Gymnastics club looking to use Cunningsburgh workshop as dedicated facility

SHETLAND Gymnastics Club has applied to change the use of a Cunningsburgh workshop into a dedicated facility for the club to use.

The club has been on the hunt for a facility which it could call its own for the best part of two decades.

Now it has applied to change the use of the “Soothend storage unit” at Cunningsburgh into a gymnastics facility.

The building is located just past the Cunningsburgh Hall as drivers head south, and is currently used as a workshop and office space.

Club coach Julie Grant said the owner of the building had been “hugely helpful to the club”.

They hope to lease the building to begin with, and will “then look at options after a set period of time”, she said.

“We have alterations we need to do to comply with building standards, so are hoping we are successful with our funding bid to sportscotland in order to carry these out so we can move in,” Grant told Shetland News.

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“Otherwise we will have to keep fundraising and apply to other funders, which there are very few of for this type of project.”

Grant said they were “keeping everything crossed for this to work”.

It comes months after the club’s attempt to take on the former Mackenzie’s Farm Shop in the same area was unsuccessful.

Gymnasts train out of the Clickimin Leisure Complex in Lerwick, but the equipment they use is not full competition size – which can leave the club at a disadvantage when it comes to facing mainland clubs.

Gymnasts perform their national floor routines on a 12x12m sprung floor, which is not available in Shetland.

With more than 400 young children on its waiting list, the gymnastics club has been hampered by the lack of a purpose-built gymnastics facility since its inception in 2005.

Numerous setbacks have hit their search for a dedicated building, with the club saying in September 2023 it would look to build its own facility – despite that being the most expensive option.