Sutton Coldfield gym suffers thousands of pounds of storm damage

Club founder Louise Combellack said the damage may cost tens of thousands of pounds to repair

Repairs to a community gymnastics club building that was damaged in torrential rain at the weekend could cost tens of thousands of pounds, its founder says.

Gutters at North Birmingham Community Gym Club in Sutton Coldfield did not cope with Saturday's downpour.

Water flooded through most of the site and staff and their families pitched in to salvage equipment and clean up.

Louise Combellack said she had been devastated to see the damage.

While she hoped insurance would cover much of the cost to put things right, she said a difficult aspect of inspecting the scene was the fact that much of the equipment had been community-funded.

Water flooded into the gym in Saturday's downpour

The only room to escape the deluge was a sensory unit used for disabled youngsters.

About 1,500 children use the club each week and more than 100 of those have special educational needs, Ms Combellack says.

"We have lots of children, this is the only place they might go outside of their educational setting each week," she added.

Staff and their families spent much of the weekend cleaning up

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