aiming for a ‘Breaking Ground’ date of September. With a couple of other ‘hiccups’ along the way (as you get with any such project), we saw that ‘New Build’ Start date slip to December 2013. This meant we would be in our new purpose built facility by June 2014. In the 1st week of January, our treasurer had a call from the bank manager telling us to ‘Break Ground’ as the loan was secure, it just needed one or two more signatures, but we could start the building work. For reasons best known to himself, probably due to many years working in the same bank, he didn’t tell Kevin to instruct the start .. something kept him from passing on the message. 1 Week later, the bank had retracted it’s offer due to some legal technicalities of tenancy over lease for a building on government owned property. As you might imagine, the next few weeks saw urgent action taken by all involved. We’d spent £30K on architect, planning and project management fees and if we couldn’t find a solution, the project would collapse. The funding awarded came with deadlines and if we didn’t start the building work, we wouldn’t be able to commit the money in time … the decision by the bank was now taking us past our ‘Final deadline date’. With one swipe of a pen, we’d gone from ‘New club’ to failing project over-night. We were in trouble. A variety of options were investigated. David arranged emergency meetings with contacts in the city to get advice on alternative lending models, Kevin saw everyone that needed to be seen …. No matter which way we turned, there wasn’t an alternative solution – the project was dead in the water. By March 2014, reality had set in. The £30K spent to that point was lost, funding had been retracted, it was over. It was fair to say we were all quite fed-up. Over two years of focused effort, on top of many years of effort prior to this drive to give the club and the kids a better facility had effectively been wasted because of one false promise. We had to take a step back and shake ourselves off. The project was dead but the dream wasn’t. During this process, we’d been looking to move other aspects of the club forwards, including the start of a Young Leaders Academy promoted through BG. We agreed to take that forwards because we thought we’d have the space and time to support the team of 11 youngsters who were looking to do more within the sport. This along with other activities we had planned have suffered as a consequence of the problems with the project. It became clear quickly, that if we were to stay true to our intentions and provide the children of Haverhill and surrounding areas the access to this sport they deserved, we had to put these recent events behind us and re-focus … we had to find a solution. It had been a big project and we had all put our hearts into it, but, it was just one option and that didn’t mean it was the last option. The thinking caps went back on and we started looking for industrial units in town that could fit our financial model and requirements. We engaged a local agent and identified a unit that had come up for rent. The agent failed to respond for 8 weeks … when we chased for an answer, it was obvious our request to be considered hadn’t received a response from the landlord. We tried the same route a second time, expressing the urgency of the situation. The agent offered assurances, but another 8 weeks passed with no response and this time, when chased, she wouldn’t even take our call. In total, we lost 20 weeks (5 months). A new councillor advised there is no benefit for local agencies to help us and we need to get in touch with landlords directly. In the last few weeks, that’s exactly what we’ve done. This is where we are today. We have managed to arrange to meet with a Landlord who has a unit in town that suits our size requirements. We are due to meet with him and depending on the outcome of that conversation, it looks like there is a possibility we might, just might have found a solution. That is of course best case scenario. Based on the last couple of years, this too could pass us by, requiring yet more options are investigated. But, we’re hopeful and doing everything we can to get a deal over the line. The message is, we are hell-bent dedicated to this cause. We will get Haverhill a gymnastics club that can give local kids, with the right aptitude, the opportunity to compete on the national and international circuits. We’ve been up against it in time and money and energy, but the message is, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” – we expect Olympic effort from our gymnasts during training, so we will give the same ourselves – watch this space! We will try to keep our communications at a higher level and let you know how we get on with regular updates on the website, FB page and hopefully, when it’s good news, in the local media.
A short video of the 2014 Bury Sports Awards arranged by Abbeycroft Leisure, showing our head Coach and Club Chairman Kevin Woolcott receiving the Young volunteer award on behalf of Dawid Kierkowski for his coaching support activities in the club. The event was held last Friday 5th September at the Apex centre, when Dawid was away on a family holiday.
Many congratulations go to Dawid from everyone at HGC. You're an inspiration to others and a testament to your family. A well deserved award young man , keep up the great work There will be no training sessions on... Friday 22nd August Saturday 23rd August Monday 25th August Tuesday 26th August Friday 29th August Saturday 30th August Monday 1st September Tuesday 2nd September Friday 5th September Saturday 6th September. We're all so proud of the girls and boys who represented Haverhill Gymnastics club at the 2 & 4 piece competitions at Bury Spectrum over the last couple of weeks. Here they are showing off their certificates, medals and trophies, received for competing, placing and winning. Well done to you all ... and thanks for all the effort and support we get from the coaches and parents.    Sarah Woolcott with Woody, Harry, Mia and Eleanor. 
Just follow the link and sign up - then the club gets between 1 and 3% of the profit the shops you use make on the money you spend - it doesn't cost you or us a penny, but could help raise the essential funds we need to give the kids the best facilities ... what are you waiting for - 'free' fundraising is just a a few clicks away!
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/haverhillgc A few snap-shots and clips from the 2 piece comp in Bury yesterday. Well done to all the gymnasts and coaches, it was a good performance all round against some strong competition.
Apologies to anyone if you were there and you're not featured, I'd only intended to catch our own girls, but others hadn't brought camera's, so I got a bit more footage than intended, then tried to get as much as memory cards would allow in between looking after my two. So popped a few snippets from what I got on here, but i'm afraid I didn't get everyone from HGC. I also hope I've spelled names right. David. Huge thanks go to Erin and her family for their donation to the club.  Erin, who is 11 years old, along with her Mum, Dad and two brothers have been adding their money to a jar for months and months to help the club raise funds for their development plans. They brought it in today (17th May 2014) in a doubled up plastic bag (which was VERY heavy!)
Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! You brought a smile to our faces and our hearts today, it's great to have your support. |
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