Sam wins Bronze on the Vault

Samantha Bayley and Tracey Skirton flew out to Australia last Saturday, along with Ashtone Johnston from Liverpool, to represent Great Britain in the Canberra Cup on the 8th December. Tracey is coach to the British Girls. Also competing for Great Britain in the men's competition were Ryan Bradley and Kevin Sellors.

Despite three falls Sam came a creditable 10th overall and in the apparatus finals took the Bronze Medal in vault, came 4th on Floor and 5th on bars.

In the men's competition Kevin Sellors took Bronze on the pommels.

You can check on the full results by visiting the Canberra Cup Website by clicking here.

British Age Group Championships - Guildford

3rd & 4th November saw our gymnasts active in the British Age Group Championships in Guildford at levels 4, 3 and 2. This was the Voluntary round of the competition, the Compulsories round having taken place in spring. The title of British Champion would go to the gymnast with the highest combined score for each age group from both competitions.

At level 4 South West team (all from WSG) took the team Gold in the Compulsories in May with Shannon Morse taking individual Silver and Jessica Coombs the Bronze. Now in November our representation was weakened by injuries to two of our best gymnasts. This left Jessica Coombs from Swindon as the only performing WSG gymnast in the South West team, though Kiana Timbrell supported the team well as travelling reserve. The other team members were from Easton in Bristol. Unfortunately the team's result, finishing a disappointing 7th, did not mirror our success in May. Hopefully we can rectify this when Shannon and Jessa are back to full fitness!

Jessica's performance was solid on all 4 pieces. She achieved top score on bars, giving her the highest score on that apparatus for the year when combined with her score from May. Jessica was in first position at the end of the morning round, though we knew there was some strong competition to come in the second round. Rebecca Wing from South Region who had taken Gold in May managed to keep her nose ahead beating Jessica by exactly 0.2 points. Jessica finished with a well-earned Silver Medal in the Voluntary Competition and Silver in the Level 4 British Championship.

Jessica Coombs - Silver

At level 3 our representative was Yasmin Dyer. Rebecca Botley was travelling reserve and again supported her team mates well. Hopefully Rebecca will continue her rise through the South West rankings in this age group and compete alongside Yasmin in future competitions. Yasmin went to Guildford with 6th place under her belt from the Compulsory competition in May. Unfortunately South West did not have a full team at this level in May and therefore did not feature in the team medals. This time they did have a full team and tool the Silver medal in the team event. Yasmin did not perform to her full potential on the day finishing 13th. Even so she achieved a credible 10th place for the year with great potential for the future.

At level 2 we were represented by Hannah Wickens, the other of our gymnasts who daily travels the 30 miles from Swindon. Hannah's Compulsory competition was in March rather than May and she achieved a more than credible 4th place missing out on a medal by only 7 hundredths of a point. In fact she was first on vault and floor in March. Now in November Hannah had a good competition, as did her South West team. The team took Silver. Gabrielle Santus from The Academy took individual Silver in the voluntary competition with Hannah taking 4th again. However, Hannah took overall Bronze in the British Championship with Gabrielle coming 4th.

WSG hosts and wins the Brenda Smith Cup

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics played host to the Alpha Factor Brenda Smith Cup over the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September 2001. Clubs were invited to compete from all over the country, and were joined by clubs from Germany and Norway. A total of 25 clubs took part over the weekend, with almost half competing to win the Brenda Smith Club Trophy.

The competition began early on the Saturday morning with the youngest age group, Level 4, Under 9 years. Wiltshire School of Gymnastics' Jessa Powell took the overall title with club mates Jessica Coombs 2nd, Olivia Grout 4th, and Francesca Fox 11th. The girls also managed to take many of the individual piece places including 1st on floor and vault (Olivia Grout) and 1st on beam (Jessa Powell) starting their club off well towards the team title for the whole weekend.

In the level 4 under 11 years competition the clubs Rebecca Botley took the overall title, with club member Becky New taking 7th place, and fellow team mates achieving places in the top 25 out of almost 40 gymnasts. These were Rebecca Turner, Jenny Humphries, Danelle Powell, and Zoe Barnes. The oldest age group in the level 4 competition was won by the clubs Nicky Pritchard, who also achieved the 1st place on Vault, Beam, and Floor, and the second place on the Bars. The afternoon was completed with the clubs Yasmin Dyer taking the overall, bars and floor titles in the Level 3 Under 10 years competition.

