A CHEERLEADING group which was closed down by its head coach has been saved.

One of ex-coach Fayhe-Louise Mitchell’s star dancers, 18-year-old Harriette Hooley, is to take on running the club, with the support of her parents.

Dozens of club members were devastated after Miss Mitchell, 23, pulled the plug on the business just a week after the team won bronze at the European championships in Italy.

The new club, to be called Limitless Cheerleaders, came out of a crisis meeting held between parents and cheerleaders after it was announced the club would shut.

Harriette’s mother, Denise, said her daughter could not wait to get going with the team.

She said: “She’s just so excited.

“She was so upset when she found out Pioneers would be stopping, as all the girls were.

“But Fayhe was training her up to teach while the classes were still going.

“She’s given her blessing to Harriette to carry it all on, and said she thinks she’ll be very good at leading the team.”

The former public services student at Burnley College has trained with Pioneers since it opened its doors in January 2009, and has reached Level 3 in the discipline.

Mrs Hooley said: “Everyone was really keen to get it up and running again, and parents and cheerleaders thought Harriette was the best one for it.”

Harriette was looking to go to university before Pioneers closed.

But when her mother suggested to her that she might be the one to take it on, Harriette changed her mind.

Mrs Hooley said: “I told her that she wouldn’t be able to juggle uni and the club, because that’s what happened with Fayhe. She had a lot going on and it must have been very hard to juggle everything.”

Regular meetings between a committee of parents are planned to be held to oversee the running of the club.

A community funds account is set to be started, so parents can invest in the club, without it going into the business.

Mrs Hooley added: “It will be run as a business by Harriette for the teaching side, but with a separate money pot which will go straight back into travel and uniforms for the girls.”

The first meeting of Limitless will be held at Pioneers Cheerleaders, in Alder Street, Bacup, on Monday, August 5.