OKEHAMPTON United Charities paid a recent visit to OCRA Gym and Trampoline Club to see the skills some of its members are learning, from forward rolls to double somersaults.

Okehampton United Charities is a great supporter of OCRA, helping the sports charity to maintain, develop and grow local clubs and encourage people of all ages and abilities to lead a healthy lifestyle through sport.

OCRA provides a range of activities and events for the local community, including term-time clubs, multi-skills festivals and other sporting events, holiday schemes and specialist teaching for curriculum PE.

OCRA’s gym and trampoline club is especially popular and teaches 300 people from three to 60 years old each week, with an additional session for young people with disabilities. Its weekly classes cover a variety of gymnastics disciplines including trampolining, tumbling, double mini trampoline, recreational artistic gymnastics and freestyle gymnastics (based on parkour, freerunning and tricking).

Over the last year, OCRA has raised £15,000 through its own fundraising and grants from local organisations and Sport England to improve the equipment at the club. It is raising money for more equipment to increase opportunities for children and adults and to help the club grow.

Recent equipment purchases have included a top-level Ultimate 4x4 trampoline, two double mini trampolines, a double mini trampoline and tumbling landing area, a sprung tumble track, a tumbling landing mat and gymnastics foam wedges and a foam cylinder to assist in the teaching of gymnastics skills.

The equipment has not only benefited children and adults at the gym and trampoline club, but also the 500 people that attend OCRA’s holiday schemes as well as several hundred people at multiskills festivals and other events.

Okehampton College students use some of the equipment and OCRA has developed young leaders from the college to assist in club coaching. Some of the club’s members have entered British Gymnastics competitions and won county, regional and national medals.

OCRA is working to increase the number of classes at the club to help more people get involved in this exhilarating sport and has now started new daytime sessions. Ultimately, OCRA would like to have a dedicated facility for gym and trampolining or develop the existing site.

OCRA expressed thanks to Okehampton United Charities for their support of all of the charity’s work to improve recreation in West Devon.