Axis Trampoline Club Relocation

A project by: Oliver Monro

Successful

WE RAISED £600

from 18 donors

This project received pledges on Sat 01 Nov 2014
Axis Trampoline Club is raising £50,000 to relocate to dedicated premises after being evicted!

Who are you?

My name is Olly Monro and I am the lead coach of Axis Trampoline Club which has been running in Bristol since 2005. Axis TC is the only competitive trampoline club in Bristol, and is Bristol's biggest trampoline club (200 members) where competitive and recreational bouncers can both participate. I am 36 years old and am an ex-National Grade 1 Level performer after I starting trampolining at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) at the age of 20 (I was a late starter). I am a High Performance Trampoline Coach as well as a Tutor and Assessor for British Gymnastics. I have been the competition organiser for the British Schools (BSGA) Trampoline Championships series for the past decade, am the current chair of the British Universities (BUCS) Trampoline Committee and sit on the South West Regional Trampoline Committee. I am also the primary arena commentator for British Gymnastics at both national and international trampoline events. As you can see, I am thoroughly entrenched in trampolining, both locally, regionally and nationally. Trampolining is my full time job, my hobby and my passion......I would describe myself as a trampoline geek!

On my project team is Melanie Monro (my wife) who deals with the financial and session administration side of the club, and Steve Hocking who is a High Performance Trampoline Coach within the club and is a staffing and project manager for this adventure. We also have a team of coaches and all the parents from the club who are all fully on board with this project.

A short summary of your project

We are trying to raise £50,000 for us to relocate our entire trampoline club from our current hired venue, to new dedicated premises. The money will be used to pay for all costs up to and including the move.

This move will allow us to expand our operation to a 7 day per week facility which will see us able to expand our current delivery of both recreational and competitive trampolining, to both mainstream and disability groups, as well as expand our delivery into other rebound disciplines such as Double Mini Trampolining (DMT) and Tumbling. We will also be offering recreational General Gymnastics classes, Free Running classes and space for other activities such as Rugby Tots, Yoga, Pilates, Ante-natal fitness classes etc.

Your story

We have been running as a competitive trampoline club since 2005 when we started at Ashton Park School with two ratty old trampolines, no end decks and no floor mats. We have now grown to be the biggest recreational and competitive trampoline club in Bristol. In fact, we are the only competitive trampoline club in the whole of Bristol. We now boast 7 international spec trampolines as well as all the required safety matting and spotting aids/end decks. We started off with 2 coaches, and have now grown to a staff of 15 coaches, with 2 coaches being the highest level of qualification that you can receive (High Performance Trampoline Coach).

I started the trampoline club as there was no competitive trampolining provision in the whole of the city (and 10 years later we remain the only one in Bristol). As we grew, I discovered my love for coaching all types of different groups of gymnasts, and we now have a large recreational base of gymnasts ranging in age from 5 to 56. We have a successful competitive group who compete both regionally and nationally, and one girl who represents Great Britain in the Disabilities National Trampoline Squad.

As we were bursting at the seams and managing an extensive waiting list, we took the decision to relocate to a hotel and leisure club just round the corner from our hired venue where we had been training for two nights per week since we started the club. This relocation in the middle of February 2014 saw us increase our operation to full time Monday to Friday which enabled us to expand the number of sessions that we could offer greatly. We invested all of the club funds (and all available personal money from my savings accounts) into new equipment and we started running pre-school sessions, home school sessions, holiday programmes, disability sessions and adult only sessions (alongside our expanded recreational and competitive sessions). All of it was going great, and we increased our footfall through the club by 25% in four months!

Then the bombshell hit, and we were unceremoniously evicted from the hotel due to them taking the decision to close their entire operation! This was a devastating blow for us, as we had no idea that this was even a possibility. After such a short time, and after a huge amount of invested time, effort and money, at the beginning of August 2014 we were forced to move back to our original venue down the road. This however meant that we were forced to reduce our hours back down to the two nights per week (which not all of our members could fit in to), as well as completely cancel the preschool activities and the dedicated adults sessions. On top of this, we could not offer any of the home school or holiday activities that we were doing whilst at the hotel.

So.....this left us in a position where we required new premises to move the club forward. After extensive searching we found a new venue that fits the bill perfectly for trampolining - which is quite exciting, as venues appropriate for trampolining are hard to find due to the space and height requirements! On top of that, it is large enough (~13,000 ft2) for us to include other rebound disciplines such as Double Mini Trampolining (DMT) and Tumbling. We also plan on offering recreational General Gymnastics classes, Free Running classes and space for other activities such as Rugby Tots, Yoga, Pilates, Ante-natal fitness classes etc.

As there are no trampolining/rebound/gymnastics venues in the geographical location of the city that we are proposing, or indeed in this part of the South West region, we believe that our rebound facility would widely and greatly benefit the various groups within the community (both local, within Bristol and beyond). The demographics of user would range from pre-schoolers all the way up to teenagers and adults looking for fun and fitness, and cover both recreational and competitive elements of the sports that we would include in our programme of delivery.

