Gymnasts from Earlestown’s Hope Acro travelled to Stoke-on-Trent at the weekend to compete at the Acrobatic Gymnastics NDP British Finals. They earned their places by winning the North West Regional Prelims in March. The winners from each of the 12 regions were striving to be crowned British Champions.
Emma Green, Isla Cook and Olivia Semmens had high hopes of a medal in the Grade 4 Women’s Group category. Only coming together as a trio at the beginning of 2026, they were unbeaten in their first three competitions in Spelthorne, Leeds and the regional prelims in Wigan that took them to the finals. A flawless performance earned them a mammoth score of 27.250 from the judges, putting them in the lead late in the competition. There was an anxious wait as four more regional champions performed their routines. None could surpass the girls’ score confirming them as Grade 4 British Champions.
Darcey Cassidy, Mia Ellison and Daisy Denmade took to the floor in the IDP2 Women’s Group, the top level of competition at the finals. Two outstanding routines saw them post fantastic scores, but they were beaten into the silver medal position by their top class rivals from Scotland.
Emma, Olivia and Isla – Grade 4 British Champions
In the Grade 3 Women’s Pair, Priya Stott and Ella Dajani were involved in the most extraordinary category of the weekend. A stunning display of poise and grace earned them a monumental score of 27.400 – a score that should be enough to win any competition. A truly remarkable standard of performance on the day saw the pair finish in 5th place – with the top 5 separated by the tiniest margin of 0.15. The pair can count themselves very unlucky not to be returning home with a British medal.
There was similar disappointment for Isla Healey and Willow Crowther in the Grade 2 Women’s Pair. The ultra-consistent pair once again scored a fantastic 27.350 to tie for third place. Sadly, British Gymnastics’ no tie rule saw them miss out on a well deserved bronze medal by virtue of a slightly lowertechnical execution score.
Hattie Lloyd, Alice Pownall and Alexa Dineen put in a solid performance in the Aspire Women’s Group. A 10th placed finish gives plenty of optimism for the future of this relatively new partnership.
The outstanding performances of the Hope gymnasts was further rewarded as their scores contributed to the North West region finishing in 2nd place in the team competition.