On Saturday, May 19, a group of 11 gymnasts competed in their very first competition at Armidale City Gymnastics Club - the first time Moree PCYC Gymnastics Club has competed since 1995.

"There were a couple of emotional Moree coaches watching on as our little group of girls marched in for the opening ceremony," Moree PCYC Gymnastics Coordinator Mandy Mitchell said.

The current club has been running for about 12 years, offering recreational gymnastics programs for boys and girls aged two years and up.

There are more than 200 registered members of the club, which has 16 dedicated coaches, including 13 volunteers. Six of those coaches are high school junior coaches who are being mentored in coaching the lower level programs.

Mrs Mitchell said the club has been wanting to offer competitive gymnastics for a number of years, but has been limited by space and equipment.

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"The PCYC is a not-for-profit organisation and a lot of our apparatuses are over 30 years old," she said.

"Our uneven bars do not meet competition standard."

However, last month, the club received a $3,000 grant from Moree Plains Shire Council to purchase a new set of competition standard uneven bars, which has allowed them to finally return to competing.

"It was just the encouragement we needed to decide to just 'go for it'!" Mrs Mitchell said.

"The club currently has a number of gymnasts who are displaying exceptional ability and commitment and we have hopes of training them for competitive gymnastics as our facility grows.

"The news of receiving the grant gave us the encouragement and opportunity to take eleven of our gymnasts to Armidale for their first competition, which is something we haven't been able to do since 1995."

Over the school holidays, 11 gymnasts trained at the Moree club and at Inverell Boys Club in preparation for their first competition, held at Armidale City Gymnastics Club on Saturday, May 19.

They were accompanied by PCYC coaches Mrs Mitchell, Rebecca O'Neill and Brooke Drogemuller, as well as proud parents and grandparents.

"We were given a big cheer and warm welcome by Wally O'Hara from Armidale City Gymnastics Club who remembers our club competing 24 years ago," Mrs Mitchell said.

"The judges and other coaches were very friendly and accommodating. We even had the judge at the uneven bars help explain the skills that our level three girls had not had much experience at practising.

"Even with all the nerves and lack of experience our girls performed beautifully and we received many comments on their performance, appearance and behavior."

The Moree gymnasts came away with some fantastic results.

All five level two girls individually received an overall gold banding (a score of more than 16 out of 20), with Sophie Lai receiving a perfect score of 20 out of 20.

Of the six level three and four gymnasts, three girls received gold banding (more than 36 out of 40), while the other three received silver (32-36 out of 40). Level three gymnast Cedar Mitchell received a 9.8 on bars.

Mrs Mitchell said they now hope to continue to grow the competitive section of the club, as funding, space and equipment allows.

"The funding that we have received from our local council has been such a boost for us and has made us feel supported by our whole community," she said.

"We would love to hear from any other local businesses who would like to be involved in our growing club."

Moree mayor Katrina Humphries said council was thrilled to be able to support the development of new generations of gymnasts and bring a new level of recognition to the Moree club, through the public donations grant.

Applications for the next round of public donations are open until June 14. Copies of the Public Donations Policy and Application Form are available on the MPSC website www.mpsc.nsw.gov.au/index.php/events/428-needing-a-public-donation-by-council, at council's customer service centres at the Max Centre, Mungindi and Boggabilla, and at Moree Community Library.