Champions from the world of bodybuilding gathered at a Barnsley gym to celebrate its reopening after it was destroyed by fire earlier this year.

World women's physique champion Alessandro Tumolo, professional bodybuilder Trevor Crouch, women's world figure champion Maria Maya, world wheelchair bodybuilding champion Darren Winfield and Mr Universe Jamie Manuel gathered at Spartan Bodyworks last weekend for a seminar and open day following the fire in August.

The cardio room, sunbed room, changing room and an upstairs office at the Dyson Street gym at Kingstone were gutted after an electrical fault on a sunbed caused the blaze. Owner Steve Brookes tried to put the fire out but ended up having to crawl out of the building.

Steve and his wife Liz, along with members, have worked hard to refurbish and reopen it. Steve said: "At first looked like the end. We worked night and day to refurbish the gym which had very bad fire and smoke damage. We did over 18 hours each day for just over three weeks to get it reopened."

Steve founded the gym in 1990 and says it is very much a part of the community in Kingstone. As part of the refurbishment, he created more space, invested in new equipment and made the gym 'bigger and better' than before.

He said: "It would have been the easy option to close but besides my business, I felt he had a responsibility to my members as some have trained there for over 20 years.

"I want to thank the people who helped - I couldn't have done it without them." Many of those attending the open day had travelled from several different countries and all five bodybuilders shared their knowledge of training nutrition and diet.

Trevor Crouch also demonstrated training techniques and coached guests and gym members. A raffle raised £100 for the children's ward at Barnsley Hospital.