Gympanzees

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Gympanzees The inclusive world of fun & fitness. Bristol based award-winning charity. When the environment works, everything changes.

Go Bananas for Gympanzees made it onto BBC Bristol Radio 🍌💜Kim, Leila, Jen and Flynn were on the radio chatting about al...
23/10/2026

Go Bananas for Gympanzees made it onto BBC Bristol Radio 🍌💜

Kim, Leila, Jen and Flynn were on the radio chatting about all the brilliant, bonkers and wonderful things people have been doing to raise money for Gympanzees.

And we’ve now reached £292,000 of our £350,000 target! 🥹

Kim and Leila got their bananas costumes out one final time and Flynn told everyone all about his Thriller themed fundraiser 🧟

👀 Also, keep your eyes peeled for more bananas popping up across Bristol tomorrow!

We’re getting so close, but we’re not there just yet. Please keep sharing our campaign and donating if you can. Every bit helps us get closer to finishing our centre and opening those doors in spring 2027.

Donate here 💜: https://chuffed.org/project/go-bananas-for-gympanzees

Image descriptions:

📸 Image 1: Four people, including a young boy and three women, pose together beside a stack of large BBC letters. The women wear pink and blue Gympanzees hoodies, and everyone is smiling at the camera.

Image 2:Four people pose together inside the BBC Radio Bristol studio. Two women wear bright yellow banana costumes, while another wears a pink Gympanzees hoodie. A young boy stands between the bananas, with BBC Radio Bristol branding and purple studio lighting in the background.

22/10/2026

Go Tyler! 🥹💜🍌

This week, Tyler, who uses Gympanzees, took on an incredible challenge of his own, with four members of the Gympanzees team cheering him on in their banana costumes!

Tyler is a wheelchair user who needs support to walk, but that didn’t stop him from walking the entire length of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, with his very own banana support crew by his side.

And one of those bananas was his mum, Leila, who was bursting with pride as she watched Tyler take on his challenge. 🥹💜

Meanwhile, the other bananas continued their adventure, trekking 13 miles across Bristol, raising awareness of Gympanzees and collecting donations for our Crowdfunder along the way.

🍌 And this is all part of something much bigger!

Our Go Bananas for Gympanzees Crowdfunder has already raised over £290,000 towards our permanent centre, which will give disabled children and their families a place to play, move, exercise and have fun together.

Every donation helps bring us closer to making this dream a reality. With your support, we can create a place where more children like Tyler can enjoy new experiences, take on challenges and make memories with the people they love.

💜 Help us go bananas and get our permanent centre open!

Link to donate in the comments 🔗



Video description: A young boy walks across a bridge with support from three adults dressed in banana costumes. One of the adults pushes a wheelchair alongside them as they walk together. 💜

From our very first Pop Up to an £11.5 million campaign and first-of-its-kind centre. 💜Meet Fran Garland, our Chief Oper...
20/10/2026

From our very first Pop Up to an £11.5 million campaign and first-of-its-kind centre. 💜

Meet Fran Garland, our Chief Operating Officer, who has been part of Gympanzees since volunteering at our very first Pop Up in 2018.

With a background in social care and working with adults with learning disabilities, Fran understood early on just how important it was to create spaces where everyone could feel included.

Eight years on, she's helping lead the development of the UK's first fully inclusive exercise, play and leisure centre for disabled children and young people.

As Fran puts it:

"Steph and I have always said Gympanzees is her baby, but it's definitely my stepchild. We've raised Gympanzees together."

From running our Pop Ups to navigating the challenges of creating something that's never been done before, it's been quite a journey!

In the first of our People Behind the Build series, Fran shares her story and what it will mean to finally open our doors in Spring 2027.

💜 Read Fran's story: https://gympanzees.org/stories/people-behind-the-build-fran-garland-coo-of-gympanzees



Image description: Fran Garland, Gympanzees' Chief Operating Officer, smiling at the camera. She has long blonde hair and is wearing a black and white patterned top with a dark cardigan against a light-coloured background.

£285,000 raised! We’re absolutely blown away by the incredible support we’ve received for our Go Bananas for Gympanzees ...
19/10/2026

£285,000 raised!

