A popular East Kilbride gymnastics club is setting the bar high after being granted the lease of Stewartfield Community Centre.
East Kilbride Gymnastics Club senior coach Nicky Youl aims to ensure all children in and around the town have more access to gymnastics after securing the venue through a Community Asset Transfer (CAT).
The centre was among a number of assets that the board of South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture agreed to withdraw from as part of their plans to balance their 2024-25 budget.
Badminton Academy Social Enterprise (BASE) were due to take over the lease but withdrew their application.
At this stage, the application for Stewartfield Community Centre is not a formal CAT request but the club will be granted a 100 per cent rent-reduction for a one-year lease to allow its CAT application to be developed.
The project is to create a gymnastics academy specifically focused on ASN and primary-aged children to meet the demand the organisation has already created.
The main sports hall will be used exclusively for gymnastics with the smaller hall continuing to be available for a wider range of uses and community activity.
Nicky told Lanarkshire Live: “We are really pleased to have had the asset transfer for Stewartfield Community Centre approved and we are looking forward to expanding our provision of gymnastics to even more children in the East Kilbride and surrounding areas.
“Once we get into Stewartfield and get it kitted out we will be able to provide more gymnastics classes for children of all ages and abilities, but with a focus on preschool children and for children with special needs.”
The club was recently awarded a grant from Scottish Gymnastics to start buying equipment for the venue but still need to raise more funds.
Nicky added: “We are currently among the finalists in the Cash for Kids sports grant for Glasgow and the West, which will hopefully, if we win, give us some money to begin buying apparatus for Stewartfield.
“Our aim is to ensure that these children have more access to gymnastics than we are currently able to offer them in our main gym. We moved into our current location with around 500/600 members around five years ago and now we have around 1400 members. We wanted to be able to provide gymnastics to more preschool and ASN gymnasts but there just wasn’t the time and space to do this in a quality way.
“Having Stewartfield set up to the same standard as we do in our main facility will allow us to provide the quality experience that these and all our other gymnasts deserve. We look forward to moving into Stewartfield Community Centre and start classes as soon as the club is able to.”
Councillor Davie McLachlan, Chair of Housing and Technical Resources at the council, said: “This is great news for the community in keeping this valuable resource open, and it shows the value of the processes set up to address the lack of funding for premises like these across South Lanarkshire.
“The gymnastics club is well-known across the area for its work in, and with, the community and has a proven track record of developing and maintaining a facility, so the benefits that the use of Stewartfiled Community Centre will let it bring are clear to see.
“This will also remove the costs of operating this asset from the Community Fightback Fund and make them available for other vital purposes.”
Meanwhile, Lifeline food bank Loaves and Fishes was successful in securing a one-year concessionary lease of Greenhills Hall and Library.
The anti-poverty charity can now cater to increasing demand, deliver a wider range of services and to move into the area of most need in East Kilbride, allowing easier access for the local and wider community.
Chairperson Lesley Davidson said previously: “It is clear that those who need us most will be better able to access the services that we provide and we are so grateful to be given the opportunity.”
And Calderwood Baptist Church were granted the lease Calderwood Community Hall on Blackbraes Road to serve more of the local community.
Pastor Thomas McNeil said: “We are glad to have been selected by the council to agree a 1 year lease of the Calderwood Hall. Our immediate priority is to meet existing users of the hall to understand their needs and do our best to ensure they can continue using the hall.
“Our priority will then be to use the one-year lease period to develop a full plan that will work towards securing a sustainable future for the community hall.”
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