KING Edmund Gym Club are busy preparing for this weekend’s Spring Spectacular, the second to be held at their new Yate International Gymnastics Centre home, writes Simon Parkinson.

Around 2,000 spectators are expected to watch the annual displays at various stages over the three show days, which start tomorrow (Friday) and see the majority of the club’s 1,000 or so young stars of all ages performing a full and exciting repertoire of acrobatic gymnastics.

Just as they did 12 months ago, the internationally-acclaimed club have installed tiered seating in their state-of-the-art arena at Yate Leisure Centre to help accommodate for audiences of up to 400 people for each show.

Members of King Edmund GC’s satellite clubs at Thornbury, Bradley Stoke and Pomphrey Hill will be taking part, as will local dance and cheerleading groups.

Tickets remain available for the five shows. The first takes place on Friday, March 7 at 7pm, while Saturday and Sunday present performances at 3pm and 7pm.

Anyone wishing to buy tickets can contact the club on 01454 320662 or purchase them via personal visit to the centre. Adult prices are £7 (tiered seats) and £5 (floor seats) while children/concession passes are £3.50 (tiered seats) and £2.50 (floor seats).

Meanwhile, King Eddies gymnasts have excelled once more in many local and international competitions of late.

The South West Championships Preliminaries at Taunton were especially rewarding, King Edmund competitors striking gold in every event entered bar one, when even then silver and bronze medals were attained by the club.

Among the successful performers were Anna Campbell, Rhian Streeter and Megan Streeter, who won gold in the grade 4 trios with the highest marks of the day.

One of the club’s biggest stars of recent years, Jake Underdown, helped form a new men’s group with new recruit Toby Sawyer and the already-established Harry Hole and Marcus Flint, the foursome clinching gold in the grade 6 men’s category with a crowd-pleasing performance.

The South West Preliminaries at Sherborne for younger competitors produced gold for Bethany Orchard and Bethan Williams in the grade 2 women’s pair, and Henry Skidmore and Dillon Bruce in the grade 2 men’s event.