DURHAM acrobatic gymnasts are celebrating after clinching medals during the European Championships in Greece.

Members of the Deerness Valley Gymnastics Club, at Ushaw Moor, competed at Thessaloniki as part of the Great Britain squad, which won six out of a possible ten senior and junior individual medals and brought home a total of 13 medals.

Karl Wharton, head coach for the British squad and director of gymnastics at Deerness, said: "The team of gymnasts did exceptionally well in Greece and really put in their best performances, which is reflected in the outstanding results.

"Over half the squad we took out there came from the Deerness Centre, which shows how much talent there is in Durham and the influence that having what I consider to be the best facilities in the country can have on performance.''

In the under-17 championship, Adam Shanley, 15, Dorian Walker, 15, Stephen Raine ,13, and Alex Houston, 12, took silver.

In the senior event, all the Deerness Valley gymnasts contributed to an overall European Team bronze medal.

In the individual finals, Melanie Cook, 29, Kathryn Chandler, 25, and Hannah Browning, 15, finished fourth.

In the men's pair event, Mark Fyson, 23, and Christopher Jones ,18, won bronze.

In the men's group event, Barrie Hindson, Scott Patterson and Stuart McKenzie, all 22, and David Scott, 18, secured silver, missing out on gold by 0.07 of a mark.