Sunday was started with the Level 2 Under 13 years, Level 3 Over 12 years, and the FIG under 15 years competitions. In the Level 2, under 13 years competition WSG's Kylie Russell took 2nd place overall with 1st places on Vault and Bars. The Level 3 over 12 years competition saw the clubs Hannah Reeves take 1st place overall with team mate Rachael Flanagan in 3rd . Hannah also took 1st places on Vault and floor, and Rachael 1st place on the beam. Katherine Miller achieved 2nd place overall in the FIG over 15 years competition with a 1st place on the beam.

The final round of the competition was for the Level 2 under 11 years, and FIG Under 13 years and Over 15 years competitions. Hannah Wickens represented the club in the Level 2, under 11 years group and took the overall title and 1st place on each individual piece. Samantha Bayley represented the club in the FIG under 13 years group and again the overall title was taken by the Wiltshire gymnast with 1st places on the Floor and the Bars. In the FIG Over 15 years Vicky Johnson competed as the representative towards the team title, and achieved 2nd place overall and a 1st place on the Vault. The clubs Sharna Murray only took part in the beam competition and achieved the 1st place pin.

Once all of the competitions were complete the team totals were calculated. This was done by adding scores together from each age group over the entire weekend from each club. The Brenda Smith Cup was won by the host club Wiltshire School of Gymnastics, they were well in front of Park Wrekin Gymnastics club who achieved 2nd place. Many of the Wiltshire Gymnasts who competed are now preparing for the South West Age Group and Challenge championships being held in Poole in 2 weeks time from which the top 4 in each age group will be selected to represent the region in the National Finals being held in November this year.

Olympic Gymnast Sharna Murray joins WSG

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics has a new recruit, 20 year old Sharna Murray, who competed in the Sydney Olympics for Great Britain. Sharna has decided to come out of retirement to make a bid to gain selection for next years Commonwealth Games. Sharna, who has moved from her home town of Hastings to train with coach Tracey Skirton has also competed in 2 European and 2 World Championships.

HSBC Bank donates £700

Trowbridge Branch Manager Peter Waldron and Area Manager Chris Jones presenting WSG Chairman Rod Lewis with a cheque for £700

HSBC Area Manager Chris Jones gets thrown in the pit for his generosity, our way of saying a big THANK YOU to HSBC for their support.

Sam is British Gymnastic Champion, Amy takes 5th on the Floor

13 year old Samantha Bayley from the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics became the British Gymnastic Champion in Guildford at the weekend.

Sam, who attends the John of Gaunt School, Trowbridge, was the hot favourite after taking the Silver Medal at last years event. Along with taking the overall title by 0.80, Sam also achieved 1st place on 3 of the 4 apparatus to qualify for the apparatus finals on the Sunday. Her vault score was the highest mark of the day at 9.175.

For her achievements Sam was awarded medals, trophies, and a training grant cheque for £550.00.

In the seniors event, 15 year old Amy Phillips also from Wiltshire School of Gymnastics, performed extremely well to achieve 15th place and qualified to take part in the floor apparatus finals where she finished 5th.

Sam achieved the Gold Medal in both the Floor and Beam finals and the Silver Medal in the Vault competition with a vault exclusive to her.

Sam has already been selected as one of the 10 potential gymnasts to represent Great Britain in the Commonwealth Games being held in Manchester next year, but only 5 of these will make the team.

Coach Tracey Skirton, who is Director of Coaching at the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics and was awarded be plaque for being be coach to the British Champion, said "I am very pleased, both girls performed well with very few mistakes. We are now going to continue to work towards taking one of the five Commonwealth team places for next year.

Wiltshire County Levels - July 1st 2001

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics took every Title in the Wiltshire County Levels Gymnastic Championships held at the club on Sunday 1 July, along with many silver and bronze positions.