Why are we doing this?? We firmly believe that the sport of trampolining (plus the other rebound disciplines) should be accessible to as many different people as possible. I am supremely passionate about making that statement as real as possible and working every waking hour to making it a reality. Expanding our club is going to increase our presence within the community, and will ensure that we are able to offer these rebound gymnastics disciplines for many years to come, enriching the lives of the many people who will come through our doors, socially, emotionally and physically.

With the money raised by this request, you will directly facilitate this dream of ours, which will in turn have the effect of fulfilling the dreams of many young people now and in the future, as well as contributing the overall health and well being of our nations youth by promoting physical exercise and healthy living.

Where will the money go?

There is no minimum target, as any money that we can gain from this or any other fundraising endeavour, will help us towards our target. If we were to hit the full target of £50,000, the money is to be allocated as follows:

£27,500 - Lease deposit
£3,500 - First 3 months rent
£9,000 - New heating/air conditioning system
£1,800 - Stamp duty on the lease
£1,500 - Solicitors and other legal fees
£2,400 - Creating pedestrian access to the premises as required for planning permission
£2,000 - Advertising
£400 - Sending key workers on First Aid courses
£400 - Servicing the fire control panels and building alarms and ensuring the systems are functional
£250 - Installation of fire extinguishers to current building regs standards
£250 - Physical moving costs to relocate the current gym
£1,000- Bringing the building up to scratch as far as safety and security is concerned
    (Locks on sensitive areas such as office, staff room, cleaning cupboards etc)
    (CCTV system with remote door access facilities)
    (Equipping a basic staff room)
    (Equipping a basic office)

If we were to raise more than the target, then we have a plethora of other things that we would like to buy to equip the gym better. These include (but are definitely not limited to):

A new international spec Tumble Track
A new international spec Double Mini Trampoline and landing area
A new international spec Gymnastics Floor
A new Fast Track
2 x new webbings for trampolines
2 x new international spec trampolines
The installation of an overhead rig
Shelving / storage solutions
Pre-school soft play equipment
Banners for display in the gym
Tables and chairs
Multiple camera systems for the different pieces of apparatus in the gym, allowing the gymnasts to review their performances
Lots and lots of floor matting / crash matting / push in mats
Replacement foam for our foam pit
A better equipped office which would allow for a more streamlined operation in the office
A better equipped staffroom which would more convivial for our staff
Installation of changing rooms
Installation of showers
Installation of a mezzanine studio area
Installation of a cafe area for parents to wait and enjoy each others company
Creating the facility for parents to view the gym (as there is currently no view of the gym from the waiting areas)
Installation of double glazed windows to reduce heat loss
Installation of a grey water storage system to reduce our water bills
Installation of LED bulbs in the gym to reduce our electric bills

As you can see, there is a HUGE cost involved in us doing anything beyond the absolute basics (which is what our target figure of £50,000 is), so anything else raised over and above that figure would be very gratefully accepted, and would be of great help to us as a club as we struggle to provide this fabulous opportunity to the many members of the community who will benefit from this endeavour.

As far as reporting is concerned, we can provide updates on a monthly basis to any and all contributors. If they would like reports on a bi-monthly frequency, then this would be possible as well.

Rewards

The team building events with you and your staff have proved to be excellent activities for those companies we have worked with in the past including Bristol City Council and Wesport. The atmosphere that we create in the gym has been previously described as infectious, and this environment is something that we want to share with you! Bouncing around on trampolines, and throwing yourself into foam pits is a novel way for you and your team to engage with one another in a safe and fun environment that is guaranteed to have you talking about it months later.

Items of club apparel are available for some of the smaller contributions, as well as experience sessions in trampolining at our dedicated rebound centre in Bristol. If we have any contributors to our cause over a certain amount we would be delighted to offer rewards in the form of permanent recognition on a fundraising plaque in our foyer (if indeed this is what you would like - you may remain anonymous if you wish), and if from a company, we would be happy to sponsor your corporate logo and a link to your website from our website. For the purchase of some rewards you may also be invited to our official opening celebration as a VIP.

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Find us here

You can view our website at:

www.axistrampolineclub.co.uk

or Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/AxisTrampolineClub

or Twitter at:

www.twitter.com/AxisTrampoline

Please do follow us and find out how we are doing with our venture. Pictures and videos will all be regularly uploaded onto here for you to keep up to date with all of the action and progress to do with both the relocation and all competitions and other activities carried out by the club.

Help us succeed!

This is a really worthwhile cause which is going to be a far reaching and socially enriching project for the community groups located in Bristol and the wider community in the South West, both now and for many years to come.

Obviously we need as many people as possible to know about us and what we are trying to achieve, and this is where you come in!

You don't need to give money to help us succeed! Please share this project with anyone you think would support us – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog. In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.

Like we said, you don't need to give money to help us, but we'd love it if you did! If you can spare any kind of financial support PLEASE sponsor us and help make this brilliant project happen.