Jumping to action for gym future

The Blenheim Gymnastics Club is hoping someone falls head over heels with the idea of hosting their new home as its current facility shows its age.

With mounting structural and safety issues, every class at capacity with waitlists and requests to expand disciplines, the club’s volunteer board says its current home is seriously limiting it’s future.

The club’s Opawa St building - built into the stop bank at the confluence of the Taylor and Ōpaoa Rivers - is struggling with roof leaks, limited toilet facilities, no disabled access and inadequate heating, lighting, and parking.

“This request has come from an increasing repairs and maintenance bill as well as the wait list of kids we have for gymnastics - because of the size and layout of our facility we can’t host everyone so there’s kids missing out every day,” says coach Terri Hendriks.

“We’ve got a lot of inquiries about those activities that we can’t currently do, like rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining which require higher ceiling heights we don’t have.

“But we’re also dealing with environments that could be unhealthy for our kids, especially after those big rains which meant we had to bring in dehumidifiers to ensure our bars didn’t warp and expensive mats didn’t get mouldy.”

A recent feasibility study identified the former Smiths City building as an ideal new venue, but the Marlborough District Council opted to lease it to Bigsave Furniture.

And with an approximate $8 million bill for a new build, the club is appealing to residents, property owners, and businesses for leads with a ceiling height of 10 metres.

“We’re open to repurposing existing buildings and sharing use with other groups to offer more community availability, any options really to keep costs manageable.

“We understand that these big moves don’t happen overnight, but with kids preferring to hold on than use the outdated toilets or the mould on the ceiling, we can’t wait five years”.

If you have any ideas, email the club at [email protected].