Gym club banned from school because of muslim complaints....

Pressure forces them to find another venue...

A gymnastics club was forced to stop holding classes at an independent girls school after Muslim parents complained about boy members of the group.

Colin Perry, who runs the Shirley Gymnastics Club, said he was saddened by the decision which he said compromised the school's commitment to multiculturalism because of fears of offending a minority.

He is now desperately searching for a new home for the club's 250 members - including 36 boys - which had held mixed-sex classes at the junior school site of Old Palace School, in Croydon, South London, since January last year.

'It's unbelievable,' Mr Perry said.

'There is a group of Muslim parents with Muslim children at the school and they are the ones putting pressure on the headteacher.

'It makes me sad to say that.'

He was told about the decision at a meeting with headteacher Judy Harris a few weeks ago.

'She said some of the parents have said their children go to an independent all girls school and unfortunately they're concerned because we have got boys in the club,' Mr Perry said.

'She said to us that the school has got far more Muslim children than last year, so effectively we have to interpret that in our own way.'