Double flicks are all in a day's tumbling for 12-year-old gold medal gymnast Fay Kirkbride.

And now Fay, a member of Acklam Gymnastics Club in Middlesbrough, has tumbled her way to the national gymnastics finals in Stoke on Trent on April 7.

Following a gold medal win for tumbling at the National Development Plan regional championships at South Tyneside on 11 March, Fay will represent the region for the National One tumbling trophy. At the same championships 12 year old Jade Jackson also won bronze for National Three tumbling.

Medal success has come on leaps and bounds for the club since it used National Lottery Awards for All funding to buy a £5,000 tumble run, said coach Mrs Anita Waters who added: "When we used to go to competitions the girls would say all the other clubs were better than us but now we win medals every time, and we are the club to beat.

"We couldn't have done that without the tumble run where members can practice all of the gymnastics moves in safety."

Pat Lowes, senior awards officer, Awards for All, said: "Our aim is to fund projects which involve people in their local community and bring them together. Acklam Gymnastics Group is an ideal scheme for support, and we would like to see many more groups applying."

The club, which specialises in sports acro, tumbling and floor and vault gymnastics, won five medals at the most recent floor and vault regional championships in which 198 gymnasts competed.

The club, founded 25 years ago, has 35 members from six to 21, four coaches and four assistant coaches. "The young ones start by doing forward rolls and cartwheels and progress at their own pace," said Mrs Waters. "However, they are all very keen to progress to the backward flick as early as possible."

The young gymnasts were inspired recently by a visit from Neil Thomas, the most successful male Olympic gymnast. "We sponsored a workshop by him which raised £600 for the sport. He said he was very impressed by the members' ability," added Mrs Waters.

Club members meet three times a week in Acklam Sports Centre in Hall Drive, with beginners' classes held at the Kader Community Centre. Each session starts with warm up training and ends with conditioning exercises including sit ups, back bends and arm and leg exercises.

"We have great success in every competition we go to and hope to continually improve our standards," said Mrs Waters.