A visit by two top gymnasts has topped off a special period for a business in Stoke-on-Trent.
Balance and Beam, at Festival Park, has invested £75,000 in its facilities over the past two years, providing more equipment and allowing even more children to join in classes.
Earlier this month, it staged a members-only event giving youngsters the chance to be coached by British artistic gymnasts Kelly Simm and Claudia Fragapane.
The gym was chosen as one of a small number of locations to host exclusive events with Kelly and Claudia.
Both gymnasts have won medals at the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships and Claudia went on to participate in the 2016 series of Strictly Come Dancing after retiring from the sport.
Balance and Beam founder and CEO Yvonne Shuttleworth said: “Kelly and Claudia are passionate about meeting and inspiring the young generation of gymnasts, whether the goal is purely to have as much fun as possible or to compete at the highest level and this was a fantastic opportunity for our little members.
“With many young children currently not active enough and many children falling short of daily recommended physical activity levels our aim is to inspire children to develop a love of physical activity that will hopefully last a lifetime.”
Balance and Beam was launched in 2006 to support Yvonne’s vision of nurturing children to be happier and healthier through physical activity and positive mental wellbeing development.
There are now more than 850 children signed up to the gym’s weekly gymnastic-based child development programme that incorporates the EYFS Key Stage 1 and 2 Framework.
