THE coach of a Fenland gymnastics club is considering suspending the boys section for a term because of their unruly behaviour. Alan Todd said the boys class at Neale-Wade Gymnastics Club, March, had been really destructive this past term and as I have w

THE coach of a Fenland gymnastics club is considering suspending the boys section for a term because of their unruly behaviour.

Alan Todd said the boys class at Neale-Wade Gymnastics Club, March, had been "really destructive this past term and as I have warned them I may stop the class for a term".

He said: "A lot of the boys think it's a bit sissy. If they were to do the conditioning some of the girls do, I don't think they would think that way. This past term, the boys have been a bloody handful."

Mr Todd was speaking after the announcement of a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery's Awards for All programme.

He said the announcement from the lottery that it was to buy additional equipment for a boys' club was incorrect.

"The money is to buy a new tumble track, get new a new high bar and for various floor mats," he said.

The club is booming with girl members, with as many as 130 on the books at present but the absence of a tumble track has seen some switch clubs to other towns.

"And some of our floor mats are falling to pieces and we haven't had the money to replace them," he said. The new tumble rack was a "bit like a bouncy castle" he said and would be 16 metres long and three metres wide.

Mr Todd has helped run the club for seven years which, although based at the school, is a separate entity from it. The club hires the hall on Tuesday and Friday evenings, and at weekends.

From September he also hopes to expand the club by running a pre-school club for under fives on a Saturday morning.