A young gymnast who trains in Harrogate will represent Team GB in the final of an international competition tomorrow.

Emily Lock, 15, will compete in the under 16s female category of the double mini trampoline at the Scalabis Cup in Portugal.

One of a team of three, she hopes to see off competition from seven other teams across two stages in the final, having already won a team gold this week. She said:

“I’m a bit nervous but mostly excited about the final.

“In my first class, I landed on the side pad so it wasn’t my best, but the warm-up didn’t go great which wasn’t the best preparation and I went into the class not feeling confident.

“I’ve been watching the videos back so I know what I need to do to get it right tomorrow.”

It hasn’t been a smooth journey to the competition for Emily.

Earlier this year, she landed awkwardly in training at Harrogate Gymnastics Club and sprained her ankle, forcing her to take five weeks off.

She missed important competitions and was concerned she wouldn’t be ready to travel to Portugal, but with a lot of hard work and support from coach Amy Clemitson, she made it.

Emily Lock, left, with the Team GB squad

Chloe Carey, owner of Harrogate Gymnastics, said:

“Emily worked really hard and was determined to get there. It’s exciting when our gymnasts get chosen for competitions and we’re proud of them for the work they put in.

“They commit anything from three to five times a week after school and having to fit homework in around it too.

“These kids are brilliant – they put in the hours, they work hard and listen to all the feedback so they can improve.”

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Aspiring young gymnasts from the club do most of their training in Harrogate.

If they are selected for Team GB, they travel to Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire a few times a year to meet their teammates and work with the coaches.

For Emily, who attends Tadcaster Grammar School, training has to be balanced against revisions for her GCSEs, which she will complete next year.

“It gets hard in competition season because you have to train hard. I have to fit in revision because I’ve got tests coming up.

“But I really enjoy competing so I want to keep doing it.”

The final of Emily’s competition will be available to watch live on YouTube tomorrow from 3pm.

Harrogate rugby club’s under 15s have won the International Rugby Festival Tournament in Lisbon.

The ‘Harrogate Raptors’ won the event in Portugal, beating Welsh side, Cwmbram, 12-7 in the final.

Matthew Grant, Harrogate rugby’s under 15s group manager said:

“It was a life changing experience for the kids. They won gracefully and represented the club really well. There was no fighting or trouble and everyone was well behaved.

“It was great that we brought 25 players and everyone got some minutes.”

Harrogate under 15s after winning the tournament

The tournament saw Harrogate play five teams from Portugal and Wales, winning all of them.

Oliver Spence, Harrogate’s captain, was named player of the tournament.

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The final between Harrogate and Cwmbram was 7-7 after twenty minutes, which took the game into extra-time. Harrogate then scored the ‘golden try’ to win the tournament.

The festival was held over two days and featured teams from across the world. The games were livestreamed across Portuguese TV and featured 118 teams throughout all age groups.

A Harrogate couple have spoken of their frustration at spending three days in vain trying to call Jet2 to cancel their holiday.

David and Celia Bishop, both 75, were due to fly to Faro in Portugal on Monday. But after realising their passports were about to expire, they tried to rearrange their flights.

The couple said they have been on the phone attempting to get through to Jet2 for about six hours since Monday. They have tried numerous different numbers but have yet to get through.

Mr Bishop admitted his “stupid error” had initially caused the issue but with a week to go and an appointment booked to get new passports next week, he hoped to be able to rearrange the flights.

The couple paid £824 for the week-long package holiday, which included flights and hotel. It would be their first holiday in two years.

Mr Bishop said:

“It was my own stupidity. After two years of lockdown I just forgot to check them until Monday.

“I’ve tried at different times but I also rang bang on 8am Tuesday and Wednesday, when the lines opened, but there was no answer for over an hour. Surely if I ring at the time they open there can’t be an hour’s worth of people ahead of me? I think the system may have crashed.”

Mr Bishop and his wife even drove to Leeds Bradford Airport on Tuesday to speak to a member of Jet2 staff. But they said when they arrived the woman on the desk told them they would have to ring the same number they had been calling.

