Imminent vacation of Honiton Gymnastics Centre

Dear parents

We received the shattering news just a few working days ago that we have to leave Honiton Gymnastics Centre today.

We’ve known since just after we moved into the centre that we would not be in here forever, but we had always been led to believe by the housing developers—Taylor Wimpey—that we would be given a significant period of notice when they bought the site.

We’re devasted to say that the current owners, Tesco, gave us just a few days’ notice so that they can sell ‘with vacant possession’ to the housing developer, and Taylor Wimpey have so far not given us the option to remain here even for a few more months.

The result is that we have to officially vacate the premises today and have all of our considerable belongings removed by no later than Monday.

Honiton Gymnastics Club’s board members have been doing our utmost behind the scenes to find a solution to this before announcing the news to you, as we were confident that we would be able to remain in place, at least for another couple of months.  We have spent the past few days discussing any possible options with Taylor Wimpey and Tesco and calling upon East Devon District Council and British Gymnastics for assistance. But to no avail.

We’re therefore in the process of now removing all of our equipment and putting it into storage for the immediate future. We’re shattered – but we are far from giving up and are looking to put a series of measures in place as soon as possible.

What does this mean for gymnasts?
We will be looking to secure the long-term future of the whole gymnastics club at an alternative venue.

Rec gymnasts – sessions cancelled for the time being
However, in the short term, all Gym-Crazy Kids, Fun For Baby, Rec 5+, Rec 8+, Rec Selected and PAYG classes are cancelled until further notice. All those who have spaces in termly classes will keep their spaces when we are able to run classes again.

Competition gymnasts (including Development Group)
Ensuring we keep sessions running for our competition groups is our main priority in the short to medium-term and we already have a number of possibilities.  However, we are waiting for confirmation of these before we can give any definite information to you.

Whatever happens we will ensure that, over the next week, we have a solution that will provide a training venue for competition gymnasts and we will communicate this with you as soon as we know the full details.

In the meantime, we are very sorry for any inconvenience that this causes members.

Finances
Honiton Gymnastics Club will ensure that any sessions missed because of this situation are taken into financial consideration and accounted for so that you are not out of pocket.

Packing up and loading containers – please help!
We have started the packing up process today but need as much help as possible over this weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, between 9am and 9pm).  We’ll require help taking equipment apart, packing up, and loading shipping containers. Anything we can’t remove we may lose, so help getting it all packed is very important.

Also, if you think you have available garage space, a storage container, land to place a storage container or any other space that we might be able to use, please let us know. It won’t necessarily be needed, but we’d like to have an exhaustive list to begin with.

Please support us!
For 35 years Honiton Gymnastics Club has been a community-focused organization, and we are currently going through the process of becoming a social enterprise (a Community Interest Company). But while we’ve grown from 44 members to 500+ in recent years, very few officials seem concerned that—despite the fact that the club is such a valuable community resource—we will have to either fend for ourselves or risk disappearing as an organisation (simply because we haven’t been given the courtesy of a reasonable notice period to vacate our training centre). There is huge strength and reassurance in numbers, so if you feel as strongly as we do about Honiton Gymnastics Club’s positive place in the community, you can help support our future by telling your local MP, councillor or other public representative why you feel we deserve their support too. Please find below direct contact details for some of your local representatives (or feel free to contact anyone else you feel should know).

Hugo Swire – MP for East Devon: 020 7219 8173, hugo.swire.mp@parliament.uk
Neil Parish – MP for Honiton: neil.parish.mp@parliament.uk
Honiton Town Council (Clerk): townclerk@honiton.gov.uk
East Devon District Council Deputy Leader Phil Twiss: ptwiss@eastdevon.gov.uk

Please use your own words if you like, or if you need some help feel free to use the below template, which you can change as required:

Dear xxxxx

My son/daughter is a member of Honiton Gymnastics Club. We attend classes at the club every week, along with hundreds of other members.  It’s a busy, enjoyable environment where my son/daughter learns important motor skills, socializes with other children and gets physical exercise on a wide range of gymnastics-related equipment. We’re astounded by the general set up, the high level of coaching and the great facilities.

However, we found out this week that Tesco was selling the gymnastics centre’s site to Taylor Wimpey and that the gymnastics club has only a few days to vacate the site and find new premises. Regardless of the club’s tenancy agreement with Tesco, this lack of notice seems unreasonable and a shows a shocking disregard for the importance of community activities in East Devon.

The club has served its local community for 35 years and is a valuable asset that deserves community support too. As my local MP/councillor/council I hope you can use your influence to help Honiton Gymnastics Club speedily find suitable alternative premises and lobby to support the club’s efforts going forwards.

If you wish to contact the club directly you can contact one of its board members, James Reddy, on 07967 835947 or email the club at honitongymclub@gmail.com.

Yours sincerely

Xxxxx

Thank you for your support
Ottery Moor Lane has been a wonderful place for Honiton Gymnastics Club and a venue that has allowed us to develop grow, and become a bigger part of the Honiton and East Devon community. We’d like to thank everyone for their help in making Honiton Gymnastics Centre such a special place over the past few years – we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support. We look forward to ensuring that that the next step in Honiton Gymnastics Club’s journey is even better for all of our members.

Best wishes

Honiton Gymnastics Club Board