A GYMNASTICS club planning to convert a warehouse into a gym hopes to secure a £50,000 grant to make its dream come true.

Abingdon Gymnastics Club has applied for a grant from the Norwich Union Community Sports Fund scheme to help create the new gymnasium.

The club meets at both the White Horse Leisure Centre and a gym at Radley College, but because the times the gymnasts can use the facilities are limited, there is a limit of 100 members and a waiting list of 500 young people between the ages of three and 18.

Boys and girls have to travel to gymnasiums as far as Basingstoke, Southampton and Portsmouth to train for national competitions.

Coach Alison Goodall said the grant was the club's only hope of converting the warehouse, in Tower Road Industrial Park, Berinsfield. The money would be used to create a sprung floor and buy new equipment, which could be permanently fixed. The toilets also need to be refurbished and a manager would be employed to help promote the club.

Mrs Goodall said: "The club has made sport accessible to children for 20 years through recreational classes and performance squads, but its talented gymnasts are held back by limited training facilities.

"The prize would enable the hundreds of children on the five-year waiting list to participate, provide new opportunities for the local community and help talented gymnasts reach their potential."

Mrs Goodall said the club had been searching for permanent premises for ten years.

People can support the club's application for the grant online at joinourteam.com Alongside the top award is a silver prize of £12,500 and bronze awards worth £1,000.

People have three months to vote for the Abingdon Gymnastics Club bid.