Level 4 In Age (9 years)
Shannon Morse
Level 4, 10 + 11 Years
Bethany Gibbons
Level 4, 12 years +
Stephanie Bates
Level 3, In Age (10 years)
Yasmin Dyer
Level 3, 11 Years +
Jenny Humphries
Level 2, In Age (12 Years)
Hannah Wickens
Level 2, 13 Years +
Nicola Pritchard
Modified FIG I
Katherine Miller
FIG
Samantha Bayley

Director of Coaching, Tracey Skirton, said, "It was my 1 County Levels Championships for Wiltshire, and I was delighted with the results. The credit is down to the whole coaching team who have worked very hard for all of the girls to reach such a high level."

WSG in Top Form at the South West Elite Championships

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics competed on top form at the recent South West of England Elite Championships.

Three titles were up for grabs with the Wiltshire Gymnasts taking 2 out of the 3, and silver and bronze in the other.

In the Under 13 years competition Samantha Bayley took gold and the title and team mate Kylie Russell came 7th.

The Junior event (Under 16 years) saw 15 year old Katherine Miller taking the gold and her first regional title. Katherine, who attends Oldfield Girls School in Bath, has to travel to the Melksham based club 5 times a week.

The Senior event silver and bronze medals went to Amy Phillips and Victoria Johnson, with Sara Harper taking 5th spot.

WSG Success at Fromeside Invitational

Thirteen boys from WSG travelled to Bristol last month to compete in the Fromeside G.C. Invitational. The competition is always a big event, attracting clubs from all over the South West region.

It was the first time the Melksham based club had a team of boys competing in the event and they made a great impression on their debut.

The club dominated the over 12's section which saw Aaron Jeffries win the Gold Medal, David Gavin Silver and Gary James following close behind with the Bronze. Edward Morrell was the club's only competitor in the under 12's section and he produced an excellent performance to win the Silver Medal, narrowly missing the gold. Kyle Norris finished 7th in the under 10's section and team mate Charlie Sherman finished 11th, a fantastic effort in his first competition.

The competition had over 30 entries in the under 8 years section, some as young as five years old.

The competition was won by Wiltshire's Bradley Norris (6) way ahead of the rest of the field. His WSG team mate Ewan Reed fell just short of a medal in 5th place. The club's other participants in the under 8 years section were Thomas Gibson, Dean Upton, Toby Griggs, Jacob Weaver and Jordan Baxter. Mark Smith the Director of Men's Coaching at WSG was also presented with a trophy as WSG were the most successful club overall, an amazing achievement on their debut.

Ali Whitehead South West Under 18 Champion

Alistair Whitehead (17) made it a winning start to 2001 for the boys at WSG by becoming the South West Under 18 Champion.

This victory was one of the best to date for the Wiltshire based gymnast, who remarked, "I'm stunned. I can't believe I won it". Club team mate Joel Baxter (11) also took part in the event and finished 5th in the Elite Under 12 section.

Both boys also represented the South West in last years National Championships. Having finished 4th in the qualifying competition Alistair helped the senior men's team to the Bronze Medal, and going one better, Joel helped the South West Under 11 team to Silver, having qualified by taking the individual Bronze during qualifying.

Mark Smith, Director of Men's Gymnastics at the Melksham based club is delighted with the successful start to 2001.

English Championships Success

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics have been very busy lately competing every weekend. 12 year old Samantha Bayley moved closer to her target of making next years commonwealth games.

Sam, from John of Gaunt School, Trowbridge, was the youngest to compete in the English Championships which is the only competition where she has to compete against the senior gymnasts who are 18 years +.

Sam came 4th in the overall competition beating many of the top names. 5 Gymnasts compete at the commonwealth games held next year in Manchester. Coach Tracey Skirton was delighted with her performance, "She showed great maturity in such a pressurised event."

10 girls were short listed from the championships, 15 year olds Victoria Johnson and Amy Phillips also hit top 20 places from a field of 60 competitors.

Sam takes Gold with British Team in her First International

On the 5th and 6th of May the British Gymnastics Association held an International event between Great Britain and France. Twelve year-old Samantha Bayley who trains at the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics was selected to compete for Great Britain in her first ever International.