We’re absolutely blown away by the incredible support we’ve received for our Go Bananas for Gympanzees Crowdfunder!

This is our final public fundraising push before we open our doors next spring, and with just over two weeks to go, we’re getting closer and closer to making this dream a reality.

To everyone who has donated, fundraised or shared our campaign, THANK YOU! You've helped bring us one step closer to opening the UK's first fully inclusive exercise, play and leisure centre for disabled children and young people.

We're so close now. Let's keep going! 💜



Children sitting and smiling on a couch. A donation page for "Go Bananas for Gympanzees" displays a fundraising goal of £350,000, with £285,193 raised. A large "Donate now" button is visible. The campaign has 916 supporters and lists its location as United Kingdom.

☕ We're hiring a Café Manager – could this be you? 💜Something extraordinary is coming to South Gloucestershire, and we'r...
17/10/2026

☕ We're hiring a Café Manager – could this be you? 💜

Something extraordinary is coming to South Gloucestershire, and we're looking for someone to help bring it to life!

Gympanzees is creating the UK's first fully inclusive leisure, exercise and play centre for disabled children and young people aged 0–25 and their families.

Our new 14-acre Centre will include accessible activity spaces, outdoor play, a café, shop and much more!

We're looking for an experienced, hands-on Café Manager to help us create a welcoming, accessible café where families can relax, connect and feel comfortable being themselves.

You'll help build and lead the café team, develop menus, manage day-to-day operations and get stuck into preparing and cooking food alongside your colleagues.

Here's what you need to know:

📍 Brightside Park, Aust, BS35 4BL
💷 £37,000 salary
⏰ 37.5 hours per week
📅 5 days per week, including weekends on rotation

Why join Gympanzees?

You'll receive 33 days' paid leave, an extra day off for your birthday, a healthcare cash plan, wellbeing support, training opportunities, sick pay, a company pension and a preferential family staff rate at our Centre.

We're looking for someone with hospitality management experience, practical food preparation skills and a passion for creating inclusive experiences.

Could this be your next opportunity?

Read the full job description: https://bit.ly/4i6hjg0
Apply here: https://bit.ly/4k5rCmS

We're a Disability Confident Employer and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

Need support or reasonable adjustments when applying? Contact [email protected]

Please share this post to help us find our next Café Manager!



An advertisement featuring people sat at a café table. The text reads: "We're hiring a café manager. Help us create a welcoming, accessible café where everyone belongs." It details a job offer for a Café Manager, highlighting a £37,000 per year salary with flexible hours. The café is at Brightside Park, UK's first fully accessible leisure and play centre for disabled children, young people, and their families. A link to the job description is provided. The Gympanzees logo is visible.

16/10/2026

💜 Gympanzees is making the news!

A huge thank you to Kids News World and Sky News for featuring our story in today's news bulletin and helping us reach even more people with our mission!

We're working towards opening the UK's first fully inclusive exercise, play and leisure centre for disabled children, young people and their families.

A place where families can enjoy exercise, play and friendship together, without the barriers they face in everyday leisure facilities.

🍌 Our Go Bananas for Gympanzees crowdfunder is LIVE, and we're calling on everyone to help us open the doors!

Here's how you can help:
💜 Donate to our crowdfunder: https://chuffed.org/project/go-bananas-for-gympanzees

📣 Share our story: Help us reach more people by sharing this post and the news feature with your friends, family and networks.

Every donation and every share makes a difference. Together, we can make this permanent centre a reality! 💜🩷🩵



Video description: A news feature shared by Kids News World and Sky News highlighting Gympanzees and its mission to create the UK's first fully inclusive exercise, play and leisure centre for disabled children, young people and their families. The feature raises awareness of Gympanzees' work and its Go Bananas crowdfunder, helping raise funds to open the doors to its permanent centre.

We've raised £242,000 in less than three weeks! That's the power of community.Whether you've donated £1, £2, £10, £50, £...
16/10/2026

We've raised £242,000 in less than three weeks!

That's the power of community.

Whether you've donated £1, £2, £10, £50, £5,000 or £50,000, every donation is helping us get closer to opening the first permanent Gympanzees centre.

A place where disabled children and young people can play, exercise, have fun and spend time with their families.

