AT the time of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, members of the then Kendal Health and Strength Club, who had their club in Castle Street, did a gymnastic display in the Abbot Hall Park in the town.

The open-air display, which included performances on the parallel bars and a vaulting horse, was well attended by the public.

I was the leader of the club at the time and remember that the day of the performance was a lovely mid-summer’s day and the sun was shining down on everyone.

Six members of the club did the display including George Goff, myself, Norman Kirk and, fifth from the left in the photograph above, Charlie Hoggarth of Gawith and Hoggarth Snuff works in Lowther Street.

But I cannot now remember the names of the members of the team who are fourth and sixth from the left.

Do any readers recall who they were?

George Goff later left the country to work in Africa with the police force.

I had recently arrived from Australia, where I had competed in the New South Wales Championships.

I used to specialise on the Roman bars and the high bar.

I later formed a partnership with Cliff Woodbridge and started the paint and wallpaper shop on Highgate Bank in Kendal.

I think that Norman Kirk worked at the K Shoes factory in Kendal but I cannot recall their employment of the other two members of the group.

The club always met twice a week. There were about 20-25 members.

It was not like a modern gym, where you have all this wonderful equipment.

All we had were was just had some basic dumb-bells, weights, parallel bars, vaulting horse and tumbling mats.

There was a great sense of camaraderie.

Some members of the Netherfield Football Club used to come and train with us, including Jim Graham and Nick Bolton, who were very well known at the time.

We held club meetings The club meetings were held in a building behind at the rear of the Andrew Brown motor electricians in Wildman Street.

We never did any did not do other displays – the club was really just for our own fun, and it folded in the late 1950s.