Samantha, the youngest gymnast to compete, put in an excellent performance finishing in 3rd place overall. On bars she finished with the second highest score and her vault, which was the only score over 9.00 in the competition, enabled the Great Britain team to walk away with the gold medal.

South West Team Take Gold

The Cock Moors Wood leisure Centre in Birmingham played host to the National Compulsory Level 4 and 3 Championships on the 5th and 6th of May. The Compulsory 4 South West Team consisting of Shannon Morse, Jessica Coombs, Jessa Powell and Kiana Timbrell, all from WSG, put on an excellent performance winning the team event by a clear 3 marks. The girls, all eight years old, competing in their first national final against a strong field.

In the individual overall event Shannon Morse finished 2nd only 0.175 marks behind the winner. She scored consistently on each piece finishing with the top score on Bars, a clear 0.4 marks ahead of the other competitors. Jessica Coombs finished 3rd after having a clean competition and Jessa Powell was placed 6th with excellent performances on the Vault and Range and Conditioning. Kiana Timbrell competed well and finished in 23rd place.

In the Compulsory 3 Competition the South West were unable to field a full team due to the increased difficulty of the competition this year. They sent two gymnasts, Hayley Daivson from Fromeside and Yasmin Dyer from the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics. Yasmin who is 10 years old performed the new harder level routines well. After an unfortunate slip on the Beam she finished a commendable 9th.

Congratulations go to all the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics girls on their success!

British Team Championships Bronze

Gymnasts from the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics competed for the first time in the British Team Championships, held at Guilford Spectrum, and came away with the Bronze Medal.

18 teams from all over Great Britain competed and the team of six, comprising of, Samantha Bayley, Selene Gimblett, Emma Mcleod, Amy Phillips, Victoria Johnson and Hannah Wickens, were the only gymnasts from the South West of England taking part.

Coach Tracey Skirton said " I was highly delighted with the result, coming away with the bronze was a great achievement. We were up against some very tough opposition".

The team was very well supported at the competition with a coach full of spectators travelling up from Wiltshire to support them.

Top scorer was 12 year old Sam Bayley who also took 5th place overall, a tremendous result considering that she was up against all of Great Britain's senior gymnasts.

The team trains six or seven times a week at the Melksham based club, five of them travelling from Bath and one from Swindon, 35 miles away. It just goes to proves that dedication pays off!!

Royal Opening

The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics' new gymnasium was officially opened by Princess Anne on the Thursday 8th February.

The School moved into the new building, opposite Christie Miller Sports Centre in Melksham, at the end of last year. Prior to the move the School had been renting an industrial unit on the Bowerhill Estate and had hoped to buy it but the sale of the property fell through.

The new centre is a fully equipped purpose built gymnasium with a 14m x 14m sprung gymnastics floor, foam filled safety pits for training, dance studio and changing facilities.

The day started early with the police search team and sniffer dog checking out the building at 7.00am in the morning.

The Princess arrived by helicopter, which landed at Bowerhill playing field. She was met by Sir Maurice Johnston, The Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and The Chief Constable of Wiltshire, Elizabeth Neville, and was brought to the School by Range Rover.

The Princess is introduced to Rod Lewis who in turn introduces the trustees ........

Greeting her on her arrival at the School was The High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Robert Lawton, CBE; Chairman of Wiltshire County Council Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Jarvis, DFC; Chair of West Wilts District Council Cllr Bob Brice; Mayor of Melksham Vic Oakman; Chair of Melksham Without Parish Council Angie Barker and Mr Rod Lewis Chair of the School's Trustees.

Mr Lewis then introduced the Princess to the Trustees of the School and she was then presented with a posy of flowers by eight year old Shannon Morse and a teddy bear, dressed in gymnastics kit, by seven year old Ewan Reed.

Escorting the Princess around the centre Mr Lewis introduced representatives from the Architects, West Wilts District and County Councils, HSBC Bank and the Sports Councils.

The Princess then met the important people - the gymnasts. The Princess toured the various pieces of equipment in the gym with Director of Coaching Tracy Skirton and watched gymnasts going through their training routines. She chatted to a number of the gymnasts and their parents and showed a real interest in the charity's project.

