Gym offered £50k by mystery donor
AN ANONYMOUS donor has offered the new owners of Southport Gymnastics Club a £50,000 donation – if they can raise the same amount by Christmas.
The gym reopens on September 3 and is being run as a charity after it was saved from closure following a parent-run campaign.
It is being used under a two-year, rent-free lease from the previous owners, the YMCA.
However, the group will need to raise a minimum of £350,000 to buy the building outright, a sum that will increase every three months if it is not raised in the first year.
A huge helping hand could be coming from an anonymous donor who has pledged to give £50,000 to the gym’s fundraising campaign if the same amount is raised before this Christmas.
Sarah Simcock, a member of the parents group, said: “Even though we have secured the gym, we’ve not saved it.”
At the launch next weekend, Miss England, Elizabeth Grant, will present a £5,000 donation.
The money was raised at the Miss England grand finals in Southport in July, where £51,000 was raised for a various good causes.
Of that, £5,000 of that money was pledged to the Community Link Foundation charity in Southport, which, after discussions with Elizabeth, donated it to the Southport Gymnastics Club.
Sarah said: “It’s timely with everything going on Rio, with all the gymnastics medals. We’ve been lucky to receive funding from the Community Link Foundation which was donated to them by the Miss England Foundation, and we’re looking forward to restoring the gym back to its former glory and above and beyond.”
The gym will feature the new Southport Gymnastics Club logo and there will be T-shirts and leotards for sale, though the new management is keen to stress that members can continue to wear their YMCA clothing.
The gym is used by up to 1,300 children each week, as well as by others such as the Olympian Dan Purvis.
A fundraising page has also been set up on mydonate. bt. com/ charities/ southportgymnasticsclub