Last year the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers chose us as their charity of the year. Hosting a number of fundraising events throughout the year, the company also had individuals taking on personal challenges to help raise money.

Mike trekked over 120km raising over £4,000 in the process, and Paul took on the daunting task of completing the London Marathon. Here’s Paul’s story of a memorable day in the English capital.

“What a day! The weather was great and the crowds were in fine form. Before I knew it I was at mile eight where I saw my fan club (my wife, 4 year old daughter, 2 week old son and sister) for the first time which was such a boost.

“So then, of course, disaster struck. The niggle I’d been carrying in my left hamstring for a couple of months decided to remind me that it was there. I was no longer running for a good time. The focus was on trying to get to the finish.

“And then a wonderful thing happened. I saw my family again. They hadn’t moved, but I was heading along the same stretch of road westbound, so I knew where to look for them. I stopped, gave them all a kiss and a cuddle, had a photo with them and started off again with that shuffling run.

“In a matter of moments, I was across the line in a time of 4:25:43. I had done it! The time was slower than I had hoped, but far quicker than I had feared during the darkest parts of the event when finishing was, at times, looking like a bit of a stretch to say the least.”

Paul raised over £3,500 for us, so that we can continue changing the lives of people through gymnastics.

If you would like to fundraise for us, we can provide all the help you need. Find out more or email [email protected].

Love to Move Lead Coach Kim has played a huge part in developing the Love to Move programme, so that it can help more people living with dementia. She also has incredibly inspirational story.

“My Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2000. My dad was also diagnosed with dementia in 2011. Sadly he passed away the week the programme was planned to start. He was very excited about it and would’ve loved it.

“I learnt a lot from caring for him. He had an amazing passion for music, which has very much shaped the way the program has developed.”

Kim’s personal experience gives her an understanding and insight into how dementia affects the everyday lives of people and families affected by the condition.

“People have problems communicating; some people can’t find the right words to express what they’re trying to say. Basic things like eating and drinking become a major issue.

“It’s very difficult visiting my Mum. Each time I see her it’s like a bereavement. She doesn’t know me, she hasn’t known me for about 3 years, but I can help others.”

And Kim is doing exactly that.

With almost 30 years’ experience in coaching, working in physiotherapy, training in dance for those living with dementia and also adapting gymnastics for disabled people, Kim is in the perfect position to help others.

To date Kim has helped so many people living with dementia, improving their quality of life, through the Love to Move programme.

Find out more about Love to Move.

Amber is an exceptional young gymnast.

In 2015 her family came across hard times and so her club decided to apply to the British Gymnastics Foundation for a hardship grant.

“For Amber, being allowed to come to gymnastics without having to worry about the finance for some time allowed her to blossom,” Neil Couch, Berwick Gymnastics.

Without the additional support of the hardship grants programme, Amber, then 15 years old, wouldn’t have been able to continue taking part in the sport.

We are delighted that three years on Amber is more involved in gymnastics than ever before.

Neil Couch: “Amber is now a qualified Core Proficiency Coach with DC Gymnastics. She coaches a minimum of six hours every week, 46 weeks per year, is massively respected by those she coaches and her wider coaching team alike. In addition to her volunteer time with us, she trains as a gymnast 12 hours per week, and competes as a tumbler, most recently in the Scottish Team Tumbling Championships.”

We are incredibly proud of Amber and all that she continues to achieve in gymnastics.

Find out more about our Hardship Grants programme or donate to help us support more gymnasts like Amber.

2017 has been another year to remember for the British Gymnastics Foundation. Alongside a host of fundraising success stories, we now have Kristian Thomas and Beth Tweddle MBE as ambassadors for two of our programmes, we’ve released ground-breaking research conducted by Age UK and we’ve even appeared on prime-time national TV.

The Love to move programme has been the major success story of the past 12 months. Most notably, we were delighted to receive £499,991 of National Lottery funding from Sport England which will assist a four-year project do develop and expand the programme. You can find out more about the programme here.

We also launched a crowdfunding campaign, which thanks to the generosity of so many people, raised over £14,000 to go to the same cause.

To coincide with the crowdfunding campaign, a booklet including exercises from Love to move was made available for download. The booklet has been downloaded more than 75,000 times! Download your copy. Research conducted by Age UK was also released which reported that the programme shows ‘demonstrable benefits in the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of older people.’ Read the full research.

