WHAT a decade of tumbles and vaults it has been at a Flintshire club.

Recently, Delyn Gymnastics Club celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a fun-filled, free open day for all.

During the day, the club opened its doors free of charge to over 400 children and their families with lots of mums and dads joining in on the gymnastics equipment at their facility in Mostyn and a special display, presentation and lunch reception for key people who have helped the club in the past 10 years. Asda, in Queensferry and Tesco, in Broughton kindly supplied donations to the buffet.

Also, a big thank-you goes to the parents that helped get the facility ready for the event with cleaning, leotard blinging and other jobs.

Delyn Gymnastics Club started life as Flint Castle Gymnastics Club and operated out of Flint High School for nine years.

In 2016, it became Delyn as the club added sessions at Holywell High School.

On their first day of opening in 2014, founding coaches Jen Waite, Kaeti Breward and Bethan Roberts expected a few children to turn up.

However, over 100 children came through the doors on that Thursday evening in early September and the legacy of the club began.

It quickly became clear to the founding coaches that there was demand for recreational gymnastics in the area and they added more sessions to meet the demand.

Kelly Rossington, a former director, said: “What an amazing club Delyn is.

"I absolutely loved being part of team green. Loved working alongside the best group of women that had oodles of experience and knowledge.

"The club for me is a big family, encouraging and engaging all levels.”

Sonia O’Hara, a former director and Delyn’s biggest cheerleader, added: “I found Delyn when I really needed it most and Delyn found me when it needed the support equally; when Bethan went on maternity leave and they were looking to launch the Holywell sessions.

"Delyn was the place I was blessed to meet so many friends and inspiring ladies and share in the privilege of guiding, coaching and empowering young individuals to reach their goals.

"I loved my time at Delyn gymnastics with my daughter, Poppy. Happy 10 years team green, you are all super stars!”

As with all sports clubs, Covid was a tricky time for the club.

From over 300 members the club diminished to just a few members and they lost a lot of their older gymnasts who would usually then graduate into coaching.

But, they fought though the PPE and cleaning products to come back stronger than ever and in early 2023, the directors decided to start looking for their own facility as with a waiting list that equated to their membership total, the club could not grow anymore whilst being based in the two high schools.

In September 2023, after a few months of negotiations and a lot of ground work, the club finally got the keys to the new facility and the monumental task of turning it into a gymnastics facility began!

A year on and having met the aim of being in their new facility for their 10-year anniversary, the directors are delighted to run one of the biggest recreational gymnastics programmes in Wales.

With nearly 500 memberships, the club is at 94 per cent capacity with its current programme and even has a waiting list for some sessions.

They run a full programme of gymnastics for all ages and also offer birthday parties, corporate activities, university lectures and much more.

The future of the club is bright having just secured a £28,000 grant from Sport Wales to assist funding a trampoline programme which will also involve a Rebound Therapy programme run with Besti Cadwalder Health Board.

For further information, go to www.delyngymnastics.co.uk