In 1977 Derek Ashdown took his then 8 year old, daughter Debbie to Bevendean Gymnastics Club in Brighton, and as he waited for her to train he got involved with helping, then did a coaching course and became qualified.
When Uckfield Leisure Centre manager found out he was a qualified gymnastic coach he persuaded him to help with some courses at the centre because the former British Gymnastic Champion, Suzanne Dando, who had started taking them, was now becoming more and more involved in television presenting.
Derek eventually took over and when a competition was offered at the local Crowborough Leisure Centre, a group of budding gymnasts said they wanted to do it. A team of 10 gymnasts was entered and they duly won the competition.
On the strength of this a committee was elected and the club was registered on 1st December 1982. Derek was assisted with the coaching by his daughter, Debbie, Nicky Fowler and Robin Burchett.
The club went from strength to strength and finally the Leisure Centre was unable to give them any more training time. Wealden District Council then offered them the lease of a former army training camp building at Maresfield, and after extensive work by the dedicated parents the club moved in on 1st September 1989 under direction of Head Coach Janice Binder, a former Great Britain squad member.
In 1996 the club was successful in obtaining a lottery grant of £42,000, £7,000 from the Town Council and extensive fundraising by the club made it up to the £70,000 it needed to enable it to extend the building. This established it as one of the top venues in the South East, thus making it the success it is today.