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Mr Bishop said the terms and conditions of the deal mean it is possible to change the flight up to the day of departure if an administration fee is paid. There may also be costs for the new tickets.

Automated response

They say they are willing to pay these fees but with no word from Jet2 they are worried they could lose out on the £824 completely. Mr Bishop added:

“For such a huge tour operator to abandon their customers and provide no customer service just struck me as wrong.”

Ms Bishop also tried an email address but received an automated response warning of a 14-day wait. She said:

“We were both really looking forward to this holiday. We understand it was our fault initially but to not answer the phone at all is not on. Hopefully we can rearrange it when our new passports get here next week but I’m not holding out hope.”

Mr and Ms Bishop both said they will continue to call and wait to hear from the tour operator.

Since publication, a spokesperson for Jet2 has responded to say:

“We are pleased to confirm that we have since been in touch with Mr Bishop and the matter is now resolved.”

A Harrogate couple who went for a delayed honeymoon in Portugal have been forced to cut their celebrations short.

The government announced yesterday that Portugal would move to the amber list next Tuesday, meaning anyone returning from that date will need to isolate for 10 days.

To avoid the isolation period and extra cost that comes with additional tests, Britons in Portugal are trying to fly home before the change comes into effect.

However, with so many people trying to get back at the same time airlines have increased the cost of tickets.

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Hamish and Gemma Coventry got married on March 21 2020 and had to cancel their dream honeymoon to the Maldives.

They jumped at the chance to go to Portugal when it was on the green list and enjoyed the week so much that they booked in for another week.

But Gemma was on the beach when she found out that Portugal was moving off the green travel list. She told the Stray Ferret:

“We have made the most of the holiday and have had a lovely time but it was stressful when we were trying to book flights back.

“If we kept the original return flights we would have to isolate for 10 days and Hamish would miss the start of his new job.

“So we needed to get a flight back urgently. So many people have been scrambling for flights and the prices have jumped up astronomically.

“I don’t understand it. There was plenty of room on the flight out but now we are all cramming on to a full flight back to the UK.”

The couple did manage to secure new tickets, although they said prices had jumped up by £400, and should be returning to the UK on Sunday.

The ease in travel restrictions does not go far enough to reboot the industry, a local travel agent has claimed.

Last Monday, eager holidaymakers were finally allowed to get on a plane after the ban on non-essential overseas travel was loosened.

But for Peter Cookson, group managing director at Spear Travels, Boroughbridge, the green list was “a bit of a joke”.

Current rules have placed 12 countries including Portugal, Iceland and Gibraltar on the green list, meaning travellers are required to take covid tests before they leave and before they return to the UK and again within two days of their arrival, but do not need to quarantine.

A further 173 countries are on the amber list, which has tighter restrictions. Travellers to these destinations must take an additional covid test on day eight after they arrive back and isolate at home for for 10 days.

Spear Travels, in Boroughbridge, has not seen a boom in 2021 bookings

For the travel industry to truly get back on its feet, Mr Cookson said the restrictions have to change as the expense of covid testing is discouraging people booking trips.

He has confidence that “pent-up demand” exists but has only received a “handful” of bookings for Portugal and none for amber-list countries.

Mr Cookson expects this low level of interest to continue while strict measures to prevent the spread of covid are in place.  and said people are already re-booking their holidays for next year.

He said

“I think the main thing putting people off are the covid tests, for a family of four it could be around £500. The green list is a bit of a joke, people don’t want to spend that extra money.

“Until we get other countries like Spain, Italy and Greece on the green list, bookings will be slow. We’ve only had a handful of holidays to Portugal.”

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Looking forward he is hopeful for a return to pre-covid levels but said this might not be until 2023.

For now he said his team is focusing on re-booking people’s holidays for later dates and crossing their fingers for changes to the rules.

Spear Travels runs 12 shops across the country, which have reduced their opening hours to keep staff on furlough while bookings remain low.

Have you booked a holiday to an amber-listed country? Tell us about your holiday plans via contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.