We have just over two weeks to go, and we're now only £108,000 away from our £350,000 target.

Thank you to everyone who has donated, shared our campaign or helped spread the word.
We're making this happen together!

If you can, please donate or share our crowdfunder to help us reach our target. Follow the link in the comments!



Alt text: Illustration of a smiling purple monkey sitting on a yellow banana beside a fundraising thermometer. The thermometer is marked from £50,000 to £350,000. Gympanzees has raised £242,000 towards its £350,000 target.

Put your family’s name on the fence! 💜We're building Gympanzees' new permanent home, and we'd love your family to be par...
14/10/2026

Put your family’s name on the fence! 💜

We're building Gympanzees' new permanent home, and we'd love your family to be part of its story.

One of the special rewards available through our crowdfunder is ‘Put Your Name on the Fence’.

For a £100 contribution to our Go Bananas crowdfunder, you can have your name, your family name or a special dedication written on a colourful ribbon, which we'll tie to the fence at Gympanzees.

Imagine visiting our new home with your family and spotting your very own ribbon!

Together, the ribbons will create a colourful display celebrating everyone who helped make our permanent home possible.

Your family’s name. Your ribbon. Your part in Gympanzees’ story.

Visit our Crowdfunder and select the ‘Put Your Name on the Fence’ perk for £100.

Donate through the link in the comments 🔗

*An illustration of how our ribbon fence could look. Please note the final display may be different.



Image Description: A fence adorned with colorful pink, purple and blue ribbons bearing messages like "The Jones Family" and "With love from Grandma" under a clear sky, with the Gympanzees building behind.

13/10/2026

JUST OVER 48 HOURS LEFT TO DOUBLE YOUR DONATION💜

We are now over HALFWAY to our target with a whopping £214k out of £350k!

Donate to Go Bananas for Gympanzees during this window and your donation will be MATCHED, helping us open the doors to our permanent centre for disabled children, young people and their families.

Together, we can create a place for exercise, play and friendship, where families feel welcome and supported.

Match-funding is only available until Thursday 15th Oct MIDNIGHT!

REMINDER: Our crowdfunder closes on Tuesday 3rd November, but this match-funding opportunity is only available for just over 48 hours. Make your donation go further today! 💙

Donate and share: https://chuffed.org/project/go-bananas-for-gympanzees 🔗



Video Description: The video is of an alarm clock running on a bright background with a logo saying, 'Let's go bananas for Gympanzees. With a block of colour at the top that reads,' Match funding for go bananas for Gympanzees ends this Thursday 15th October Midnight.'

“What can I go on first?” rather than “What can I go on?” 💜 That simple question has shaped the design of our playground...
12/10/2026

“What can I go on first?” rather than “What can I go on?” 💜

That simple question has shaped the design of our playground, one of the core activity spaces at our first permanent centre near Bristol. It’s being designed with the same focus on accessibility, independence, choice and shared play as the spaces inside.

Our ambition is for children and young people to arrive with genuine choice, rather than having to search for the few pieces of equipment they can use.

We spoke to nine playground providers over several rounds before choosing HAGS, and we’ve worked closely with their team to make sure accessibility runs through the whole design. People involved in the tender process have even told us that what they’ve learned will influence how they approach accessibility in future projects.

The slides will be built into a raised bank, providing level access to the top, with enough space underneath for a mobile hoist so children who need hoisting support can transfer onto them. Mobile hoists will also be available across the playground.

The swing area will have interchangeable attachments offering different levels of physical and postural support, so children with different needs can swing and play alongside each other. There’ll also be a wheelchair accessible roundabout and seesaw, alongside other inclusive play equipment.

Support from The Seneca Trust is helping make this possible, giving disabled children and young people a playground they can explore alongside their friends and siblings. 💜

🔗 Support our final public Crowdfunder before we open our doors in Spring 2027 - https://chuffed.org/project/go-bananas-for-gympanzees

Image description: A vibrant playground scene with multiple play structures and various people engaging in activities. The area includes slides, swings, climbing frames, and seesaws. The playground surface is colorful with sections of purple, green, and blue. In the background, there's a mural with the name "Gympanzees" visible. Trees and grassy areas surround the playground.

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