A SUCCESSFUL centre of excellence has maintained its high-ranking status in acro-gymnastics.

Members of Deerness Valley Gymnastics Club leaped, tumbled and flipped their way to success in the British Championship, in Stoke-on-Trent.

It was the culmination of hours of training under coaches Karl Wharton, Vicky Kirkham and Katie Lawton, at Deerness Sports Centre, in Ushaw Moor.

Among the category winners were: Grade one women's pair, Lexi Stephens and Rebekah Cooke; grade one men's group, Kris Brown, Mark Chance, Liam Sneath and Andrew Piper; grade two men's group, Oliver Stockdale, Jack Pendleton, Rhys Maxwell and Angus Martin; and grade two women's group, Fiona Hogg, Carys Ridsdale and Bethaney Jones.

There was also a runners-up spot for the grade one women's group, of Stephanie Robson, Meghan Hadfield and Bethanie Thompson.

Other participants from Deerness were Amber Dove and Katy Clark, who finished sixth in the grade three women's pair, while in the tumbling section, Natasha Davies came fourth in under-15 girls and Leon Major was seventh in under-15 boys.

The club was founded at the nearby Deerness Valley Comprehensive School, now named Durham Community Business College, by Mr Wharton, in 1989.

It outgrew the facilities and moved into the refurbished Deerness Leisure Centre, in 2002, backed by Durham City Council and with National Lottery funding.

Scores of youngsters train regularly at sessions through the week, helping to maintain a production line of success at national and international level in acro-gymnastics .

The club can be contacted at the leisure centre on 0191-373-2324.