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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Sophie Halle-Richards

The Wythenshawe gymnastics club that trains Olympians - it was built with one coach's dream and a bunch of dedicated parents

Tucked away on a nondescript street in Wythenshawe is a gymnastics centre which has produced some of Manchester's greatest sporting talent.

From British Champions to Olympic stars, South Manchester Gymnastics Centre is renowned as one of the best training spots in the region.

Despite its reputation, the road to building the centre, located on the former site of Sharston High School, was years in the making.

It was created with one man's untampered vision to create a world-class training facility, the backing of a local community, and a handful of dedicated parents.

The building process was met with obstacles, financial set-backs, and a six-year fight to keep the site from being sold off by the council for housing redevelopment.

Thanks to the determination of one local community, forty years after the centre opened in 1989, the vision of retired coach, Trevor Pugh, still echoes from wall to wall.

Trevor Pugh (ABNM Photography)

For the 73-year-old, gymnastics became an integral part of his life since being inspired by his own PE teacher at a primary school in Sutton-Coldfield.

During his early years, the dad-of-three was crowned school champion, and Birmingham champion, before going in to teaching.

In 1965, he moved to Manchester to train at Didsbury College before going on to become head of department at Sharston Boys High School, where he set up his own gymnastics club.

The club quickly gained momentum, with boys travelling from as far as Preston and Lancashire to train at the Wythenshawe gym.

Trevor coaching in the 1980s (ABNM Photography)

But in the late 1980s, the area was hit by school closures and merges - threatening the promising future of the club that Pugh had begun to build.

Following the announcement that Sharston High School was among the planned closures, Pugh called a crisis meeting with parents to discuss the club's future.

In a bid to save the centre, he and a small group of parents, dedicated the next six years of their lives to secure a permanent spot for their kids to train.

"We did displays in the gym, we went out and got ourselves known," Trevor said.

Trevor coaching in the 1980s (ABNM Photography)

"The passion was to build a full time gym on the site of the school, and that passion was shared with a few local councillors and the community.

"But we were talking about £300,000 to convert the premises from a school - even in those days that was a lot of money."

At the same time, Pugh was fighting against the local council, who wanted the space to build new homes, and other members of the community, who wanted to use it for football pitches.

Between the group of parents, which included two architects and a dad with his own construction firm, the new centre was built with next to no outside help.

The group of parents included one dad who owned his own construction firm, which was used to pull down the former centre (MEN Media)
Everyone got involved with the building, including the kids (MEN Media)

"One of the dad's had his own firm and we had a lot of self-help pulling the place down," Trevor said.

"Even the little kids helped to tear down the bricks.

"It brought people together from various walks of life who were parents of kids at the gym. We didn't stop.

"Life went on hold for about six years and we finally achieved the gym centre we wanted."

The new club was officially opened in 1989 by Robert Scott, who was the then chief negotiator for the Olympic bid.

It was open to both boys and girls, who came from across the North West to train with Trevor.

Thanks to Pugh's ambition, the club has seen a number of major success stories including Kathy Williams, who trained at the club before representing Great Britain in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Among the club's greatest talents, was Sam Fern, who went on to become British Rings Champion in 2013, having trained at South Manchester since he was a young boy.

The gym became a family affair for Pugh, whose dream was shared by his wife Cheryl and children Stephanie, Nicola and Daniel.

Trevor Pugh (ABNM Photography)

All three of them trained at the gymnastics centre during their childhood.

"Now we have people training from Wythenshawe, Didsbury, Cheadle and the whole of south Manchester," Trevor said.

"For a lot of parents, the gym is a part of their life now and they will come in to have a coffee and a chat while they watch their children train. "

"We built up quite a good community spirit," he added.

The centre is now about to embark on another new chapter, after Trevor stepped down earlier this summer at the age of 73, having run the club for nearly half a century.

Trevor with some of his former students. L-R, Mark Langley, Harry Pickup, Sarah Smith, Laura Myers, Adam coogans, Cassius Williams, Darren Mimjoot, Glen Predergast, Tom Peckett, Caroline Williams, Trev Pugh, Brian Pickup, Steve Simpson, Mike Lea, Fred Lea, Jeff Kerford, Kathy Williams, Nicola Pugh, Stephanie Pugh, Parisa Mahjoob (ABNM Photography)

Two of his top gymnasts have since taken over the training centre, which has now been renamed Evolve Gymnastics Academy, after merging with Newall Green Gymnastics Club.

The waiting list for the newly combined centre is already up to nine months.

Pugh wants to leave a lasting message for future generations, in the hope a dream that took so long to build, is maintained for years to come.

"Here is a gymnastics centre that exists for the good of the community, and was built up over the years from dedication and hard work," he said.

"It wasn't just built by myself, but parents, friends and family who have all believed in my dream."

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