History
MK Springers was started in February 2004 one cold Saturday morning in The Radcliffe School, Wolverton by joint club managers Felicity Candler-O’Donnell and Jean Heffer-Rahn…
Many of the gymnasts who attended that very first session still train or coach with us today! Soon afterwards we started classes at Brook End School.
In 2005 we opened Roade Gym club at the Willison centre in Roade near Northampton.
Easter 2006 we moved from Brook End to The Hazeley School, this allowed us an increase in training hours. We started an acro (sports acrobatics) section. Our acrobats are now winning medals in both Sports Acrobatics and Tumbling.
Easter 2007 we took the decision to move from The Hazeley School to a spot just 500 yards down the road at Medbourne Community Sports Pavilion. This new pavilion gave us the chance to offer more classes throughout the year.
January 2007 we also formed a new club at Oak Grove Leisure Centre in Middelton.
Another new venture in 2007 was an Easter Camp; this was a three day residential camp for gymnasts, they had the opportunity to work with an international acro coach, a national trampoline coach and an international (IPC), tumbling coach. This we hope to be an annual event with a possibility of a summer camp also.
June 2008 we opened another club at Tickford Park Primary School, Newport Pagnell. Gymnasts can train here on a Saturday morning.
Easter 2009 was the start of our most ambitious project yet, with the move from Medbourne to a large (10,000 sq ft) building at 16 Carters Lane on Kiln Farm. Most of our major changes tend to happen at Easter, we don’t know why! We purchased a full-size gymnastics floor and a tumble track, with the help of grant funding.
30th November 2011 we signed a 10 year lease on 17 Carters Lane – next door to no 16 – thus doubling our space to 20,000 sq ft. During the Christmas closure we demolished the dividing wall.
2012: Sport England awards us £50,000 Inspired Facilities grant. National HockeyFoundation awards us £65,000. We embark on a £150,000 programme to modernise the building at Kiln Farm. Other Grants include equipment grants of £10,000 from Santander and £4,500 from Milton Keynes Community Foundation. We purchased a Beam direct from London 2012, a set of Parallel bars, a set of Asymmetric bars, plus several mats and equipment for Freestyle gymnastics.
Sept 2012 we moved our Northampton club from Roade to Caroline Chisholm School on the outskirts of the city.
2013: In June 2013 Cameron Lambert won a bronze medal in the NDP finals, our first British medal! In July 2013 our total membership exceeded 1,000 for the first time. We purchased Rings, a second Beam and a High Bar.
This is a very brief synopsis of who we are – to find out the complete story come and join us!