29/08/2026
From one free acrobatics taster to 4 studios and counting. 💪
Back in 2021, Control & Move Fitness CIC started with one free acrobatics taster session in Cramlington. No studio, no team, no proof it would work. Just a room, me, some mats, and a handful of kids who turned up not really knowing what to expect.
But there was a big plan behind it. I wanted to offer acrobatics, dance, circus and fitness to everyone who wanted to do it, at an accessible cost, with no judgement to fit the norm of gymnastics. No leotards-and-perfection culture, no price tag that shut people out. Just a space where anyone could come and move.
From there it grew. One taster became a class. A class became a timetable. And somewhere along the way, Control & Move stopped being just a session and became something bigger.
Along the way, life happened too. I had a gorgeous baby, and had to step away from the business to recover. That was a strange feeling as a founder, but my team stepped up completely and made sure the business kept running without missing a beat while I was away. I'll be forever grateful for that time to recover, knowing it was all thanks to them.
Now we're a CIC running 4 studios across Northumberland, offering everything from acrobatics and dance to circus and fitness classes. We train our own staff through accredited courses, so the standard of coaching keeps growing alongside the business. We run free summer camps for kids who might not otherwise get the chance. We've built partnerships with councils and community organisations who trust us to deliver for their communities. We run funded programs that reach people who need it most. We run showcases raising money for charity too.
And here's the part that gets me every time: some of those same kids from that very first free taster back in 2021 are now training as assistants, helping run the sessions they once turned up to as complete beginners. Watching that come full circle means more than any of the numbers.
We get to run classes for people aged 1 all the way to 95. That's not a slogan, that's people. Toddlers taking their first steps into movement, and people in their nineties proving age is never the barrier we think it is.
None of this happened by accident, and none of it happened alone. To everyone who came to that first free taster not knowing what to expect, to every member of the team who's helped build this — especially the ones who held it all together while I was away, and the ones who started as students and are now stepping into leadership— to every council and organisation who took a chance on partnering with us, thank you.
From one free acrobatics taster in 2021, to a CIC serving a community across every age group there is.
Bloody proud of what we've built. ❤️ can’t wait for what’s next.
