Gala opening for club with Olympic heroes

On Friday, the club hosted a Gala Evening at the new premises.

The event was attended by Coun Adrian Snookes, Deputy Mayor of Sleaford and the volunteers and coaches at the club who had done so much to help support it, particularly with the move from their old premises on Sellwood Court, to the larger premises on East Road.

Head Coach Patsy Shields said: “We are a not-for-profit, community sports club with a fantastic group of supporters, so it was great for us to be able to say a big thank you to them for all their support and hard work. We could not have achieved the move to our fantastic new premises without them.”

On Saturday, the club staged a flag-bearing march from Sleaford Market Place to the new premises, led by former European Champion, World Championship and Olympic medal-winning gymnast, Kristian Thomas and Spanish Olympic trampolinist Humberto Hernandez.

Kristian, who formally cut the ribbon to open the new premises, was a member of the men’s gymnastics team who won gold in the 2012 European Championships team event and then went on to take a historic Olympic bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

“Saturday was such a great day for our children and parents as well,” added Patsy.

“ We were so proud to show our lovely town and club to two such amazing and inspiring gymnasts as Humberto Hernandez and Kristian Thomas.

“We were honoured to have these two gymnastics heroes at our club and seeing the smiles on the faces of our 
gymnasts and how they inspired them all was simply amazing.”

Finally, the weekend finished with a Disability Gymnastics Open Day, hosted by newly appointed Lincolnshire Special Olympics Coach Patsy.

Patsy said: “I am so proud to be a Special Olympics Coach for our county and club, and to be providing opportunities to all the children and adults in our local community, regardless of age or ability.

“It was great to see the gymnasts putting together and performing gymnastics routines in front of an audience.”