Before she left the centre the Princess unveiled a special plaque and signed the visitors book saying, "I wish you all the best for the future and praise your hard work and determination".

After the Princess left the centre a cheque representing the £571,341 award from the National Lottery was presented to the School by Joy Morton of Sport England.

Press Officer and Trustee Paul Wiltshire said after the visit, "This has been a really great day for us following the traumas of the last five years. However, we cannot rest on our laurels and running this centre will present as many challenges as building it. We have over 600 gymnasts using the centre, both boys and girls, ranging in age from 6weeks old through our pre-school and recreational classes to our squad whose ages range from 11 to 16 and has seven members in the British Team. We now have to build on our success to continue to provide this valuable community project".

"To All the Gymnasts and Parents of The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics.

Dear All,

Thank you to everyone who helped make the opening of the gym such a success. A lot of people put in a lot of hard work and this was reflected in the smooth running of the day.

Yours sincerely

The Trustees and Staff of The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics".

Thanks to ANDY YORK for taking all the pictures.

The Building Still Isn't Finished - 5 July 2001

The latest position with the building is the same as it was in March - see report below

Wednesday 21st March 2001:
This was a quote from the 20th January:
"The building is still not finally complete with many small items needing attention. Should be OK by the Royal Opening (we hope!)"

Well here we are in March 5 months after the building was supposed to be complete, four weeks after the official opening, and it still isn't finished!!!! The pits still have leaks to be sorted out (see below) and there is a long list of small items that are still yet to be done. Also the front porch, which has never been completed, has sprung a leak and water is pouring in whenever it rains. The main window on the first floor has also sprung a leak and has yet to be rectified. We'll keep you posted.

The pits have foam in them but we are keeping a close eye on the leak position. The builders have taken full responsibility for any further problems but it is a problem that still needs resolving.

Filling the pits with the foam

Levelling out or playing?

Kingsbridge Gymnastic Festival - 27th & 28th January 2001

Gymnasts from the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics travelled to Kingsbridge, South Devon, last weekend to take part in the Kingsbridge Gymnastic Festival. Over 30 gymnasts from the club took part in the competition as individuals, duets, and trio's, against clubs from all over the South West of the country.

It was a very friendly event with gymnasts and their families being invited to attend a fun swim and disco on the Saturday evening, and certificates being given to every entrant at the presentations which took place on the Sunday afternoon.

The festival began on the Saturday with the Over 8 years girls singles:

Samantha Gray and Sophie Upton (both WSG) took joint 1st place,
with Danielle Tuggey 2nd and Amy Pattenden 3rd .(also WSG)

In the girls Over 11 years competition:

Laura Holmes won the gold, (WSG)
with Nikki Pritchard 2nd and Sammi Russell 3rd (also WSG)

The boys singles followed with:

Bradley Norris (WSG) and Ewan Reed (WSG) took 2nd and 3rd place in the under 8 years,
and Kyle Norris took 2nd in the Over 8 years competition.

In the Over 8 years girls:

Trio's Emma Goundry, Samantha Gray, and Danielle Tuggey (WSG) performed well together to take 4th place.

The day was ended with:

Natasha Lander and Georgia Paget (WSG) taking joint 1st place with a duet from Harriers Club in the Under 8 years girls duets.

Sunday began well for WSG With their youngest gymnasts taking part in the Under 8 years girls singles competition. This section had the most gymnasts entered over the weekend.

The Title and cup was won by 6 year old Lauren Gale (WSG)
With Francesca Grout, 5 years old, (Also WSG) Taking the bronze medal.

In the afternoons competition:

Sophie Upton and Amy Pattenden were placed 4th in the Over 8 years girls Duets, and Nikki Pritchard and Sammi Russell were placed 5th in the Over 13 years girls Duets.

Over the entire weekend the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics team achieved 3rd place.

Other WSG gymnasts who performed very well during the weekend were:

Over 8 years Girls Singles: Robyn Illes, Katie Hewlett, and Stephanie Sandy.

Over 11 years Girls Singles: Louise Upton and Katie Dolman.

Under 8 years Boys Singles: Dean Upton, Oliver Lander, Toby Briggs, Thomas Gibson, and Jordan Baxter.