Alongside the release of Age UK’s research, our charity Manager, Patrick Bonner, was invited on to the BBC Breakfast sofa to show some of the key exercises of the programme, allowing a national audience of 4.5 million people to see the work we are doing.

Multiple Olympic gymnast and British Gymnastics legend Kristian Thomas, agreed to become an ambassador for the Love to Move programme, and lead coach Kim Hall has received recognition for her exceptional efforts, finishing runner-up at the European Commission’s Sport Awards in the Local Hero category.

Away from Love to Move, the Hardship Grants programme has awarded just over £17,000 to 73 British Gymnastics members in 2017, ensuring they stay in the sport of gymnastics despite going through a time of financial hardship or personal crisis. In November, we were delighted to announce Olympic medallist and multiple World champion, Beth Tweddle MBE, as an ambassador for the scheme. And it was Beth that helped us to launch our Christmas campaign for this year. Watch our Christmas campaign video when Beth went to meet Libby, one of our grant recipients.

People have completed the London Marathon, Tough Mudder events, an Inflatable 5k fun-run and hosted a yoga weekend to help raise additional funds for us which we are extremely grateful for. If you would like to fundraise for us in 2018, email [email protected] to register your interest.

Tumble, our Foundation bear, is also now available to buy from the British Gymnastics GymShop, with all profits helping us to transform lives through gymnastics.

It’s been another incredible year, and we look forward to sharing more great news in 2018.

Kim Hall, Lead Coach of our Love to Move programme, was a very worthy runner up for the Local Hero Award at the European Commission’s #BeActive awards ceremony in Marseille, France, on Wednesday night.

The Awards celebrated inspiring contributions to promoting active lifestyles in Europe, with the Workplace Award, Local Hero Award and Education Award all presented.

Love to Move is an age and dementia friendly seated gymnastics programme which is transforming the lives of people living with dementia. Kim has been a vital part of the programme’s success, and has played a big part in ensuring participants get the most out of the sessions.

Research by Age UK in to the Love to Move programme found that it ‘has a demonstrable benefit in the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of older people’, but it also praised the Lead Coach of the sessions, Kim.

Age UK’s research found that ‘the dedication of the person delivering the session was evident by her remembering the older people’s names, taking the time to speak to each of them individually. Older people attending the sessions and staff members at the residential care homes all had praise and positive comments about the person delivering the session.’

Her efforts to ensure the success of the programme to date can’t be underestimated.

Patrick Bonner, Head of British Gymnastics Foundation said: “This fantastic recognition for Kim’s outstanding contribution to her local community is truly deserved! Kim’s work through the Love to Move programme, transforms the lives of people living with dementia and their families every day; and we are so proud of the work that Kim does!”

Kim said: “It was a real honour to be selected for this award and to be in the final 3. Everyone was very welcoming, supportive and excited about my work, delivering such an amazing programme which has improved so many lives. There was a lot of interest shown.

“The other nominees were very special people and I felt very humbled to be nominated alongside them. The evening was a real celebration on how much sport and being active can improve the lives of everyone from any background and age.”

Find out more about Love to Move.

We are delighted to announce Kristian Thomas as the new ambassador for our Love to Move programme, which is making life changing differences to those living with dementia.

Kristian, a two-time Olympian, will be working with us to help raise awareness of the great work the programme is doing, as well as being present at future fundraising events, with a view to helping expand the programme across the UK.

British Gymnastics Foundation Manager, Patrick Bonner said: “We chose Kristian as our ambassador for the Love to Move Programme as he has experienced gymnastics at all levels and has a deep understanding about core gymnastics skills and how they are beneficial to people, no matter what their age or background.

“Kristian is currently doing a sports degree in Strength & Conditioning and as part of this, is exploring how people living with dementia can benefit from exercise programmes.

“I hope that Kristian’s high profile as one of Great Britain’s best loved Olympians can help raise awareness that gymnastics is more than just a sport and has the power to transform the lives of people most in need.”

Love to Move has been delivered regularly in two care homes, one day centre and one community group in Cambridgeshire during the last 12 months following a successful pilot, with more than 150 people benefitting. Age UK have conducted research on the programme and have found it to have “a demonstrable benefit in the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of older people. Those older people having mild to advanced forms of dementia appear to benefit the most.”

