THE former pit villages of Bearpark, Ushaw Moor and Brandon are not places which would normally be associated with the graceful elegance of gymnastics.

Decades after the pits closed, the scattered mining communities of the Deerness Valley remain among the most deprived in County Durham and traditional North-East culture remains strong.

Yet the area's leisure centre is now home to an acro-gymnastics club which has grown so successful it now provides more than half the members of the Great Britain international squad and attracts Olympic finalists to train with its coaches.

The Deerness Valley Sports Acro Club was founded from humble beginnings in 1989 by Karl Wharton, a 41-year-old former PE teacher, who lives in nearby Langley Park.

Mr Wharton became involved in the world of acro-gymnastics by helping out at the primary school where his then eight-year-old brother Glen was learning the basics of tumbling.

When Glen moved up to Deerness Valley Comprehensive School, Mr Wharton began to help out there, eventually getting a job on the teaching staff and setting up a club to teach youngsters acro-gymnastics, a mixture of grace and brute strength which is similar to the gymnastic events staged in the Olympics, only without apparatus.

The macho world of the Deerness Valley may seem an unlikely hotbed of such an artistic sport, yet, partly fired by Mr Wharton's enthusiasm, the club has been inundated with members.

Hundreds of youngsters joined the club, most of them from working class families who live near the centre and many of them at risk of exclusion from school.

"There has been a Billy Elliot syndrome about it," admitted Mr Wharton. "We recently had one dad saying he didn't want his son involved in something like that, but he came along to one of our displays at Seaham and was impressed by what he saw."

Such was its growth that, by 2002, it had outgrown the school's sports hall and, supported by Durham City Council and National Lottery funding, moved into the nearby Deerness Leisure Centre, where the five-a-side football courts made way for the gymnasts.

The new facilities are so good that they are attracting leading sportsmen from other disciplines. Teesside-based long jumper Chris Tomlinson, an Olympic finalist at Athens, is among those to work on technique at the centre and the presence of such athletes is a further encouragement to the club members.

The club's links with the school remain strong and, in a scheme which is thought to be unique in the country, school pupils who are members of the club start training at the club at 7.30am before going to school for an agreed late start to lessons at 10am.

The school itself sees a benefit from the motivation pupils get at the club.

Mr Wharton said: "It has been a good way of turning those kids into better citizens. Once they come in here they know they have to toe the line and treat the place and the coaches with respect.

"They have to be disciplined, but it gives them a chance to tour the world and do things they wouldn't otherwise do."

It is such dedication that has produced remarkable results over the past 15 years. Forty-eight members of the club have represented Great Britain in the sport, club members have won 36 British championship gold medals and, despite competition from more-established nations such as China, Russia and Bulgaria, the club has claimed four world titles and four European titles.

In the coming year, members will be taking part in competitions in Belgium, Greece and Germany. But despite the international profile, the club remains firmly rooted in its local community.

At least half of its 140 members and 400 recreational users come from the nearby villages and a series of four display nights at the leisure centre recently sold out in a matter of days - a testament of the extent to which the sport has become an accepted part of the culture of the Deerness Valley.