YOUNG gymnasts were doing cartwheels with joy after grants totalling £5,000 enabled their club to buy badly-needed equipment.

Some of the mats used by the Penistone Gymnastics’ Club were 20 years old, but the children now have modern equipment including a competition beam, asymmetric bars — and new crash mats.

The club, based at Penistone Leisure Centre, caters for children from the age of four, and has also expanded its opening hours thanks to the money, which included £3,748 from Awards for All.

There were also grants from Barnsley Premier Leisure, Penistone Round Table and the Mayor of Penistone’s charity fund.

Gemma Hirst has been running the club for more than two years and is delighted the children have better equipment.

She said: “When I started, the mats were 20-years-old, there was a little beam and that was it. The kids didn't take part in any displays or competitions, which they do now.

“The kids in the club are fantastic and I am so excited for them. Their little faces when the equipment arrived were priceless.”

Gemma, 25, is working at Wath Comprehensive School training to be a teacher, and she travels from Rotherham to run the club where she is helped by her dad.

She added: “A lot of hard work has been put in by the gymnasts, their families and charity trusts to help raise the funds.

“We can now take the club to a new level and start to compete on a regional basis.”