Beth Tweddle sells gymnastics clubs and joins expanding provider
Former UK gymnast and Olympic medalist, Beth Tweddle, has sold her two gymnastics centres in Widnes and Bolton to Gymfinity Kids, for an undisclosed sum, making it the UK’s largest children’s gymnastics provider.
Gymfinity Kids is based in Milton Keynes but registered in Ripon, North Yorkshire, and provides kids’ activity clubs offering Gymnastics, Ninja,1 dance and pre-school classes.
Both Gymfinity Kids and Beth Tweddle Gymnastics were founded with an ambition to support the health and wellbeing of children through fun, structured classes led by passionate and experienced coaches.
Gymfinity Kids opened its first club in 2017 and has since expanded to nine clubs across Southern and Eastern England, each providing on average 220 gymnastics, Ninja, dance and pre-school classes per week. The business has seen significant growth in the past 12 months with membership increasing 60% and aims to open a further 30 clubs in the next four years.
Beth Tweddle Gymnastics was founded in 2010 by Olympic Medallist Beth Tweddle to provide gymnastics classes for children aged 2+ at its venues across the North of England. Beth Tweddle Gymnastics also runs a successful National Curriculum programme to improve the provision of gymnastics in many schools local to its venues, alongside upskilling the teachers through their accredited CPD training.
Following the acquisition, the Beth Tweddle Gymnastics Centres in Widnes and Bolton will be rebranded as Gymfinity Kids and be incorporated into the business, creating a group of 11 clubs nationwide with approximately 14,000 members. In addition to the 11 clubs, there will also be community venues and a National Curriculum programme in schools surrounding the clubs.
Beth Tweddle and her team will all join Gymfinity Kids, with Beth becoming a brand ambassador for the group and director of the local community and National Curriculum programmes, which will be rolled out at each of Gymfinity Kids’ clubs.
Recent reports from the Sport England Active Lives survey worryingly showed that less than 50% of primary school age children are achieving an ‘active’ level of physical exercise each day. Improving provision of PE is high on the Government’s agenda, having recently published a new strategy for the future of sport and physical activity called Get Active.
The combined Gymfinity Kids and Beth Tweddle Gymnastics group will seek to engage with the Government to join up business, communities and schools to deliver opportunities for more children to get active.
Jacques De Bruin, managing director of Gymfinity Kids, said: “When the opportunity to work with Beth Tweddle Gymnastics presented itself we jumped at it. Our existing members will benefit from Beth’s unrivalled experience as a gymnast and a coach, we’re adding two new brilliant clubs with strong memberships bases into the business and we plan to roll out the Beth Tweddle Gymnastics community and schools programmes to schools around our existing clubs, supporting even more children to learn to love being active.”
Beth Tweddle said: “By joining Gymfinity Kids we’re embarking on a new chapter for the business. We are joining a group with the scale, resources and commitment to help us realise our ambition – it’s a really exciting prospect and I am looking forward to working with the team as we continue to expand.
“Active children are happier and healthier, and gymnastics is a fun and rewarding way to get active. I can’t wait to help inspire the next generation of gymnastic enthusiasts.”