Kristian is delighted to have been asked to be an ambassador for the programme: “I was approached by the British Gymnastics Foundation and straight away I knew it was something I’d like to be involved in.

“A lot of people know someone with dementia, so I thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the sport that’s helped me so much. I’m really hoping my experience within gymnastics can help people doing the programme to regain some of the functions they thought were lost.”

During September, the British Gymnastics Foundation brought the GymChallenge to two special schools in Liverpool.

Abbotts Lea School and Palmerston School both played host to their very own gymnastics festivals which we were delighted to be able to organise, giving children who hadn’t previously had the opportunity to take part in gymnastics a chance to enjoy what the sport has to offer.

Patrick Bonner, British Gymnastics Foundation Manager, said: “From the moment each group came in, the excitement levels were clear to see.

“Whilst many of the children have difficulties with concentration, communication and learning difficulties, once they got engaged in the gymnastics activity, they really challenged themselves to do their best and seemed to concentrate and enjoy it; so much so, that they didn’t want the session to finish.

“The children’s enthusiasm appeared to grow as each session progressed and the children took great delight in showing everyone what they had learned during their three days of gymnastics as we invited each child to work in pairs to do a mini gymnastics display at the end of each session. All the pupils were so supportive of each other and when they applauded, it was fantastic to see the children who were performing brimming with smiles!”

Two days of coaching were followed by a gymnastics festival day where all of the children took part in activities including balancing, throwing, catching and jumping. During the day, Olympic medalist Beth Tweddle MBE made a surprise appearance, helping to coach the children before presenting certificates to all that took part.

Stephen Morris was the lead coach for all three days at both Palmerston and Abbots Lea Schools, says having fun is key to each session he runs: “The most important thing is that the sessions are safe and the children are learning and having fun.

“If these things are in place you get a sense of satisfaction having spent some time with a group of individuals who have learnt something from you and you have had a good time with them. What’s not to like about that?”

Feedback from both schools has been positive, with Palmerston School PE teacher Mike Halligan thrilled that the festival had visited their school: “The whole package of three days was a great way for us to start the new school year.

“It helped us look at the new intake of pupils and see what they were responding to and coping with. The students benefitted from the experience and it has given the staff plenty of ideas to use in PE and sports activities moving forward.”

Palmerston School, a school for children with special educational needs in Liverpool, took part in two days of coaching and a one-day gymnastics festival, with special guest Beth Tweddle MBE providing expert tips along the way.

We were delighted to be able to organise the event, giving children who hadn’t previously had the opportunity to take part in gymnastics the chance to enjoy what the sport has to offer.

British Gymnastics Women’s Artistic coach and disability gymnastics expert Stephen Morris delivered sessions to the entire school and Palmerston School PE teacher Mike Halligan was thrilled that we had taken the festival to their school: “The whole package of 3 days was a great way for us to start the new school year.

“It helped us look at the new intake of pupils and see what they were responding to and coping with. The students benefitted from the experience and it has given the staff plenty of ideas to use in PE and sports activities moving forward.”

The two days of coaching were followed by a gymnastics festival day where all of the children took part in activities including balancing, throwing, catching and jumping. During the day, Olympic medallist Beth Tweddle MBE made a surprise appearance, helping to coach the children before presenting certificates to all that took part.

Patrick Bonner, British Gymnastics Foundation Manager, said: “From the moment each group came into the gymnastics hall, the excitement levels were clear to see.

“Whilst many of the children have difficulties with concentration, communication and learning difficulties, once the children got engaged in the gymnastics activity, they really challenged themselves to do their best and seemed to concentrate and enjoy the gymnastics activity; so much so, that they didn’t want the session to finish.

“The children’s enthusiasm appeared to grow as each session progressed and the children took great delight in showing everyone what they had learned during their three days of gymnastics as we invited each child to work in pairs to do a mini gymnastics display at the end of each session. All the pupils were so supportive of each other and when they applauded, it was fantastic to see the children who were performing brimming with smiles!”

The British Gymnastics Foundation is also delighted to announce that we will be visiting Abbots Lea School in Liverpool later this month to run the same programme, hoping to make a big difference to the lives of children in that school too.