Under 8 years Girls Singles: Fiona Easton, Alice Paget, Philippa Gray, Kalie Pearce, Charlotte Clark, Katherine Turner, Leilah Antram, Laura Kendrick, Pip Higgs, Jessica Briggs, India-Rose Mills, and Rebecca Tamin.

Five Gymnasts to go to Florida

Four members of WSG have been selected to compete in the Disney Magic Classic in Florida next month. The competition is one of the worlds largest international competitions with over 1000 athletes taking part.

The gymnasts are:

Emma MaCleod (17), Samantha Bayley (12), Selene Gimblett (15) and Amy Phillips(15).

They make up 4 of the 5 strong team representing the South West and their Coach for the event is Tracey Skirton our Director of Coaching

Allied Dunbar Award us £5000

The staff charity of Allied Dunbar in Swindon have awarded the school a grant of £5000 towards the cost of mats and equipment. Thank you to them.

Seven Girls in the British Squad

Seven of our gymnasts have been selected for the British Junior Squad!

Congratulations to Kylie Russell, Amy Phillips, Selene Gimblett, Vicky Johnson, Yasmin Dyer, Hannah Wickens and Sam Bayley.

Medals from Philadelphia

Eight members of the school travelled to Philadelphia at the end of November to compete in the Pancotts Invitational Competition.

The level nine team took the Gold Medal and Trophy with a wonderful team performance scoring 103 points.

The girls also took individual honours. Star of the Show Victoria Johnson took individual Gold with Gold on the floor, bars and vault and Silver on the beam.

Sarah Harper took bronze on beam and bars with a silver on the vault giving her 3rd place overall.

Kathryn Miller added to the total medals on beam and floor and came fourth overall. The youngest member of the team, Kylie Russell, took a medal on the vault in the junior age group.

In the level eight team Sophie Williams, Hannah Reeves, Nicola Pritchard and Rachel Flannagan, all took individual medals and awards and the team came fourth overall.

WSG European and Regional Triumph

Selene Gimblett was recently part of the Great Britain Team that won the Gold Medal in an International Competition in Czechoslovakia.

In the South West of England Championships the under nines Gold Medal was won by Yasmin Dyer and Hannah Wickens took the Bronze Medal in the under 11's age group.

Samantha Bayley who is the current British Vault Champion and a member of the National Squad took the Gold Medal in the 12 to 13 years age group with a margin of 4 points from her nearest rival.

In the 14+ age group Victoria Johnson won Gold and Katherine Miller took the Silver. Amy Phillips took Silver in the 14+ Elite Cup.

Director of Coaching at WSG Tracey Skirton said,"I was delighted with the girls results and I hope we can continue the season in top form".

The next target is the East Midlands Championships in Nottingham.

And Now for the GOOD NEWS

Wednesday 3rd January 2001:
Firstly, Happy New Year to you all and we hope you have had a good Christmas.

Secondly, sincere apologies for not updating the website sooner. As you will probably have gathered from the previous news the last days in our previous premises were particularly stressful. All that coupled with the move has meant everybody suffering from "burnout" and needing the break over Christmas but enough of the excuses.

It was officially announced on the 20th December that The Princess Royal will officially open the Gym on the 8th February 2001. Details are being finalised and we will keep you posted.

THE MOVE
Move in day should have been on the 30th October, last year, but delays in completing the building pushed this back. When the attempt to lock us out of our previous building was made we decided we could wait no longer and the move was made on Sunday 26th of November.

Because the new gym is kitted out with new equipment classes continued at the old premises until Saturday 25th November and started at the new gym on the 26th. An army of parents with cars, horse boxes and lorries cleared and moved all the gym and office equipment from the old building. Wiltshire County Council has kindly provided us space for storing our old sprung floor, and any equipment not needed in the gym, behind the Christie Miller Sports Centre. The floor is for sale if anybody is interested!

The trustees and the staff of the school would like to thank all the parents who gave up their time and provided vehicles to help with the move.

The position with the building is that a number of small items are still being completed but our main problem has been the safety pits. Problems have been encountered trying to keep the water out of them. We are hoping that these have been resolved over the holiday and the foam filling should be going in during the first week of January.