The Simcoe Gliders Gymnastics Club is desperately searching for a new home.
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The club, which has been delivering programs to Norfolk area athletes for 51 years, has been asked to vacate the space it leases from the Norfolk County Agricultural Society by July 2025. The club has been using space underneath the grandstands at the fairgrounds for the past 33 years old.
Previously, the club used space in the Waterford District High School gym.
“Earlier this year, they came to us and said they were making changes and we weren’t part of the plan,” Louise Lovell, the club’s president, said. “We’ve spent the better part of the year looking for another location but haven’t found anything yet.
“We’ve notified the members that if we can’t find a place we’ll be permanently closing our doors.”
The club needs to find a permanent home by March 1, 2025. If that doesn’t happen, programming will come to an end by April 30 to give club officials time to dissolve the club.
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“It would be a sad day,” Lovell said. “I’ve been part of the club since it opened and most of our executive has been here for 20 years or more.
“It’s something that’s close to our hearts and we’ve done everything we can to keep it open to provide quality instruction.”
The club’s directors are not willing to walk away without doing everything possible to remain open, Lovell said.
Still, it’s difficult to find a permanent home with enough space and rent that the club can afford.
The club’s current home is about 6,800-square-feet. Lovell said the club can function in space that is anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000-square feet.
It needs to have high ceilings and ideally, would be located in or close to Simcoe. It also needs to have a 42-foot by 42-foot floor space to accommodate the club’s power tumbler program.
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The club is non-profit and provides programming year round including a summer recreational day camp. It has between 250 and 300 members and is also a child-care option, Lovell said.
The club wants to work with a landlord who is open to a tiered approach to rent, a landlord who will stick with them while the club adjusts to a new home and looks to generate more revenue.
After being in operation for 51 years, the club has proven it can be a successful non-profit, Lovell said.
Lovell said the club’s finances were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The club didn’t quality for support during the COVID-19 pandemic because it’s a non-profit that was leasing space that isn’t considered commercial. As a result, the savings the club had been accumulating for a new home had to be used to keep the club going during the pandemic.
Lovell said if the club is forced to close, members will have one local option, Spectrum Gymnastics in Simcoe.
The next closest gymnastics clubs are in Woodstock and Caledonia.
To learn more about the Simcoe Gliders visit simcoegliders.ca/gymnastics.
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