Melksham gymnasts bounce to impressive charity total

WILTSHIRE School of Gymnastics in Bowerhill have raised £2,240 during their annual sponsored bounce event. 

The event involved each gymnast bouncing on a trampoline for one minute, trying to do as many bounces as possible with sponsors donating a certain amount per bounce.

Every year The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics fundraising committee choose a local charity to donate 50% of proceeds to. This year they chose ‘Unique Chromosome charity who received £1,120 of the money raised.

Unique Chromosome is a charity which gives support to families and individuals affected by any rare chromosome disorder and to the professionals who work with them.

The charity was nominated by Kylie Bewley whose son Da’ud Bewley uses the centre and has Trisomy 8 Mosaic syndrome. When Da’ud was diagnosed with his condition the charity Unique Chromosome helped with the understanding of the condition. Kylie said, “ They have been an absolute life-saver to me and Da’ud since he was diagnosed at just 16 months old. When we see doctors they don’t know anything about it – that’s how rare it is and I think they are great for what they have done.

“That’s why I nominated them as the charity for the sponsored bounce event.”

Craig Mitchell, the chief operating officer for Unique Chromosome was on hand to receive the cheque. He said, “It’s absolutely fantastic. To us as a small charity it is such a large amount of money and it means so much to us! We feel extremely grateful and fortunate that we were their chosen charity.”

Vicki Maynard, who works at the centre said, “Wiltshire School of Gymnastics is a high performance Gymnastics centre with state of the art equipment. Fundraising is needed so that new equipment can be purchased. All monies raised are ploughed back into the club to continue to achieve such a high standard.

“The Wiltshire School of Gymnastics would like to Thank everyone that took part and those who donated so generously.

The highest fundraisers for the event were Destiny-Jai Booker (£84.50), Leyla Stapleton-Pineros (£56), and Malachy and Dylan Croft (£80 each).