As so many things do, it started with a throwaway comment. “Would you start a gymnastics club for my daughter and her friends who are always doing cartwheels round my garden?” The question was directed at Lynn Hammersley over 40 years ago.

Fortunately Lynn, a qualified PE teacher, thought a gymnastics club was a good idea and she was spot on because 43 years later she is the driving force behind the Forest of Dean Gymnastics Club which trains at the incredibly successful Gymnastics Centre at Five Acres in Coleford, which boasts 420 members.

All these years later, Lynn still puts in 50 to 60 hours every week to ensure that those who use it get the best possible experience. “I manage the Centre in the mornings and then I coach in the evenings,” said Lynn.

And that’s pretty much what’s she’s been doing most weeks for more than four decades. Not that the gymnasts have always trained at the impressive set-up at Five Acres.

“When we started we were based at Berry Hill Primary School,” said Lynn. “It was just after the Olga Korbut era when everyone was watching gymnastics on TV almost for the first time, but as numbers and equipment grew we had to move to the Royal Forest of Dean College gym.”

But it soon became obvious that even their new home wasn’t going to be big enough to cater for all the wannabe gymnasts in and around the Forest.

“We knew we needed a specialist gym to give gymnasts the facilities that matched their ability and to give them the opportunity to develop,” said Lynn. But easier said than done of course, so what did Lynn and the Club do?

“We fundraised for 11 years,” she said. “Every weekend. We’d hold jumbles sales, we’d collect pennies in Smartie tubes and crushed thousands of aluminium cans.”

It was tough – Lynn was married and raising a family of four at the same time – but all the hard work came to fruition in 1994 when they were awarded a grant of £100,000 by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. A Lottery grant followed and with their own fundraising efforts two years later they moved into their fully equipped purpose-built Gymnastics & Fitness Centre at Five Acres, packed with Olympic standard apparatus.

It’s the place they still call home today.

“All the hard work was worth it,” said Lynn, who is the Director of Coaching at the centre. “It’s an amazing facility for the community. It was a £1 million building when it opened and it still looks very good. We still think of it as new.”

The Centre is run as a registered Sports Charity on a ‘not for profit’ basis.

Gymnastics was something that was pretty new to Lynn back in the early 70s and she admits it’s not something that she did herself. “I didn’t have the opportunity,” she said. “Gymnastics was not in the public eye when I was a child.”

But while she may have missed out, Lynn has certainly done everything in her power to make sure that successive generations growing up in the Forest have been given every opportunity to realise their dreams, whether it be on the beam, the pommel, the rings or on the floor. “I started by going on a gymnastics course to become a coach and I’ve been learning ever since,” she said.

There are currently some 10 qualified coaches at the centre – the Club would like more – and they cater for people of all ages. “We take in tots almost as soon as they can walk,” said Lynn. “They can be as young as 18 months and we go right through to adults.”

The club caters for competitive and recreational gymnasts, with Lynn spending most of her time with the competitive gymnasts. The current competitive squads are aged eight to about 13. One of the Club’s successes was Josh Cooper who was 16 when he competed in the Junior British championships in 2014. “The squads train four to five times a week for 3-31.2 hours,” said Lynn.

“They are really enthusiastic and it’s all they want to do. I see them bouncing outside the gym door saying, ‘Can we do bars tonight’ or ‘Can we do beam?’ and I just look at them and think, ‘Wow, what keeps them motivated?’

“It’s important to remember that children are competitive and for me it’s just a privilege to be part of their lives and their development.”

Lynn’s love of all things gymnastics is obvious – she stopped mid-sentence when talking to The Local Answer to exclaim: “I’ve just seen an 18-month-old child walking along a beam and then jump off with his mum – brilliant!”

In all likelihood that little boy will be a regular at the centre for years to come and there’s certainly plenty of opportunity for anyone at the club who shows an aptitude for the sport.

“A few years ago, we took a group of girls to the Nadia Comaneci Centre in Romania,” said Lynn, “and we’ve been out to Florida to compete in the Magical Classic.” And those lucky enough to have been on such trips have certainly earned their place. “Gymnastics is a tough sport,” said Lynn. “It looks easy but you’ve got to train very hard.”

Fitness is a key part in most sports, of course – gymnastics is no exception – and Lynn is very proud of the centre’s Fitzone fitness gym which is open to the community.

“We take people of all ages and abilities,” said Lynn. “There’s a big focus on health, not just fitness. Many of our members are over 50 while our youngest members who come to Junior Fitzone can start at eight.

“We’re not a bells and whistles and gym but we’ve got a good team of fitness instructors and Fitzone Gym and the Gymnastics Club work well together.”

Lynn clearly works well with anyone whom she comes into close contact with – you don’t run a centre like Forest of Dean Gymnastics and Fitness if you can’t. “I love what I do and I’m fulfilled by what I do,” she said. “There have been times when it seems like I’m juggling all the balls in the air but the main thing is that people come along and enjoy what they’re doing.”

The centre, which also caters for people with special needs, is continuing to grow in popularity and Lynn admits that there are ‘so many children on the waiting list wanting to join the club.’ “We would like to be able to take them as soon as they want to come but it’s impossible.”

After moving into their current home 22 years ago the work continues. “Maintenance is the big thing,” said Lynn. “We refurbished the changing rooms last year and after Easter we’re having a new international floor area and tumble track put in.”

So how do they pay for that? “Fundraising,” said Lynn. And you just know that Lynn Hammersley, one of sport’s real unsung heroes, was out there doing more than most for the centre she loves.

Any qualified gymnastics coaches interested in working at Forest of Dean Gymnastics and Fitness should email Lynn at lynn@forestofdeangym.com